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Western Australia-based medical cannabis company Cannaponics has smashed capital raising records for the Birchal platform in the state after securing $3 million from investors in just 24 hours.
The vertically integrated producer of cannabinoids reached its minimum of $500,000 in just 25 minutes in a closed funding round ahead of opening to the public, with the latest raise valuing the company at $58.6 million.
Birchal says that with the capital raising now sitting at $3.2 million, Cannaponics has become the biggest crowd-funding campaign in WA for the platform and the largest of any medical cannabis company in the platform’s history.
It also ranks as the biggest crowd funding raise of the year for Birchal.
Cannaponics’ record-breaking run was backed by 1,643 investors after the platform recorded 5,603 expressions of interest ahead of the campaign’s launch.
At the last count, the raise had reached $3.24 million from 1,673 investors with the company targeting $5 million from the campaign.
“The response we’ve seen has been absolutely incredible and our team are overwhelmed with the response,” Cannaponics founder and managing director Rod Zakostelsky says.
“Providing opportunity for people – through product cost and availability, employment, training, and investment – has always been at the core of our operations, so the reaction from the public to Cannaponics and how we’re trying to do cannabis differently shows that we’re on the right path.”
Cannaponics is headquartered in the mining town of Collie in WA, where it has 67ha of land for cannabis cultivation and a 3,600sqm greenhouse that uses radiant energy vacuum technology (REV) a drying method for cannabis flowers.
The company says its unique production process preserves 20 per cent more cannabinoids (CBD and TCH) than traditional rack drying, and positions the company to be ‘one of the only cannabis companies that can harvest fresh flowers in the morning and ship finished packaged oil and flowers in the afternoon’.
Cannaponics plans to use the fresh capital to complete construction of its biotech facility at Collie and build a 1-megawatt solar energy farm which will bring the company closer to kickstarting production.
Zakostelsky describes Cannaponics as a ‘feel good company’.
“Our mission is to help fill the gaps in Australia’s domestic supply of medical cannabis while providing as many local jobs as we can,” he says.
“We have an opportunity to provide the growing Australian market with both quality and quantity.
“While prescriptions have grown dramatically over the last few years, a large percentage of medical cannabis products sold in Australia are imported from overseas.
“We have the environment, knowledge, technology and support to bring this production to Australia, and do it in a way that is good for people and the planet.”
Cannaponics last year announced plans to team up with a Mauritius-headquartered medical supplier Avacare Health to develop a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility at Collie, including options to export its products and investigate new uses for hemp.
The companies are also investigating the potential for hemp to replace petroleum-based plastics and textiles needed to manufacture PPE (personal protective equipment) and various medical devices.
Cannaponics also plans to leverage renewable energy resources to produce premium quality medicinal cannabis at a large scale, with an exclusive license to manufacture a nanoemulsion formulation.
The company, which was founded in 2016, has so far raised $14 million dollars including a $2 million grant from the WA State Government.
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