Merida Capital Launches Third Cannabis Fund, Expands Team and Operations
Merida Capital Partners, a cannabis-focused private equity firm, has launched its third fund, Merida Capital Partners III LP, a $200 million Reg D fund that focuses on making high conviction investments in cannabis companies.
Merida Capital Partners, a cannabis-focused private equity firm, has launched its third fund, Merida Capital Partners III LP, a $200 million Reg D fund that focuses on making high conviction investments in cannabis companies. The firm has also added three high-level employees to its team and expanded its operations to include an office in Toronto, Canada.
Since launching its first fund in late 2016, Merida said that it has deployed nearly $80 million across the firm’s first two funds and now has more than $125 million under management. The funds previously invested in GrowGeneration, Vireo Health, CB2 Insights, KushCo Holdings, and Freedom Leaf Health.
In other Merida news, the firm has added three new members to its team and expanded its international operations, opening an office in Toronto, Canada to join its New York flagship office and satellite offices in San Francisco and Bethesda, Maryland.
Merida’s new hires include Dr. Deb Kimless as chief scientific officer, Matthew Bartlett as its West Coast operating partner, and David Lubotta as partner.
Kimless, an expert on cannabinoid research and cannabis-based medicines, will oversee Merida’s research efforts and will identify opportunities in the life sciences and biotechnology verticals. She is a board-certified anesthesiologist with a subspecialty in pain management and holds a bachelor’s degree in natural sciences and biology from Muhlenberg College and a MD from Rutgers University.
Bartlett, serving as its West Coast operating partner, will be oversee Merida’s portfolio of consumer products companies. He most recently founded Garden Society, a boutique Sonoma County-based cannabis operator, and previously managed global logistics and supply chain for Costco’s Kirkland Wine & Spirits. Bartlett also established the Wine Division for Bank of Marin (NASDAQ: BMRC); was vice president at American AgCredit, a division of the National Farm Credit System; and was a vice president and regional manager in capital markets finance for HSBC.
Lubotta has joined as a partner and will oversee Merida’s Canadian efforts from its new Toronto office. He has 25 years of Canadian institutional finance experience and has participated in numerous financings and M&A transactions in cannabis companies, including Green Therapeutics, Nutritional High, Green Rush, Emerald Family Farms, and Xanthic Biopharma Inc., which was recently purchased by Green Growth Brands. David holds an MBA from Northwestern Kellogg School of Management.
Merida Capital Partners is a private equity firm that focuses on cultivation technologies, products and services associated with cannabis and hemp as agricultural products, plant-based medicines, constituents in pharmaceutical formulations, and recreational consumer products.
