Marlborough medical cannabis company raises $500k in 2 days

Pledges from the New Zealand public has seen medical cannabis grower Puro reach their minimum crowdfunding target of half a million dollars by Friday, 8 November. Since the weekend they've raised another $320k, bringing the total raise to $820k. They aim to raise $2 million through a retail equity crowdfunding, and an additional $2 million in a wholesale campaign. The capital raised will be used to build a research centre and initial growing facilities.

“Getting to the half a million dollar mark means that this is no longer theoretical. We can now say that Puro will be growing premium medical cannabis in Marlborough,” says Tim Aldridge, Managing Director of Puro.

Puro has purchase agreements in place with seven Australian and New Zealand pharmaceutical companies and extraction partners, and has already obtained its Ministry of Health licence to undertake scientific cannabis research. Puro will operate on 2 growing sites, Waihopai and Kekerengu.

Puro director Sank Macfarlane, whose family has farmed on the Kekerengu site for 130 years, says medical cannabis could become as valuable to Marlborough as Sauvignon Blanc.

The company is seeking to raise up to $4,000,000, which represents 14.58% of Puro's equity. Puro is running two campaigns, one to raise the legal maximum from the public of $2 million, and one to raise $2 million from Wholesale investors. Shares are priced at $1 each with a minimum investment of $500 for the public crowdfunding campaign, and $50,000 for the wholesale campaign. Those that invest over $50,000 will receive voting shares.

Puro chose PledgeMe for capital raising because it “wanted to give the New Zealand public the opportunity to reap the rewards of this fast-growing industry", says Mr Aldridge, adding that the public response has been "humbling".

The equity crowdfunding campaign launched publicly on 6 November, 10am. The offer will close on 6 December 2019. To view Puro’s equity crowdfunding campaign CLICK HERE.

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