Apple and Google have tremendous cash piles, but they still borrow money to fund their operations. Of course in cannabis, there are fewer potential lenders than in Silicon Valley, but CEO and founder Adam Stettner sees industry lender FundCanna’s role in a similar light, as a lender of capital to growing businesses.
Stettner is relatively new to cannabis, but he comes to the industry after a long career in lending to underserved markets. He started lender Reliant Funding in March 2008, months before the country plunged into the financial crisis. In his 13 years at the helm Reliant leant $3B to American small and medium businesses. Before that, Stettner worked in student loans and as a trader on Wall Street. Together, the FundCanna team has leant nearly $20B to underbanked businesses and individuals over more than 20 years.
San Diego-based FundCanna launched in December 2021, with $30M in available debt funding. Institutional capital typically comes with restrictions known as covenants but since FundCanna’s investors are private they don’t restrict its lending practices, Stettner said. FundCanna’s capital comes from sources including cannabis interested banks and family offices.
“A lot of people assume cannabis is a lot more wild west than it is,” Stettner said. From a lending perspective, after all, there are the same KPI’s to watch. “What the industry doesn’t have is access to capital.”
FundCanna addresses the issue with a wide range of services tailored to companies across the supply chain and in the ancillary space where it can also be a challenge to get a loan. FundCanna has worked with companies in 31 States. as well. It can approve loans in as little as 24 hours.
The 18 months since FundCanna put out its shingle haven’t been an easy period for the cannabiz. But FundCanna is focused on partnering with companies that are thriving despite market trends.
For those businesses doing well, “the struggle to access capital is real,” Stettner said. He cited a manufacturer that is “stuck on the hamster wheel” because it has more orders than it can fill with the biomass it can afford to buy cash on delivery.
Between manufacturing and testing the sales cycle can last two to four months, blocking the company from accepting more orders. By working with FundCanna, the operator was able to buy $500,000 in biomass for only $100,000 out of pocket. In 13 months, Stettner said, the manufacturer has seen 320% growth and has come back to FundCanna 28 times. Cannabis businesses are “hungry for good strong partnerships they can rely on,” he said.
Learn more at FundCanna.com.
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