The Cannabis sector has experienced tremendous growth in recent years, having received, to date, more than 12 billion dollars in investments worldwide.
The sector's growth started in 2014 and 2018 was the year in which it received the most funding, with over 160 rounds of funding in just one year.
However, in the last year, investments have shifted from being largely made in stages Seed and Early Stages a Late Stages, This shows that the sector is getting closer to maturity.
Cannabis Investment Trends by Geographic Area
In terms of number of rounds, US companies have received the most investment, with a total of 237 rounds of funding.
However, in dollar terms, Canada has received the most funds, with almost $8 billion invested in total.
Third in the queue was France, with an investment in the sector of barely half a billion dollars, a far cry from the leading countries in the sector, the aforementioned Canada and the United States. The rest of the countries, both European and Asian, have barely attracted any investment in this sector.
This significant difference between North American countries and the rest of the countries is mainly due to the legislation of the countries surrounding Cannabis; in the United States and Canada the legislation on this sector is significantly more lax than in the rest of the world and therefore, investments and, as a consequence, the growth of the sector is much higher in those countries.
Changes in legislation and new investment opportunities
Although cannabis legislation remains highly restrictive in European countries, some of them are starting to take the first steps towards the legalisation of Cannabis for medicinal and therapeutic use, thus opening the door to new investments in companies dedicated to this sector. For example, Italy expects to triple domestic production of medical cannabis by 2020.
Baker Tilly believes that this sector has great potential and has invested significantly in this new market. This is why it was the sponsor of the Cannabis Europe Summit Madrid 2020 conference, held in Madrid on 10 February.