Cannabis Commerical Lender Bespoke Financial Raises $8M From Snoop Dogg's Casa Verde Capital, Sweat Equity Ventures, Others

Cannabis-focused commercial lender, Bespoke Financial, confirmed Monday it has completed an $8 million Series A funding round, co-led by Snoop Dogg’s Casa Verde Capital and Sweat Equity Ventures.

What Happened

The round was also supported by Ceres Group Holdings, Greenhouse Capital Partners, DoubleLine Capital’s co-founder and ex-president Philip Barach, and New York venture capitalist Robert Stavis.

With the latest raise, the company’s total funding now surpasses $28 million.

“Bespoke’s loan origination volume has grown exponentially, financing over $120mm in GMV with zero defaults to date,” the company noted, adding it has come to have a credit performance database with more than 2,000 cannabis license holders.

“The strength and growth of this industry over these past few years validates our initial core thesis that cannabis presents a uniquely attractive opportunity within the broader debt landscape,” Bespoke Financial co-founder and CEO George Mancheril stated. “We’re excited to partner with Sweat Equity Ventures alongside our existing investors to continue scaling our tech-driven financing platform as the bridge between our cannabis clients and the broader capital markets.”

Why It Matters

Karan Wadhera, Managing Partner, Casa Verde Capital said that its continued support of Bespoke Financial shows the “team’s relentless drive to help cannabis companies succeed. We have worked with some of the largest operators in the industry and our team knows the value of a company like Bespoke, addressing critical needs in a rapidly growing industry.”

Dan Portillo, managing partner of value accelerator Sweat Equity Ventures, which is supported by LinkedIn LNKD founder Reid Hoffman, noted that this is the firm’s first investment in the cannabis space and that they are thrilled to team up with Bespoke.

“This partnership combines Bespoke’s finance and cannabis acumen with our team’s expertise scaling innovative tech companies and will provide cannabis companies greater access to streamlined financing while benefiting investors with increased transparency and enhanced risk surveillance,” Portillo said.

What’s Next

Bespoke’s platform enables companies to borrow financing in 24 hours, and handle payment both to vendors and from customers in a centralized location. Upon this raise, the company plans to advance flexible financing options across several distribution channels, and also launch new financing models.

Photo by Matteo Paganelli on Unsplash