First Women-run Hemp Equity Fund Announced

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]T[/dropcap]he producers behind Amazon Prime’s wildly popular The Marijuana Show have announced a new hemp equity fund focused on investing in the industrial hemp industry.

Wendy Robbins and Karen Paull will manage the High Finance Fund, a $20 million global equity fund, which is set to be the first women-run equity fund in the industrial hemp and cannabis industry. The High Finance Fund is supported by advisors, including Bob Hoban and Brent Johnson of the Hoban Law Group, in addition to a team of expert fund managers and administrators.

“Investors and family offices like industrial hemp deals as they are safer than marijuana deals. We have expert advisors including Bob Hoban of the Hoban Law Group. Their 45+ attorneys have access to exclusive global deals and most hemp companies are their clients,” Paul said.

The High Finance Fund launches at a time when the political attitudes toward hemp are changing, with Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell recently introducing a bill to deschedule hemp, while also pushing for the new legislation to be added to the 2018 Farm Bill. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer will join McConnell in cosponsoring the Hemp Farming Act. 10 other Senators from both parties support the legislation.

The fund will invest in industrial hemp cultivation, processing, system roadblocks and solutions, and international CBD wholesale and retail deals. The opportunities the fund will choose to invest in will be based on data, trends, commercial viability, and intellectual property. The High Finance Fund will also fund non-plant touching cannabis and real estate deals.

The U.S hemp industry was valued at $815 million in 2017 and is expected to grow to $2.5 billion by 2022. Industrial hemp is a non-psychoactive relative of the cannabis plant and can be processed for use in a wide variety of everyday items, including clothes, food, and body care products.