Bespoke Financial wants to provide cannabis businesses with the same kind of financial services that other businesses get, but that dispensaries and growers cant yet access.The regulations around cannabis operations are so stringent at the local level and so nebulous at the federal level that national banks wont give businesses in the cannabis industry the same basic services (like short-term loans).Thats why one former Goldman Sachs banker has partnered with two entrepreneurs from the traditional agriculture industry to create Bespoke Financial.
And its why the company has raised $7 million in financing led by Casa Verde Capital the investment firm launched by legendary cannabis aficionado, Calvin Broadus (AKA Snoop Dogg).In some ways, George Mancheril is the new face of the cannabis business.
The former banker hails from Goldman Sachs and Guggenheim Partners and worked on the desks that dealt with alternative lending.A transplant to Los Angeles roughly six years ago, Mancheril says he saw the migration of legally sanctioned cannabis begin for recreational use and knew there would be opportunities for new lending businesses.Cannabis will become a broad, mature industry just like any other, and if that is going to happen, there needs to be a debt structure that can support that, Mancheril says.The biggest impediment to the industrys growth is the one that Bespoke Financial wants to tackle first and thats access to debt.To build the companys first product, Mancheril looked to his co-founders Pablo Borquez-Schwarzbeck and Benjamin Dusastre.
Borquez-Schwarzbeck and Dusastre previously launchedProducePay, a fintech platform focused on produce farmers that has financed roughly $2 billion in perishable commodities throughout 13 countries.
Its backed by around $200 million in venture capital and debt financing.
What Mancheril and his co-founders have done is take ProducePays underwriting model and apply it to the cannabis industry.
The financial instrument that theyre starting with is known in the business as factoring.Its basically advancing money to businesses for a contract thats signed in exchange for a cut of the money once a company gets paid for the goods or services theyve rendered.While the US legal cannabis market is forecasted to grow over 20% annually, reaching $23B by 2022, the industrys true growth potential is limited by long cash flow cycles throughout the supply chain and a lack of scalable and efficient capital sources, says Bespoke Financial co-founder and chief executive, George Mancheril, in a statement.
Our approach will dramatically improve cash flow cycles across the supply chain and provide scalable working capital to fuel our clients growth.The $7 million infusion from investors, including Casa Verde, Greenhouse Capital Partners and Outbound Ventures, will be used to build out the companys business and establish its first credit lines with customers.
Mancheril says it already has around $3 million worth of loans revolving through its business.
Right now, the company is focused on California, but says it could expand to other regions that are embracing legalization.In general, in the cannabis industry overall, its difficult to access any part of the financial system, says Karan Wadhera, a managing director at Casa Verde.
Now that were moving into a place where equity financing is getting expensive, a company like Bespoke plays an important and valuable role in the ecosystem to help young brands and mature brands get access to working capital when they need it the most.