British American Tobacco (BAT) has taken a non-controlling minority stake in German cannabis company Sanity Group for an undisclosed amount, the multinational tobacco giant announced on Monday.
Sanity’s Series B funding round raised $36.7 million, as reported by Bloomberg.
The round was led by BAT, alongside California-based Casa Verde Capital and Switzerland-based Redalpine, according to Sanity’s statement.
Casa Verde previously invested $3.5 million in Sanity in late 2021 and $15 million in Cansativa in early 2022, another German cannabis start-up.
In its statement, Sanity said the funding was “the largest cannabis investment round in Europe to date. »
The German firm also said it raised more than $100 million in total.
Nearly half of the new $37.6 million funding round will go towards Sanity’s medical cannabis business, with the rest going towards preparations for the legalization of adult cannabis in Germany.
Germany is in the early stages of cannabis legalization and will join Canada, the only G7 country to have taken the plunge so far.
In Canada, BAT has spent around $175 million to take a 19.9% stake in cannabis producer Organigram in 2021.
BAT invested an additional $5.1 million in Organigram this year.
Sanity’s investment represents “another example of BAT’s continued work to explore many areas beyond nicotine, positioning BAT for future portfolio growth across a range of categories and geographies,” noted Kingsley Wheaton. , chief growth officer of BAT, in the company’s statement.
