The start-up Cansativa, previously active as a wholesaler for medical cannabis, intends to sell recreational cannabis on a large scale in the future.

The company, based in Möhrfelden-Walldorf, has now received a total of 13 million euros as a cash injection from three investors from America and Munich for its growth plans.

"We want to be the trailblazers for legalization and the operational backbone of the entire cannabis industry," said Benedikt Sons, who founded the company with his brother Jakob.

Falk Heunemann

Business editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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The sale and consumption of marijuana in Germany is still only permitted for medical purposes and with a doctor's prescription.

However, the new federal government announced in the coalition agreement that it would introduce the "controlled sale of cannabis to adults for recreational purposes in licensed shops".

An exact date and the specific rules have not yet been determined.

The purchase and consumption of the intoxicant are already legal in Canada, Uruguay and, for the past few weeks, in Malta.

With Cansativa, the Sons brothers were the first in Germany to import and distribute medical cannabis after it was legalized and regulated by the Bundestag in 2017.

In 2020, the company secured the wholesale monopoly for cannabis grown in Germany from the federal government.

Since then, all orders for German marijuana flowers have been received by Cansativa and delivered to the pharmacies. 2.6 tons per year can be grown and sold in Germany.

They are prescribed to patients suffering from chronic pain or loss of appetite after cancer therapy.

The number of employees is increased from 20 to 50

The demand for medical cannabis is increasing, in 2021 between 12.5 and 15 tons are likely to have been handed out via pharmacies at prices between ten and twenty euros per gram, depending on the product form and quality.

"The market for medical cannabis was also a test environment for us," says Jakob Sons.

It makes little difference whether the company will not only supply pharmacies in the future, but also licensed sales outlets.

The number of employees will be increased over the next few months from the current 20 to 50, and a further 50 could be added by the end of the year.

In addition to the location in Mörfelden, Cansativa has therefore moved into offices in Frankfurt's Westend.

The current cash injection of 13 million euros is the largest sum that the start-up has been able to collect from investors.

The largest investor is Casa Verde Capital, an American investment fund that specializes in the cannabis market and has already invested in the Berlin-based pharmaceutical manufacturer Sanity Group, which operates a production facility in Frankfurt.

So far, sales have doubled every year

Other investors are the venture capital fund Argonautic Ventures and the Munich family office Alluti of the entrepreneur Bert Bleicher (Hoffmann tools).

Cansativa did not disclose the company valuation on which the investment was based.

According to the company, annual sales of medicinal cannabis were in eight figures last year and have doubled from year to year.

"We can continue to do this over the next two to three years," said Benedikt Sons.

"The big question now is when recreational cannabis will be available."

The Greens involved in the federal government assume that legalization will take place in the next two years.

The intoxicant should then probably be sold through special and licensed shops and distribution points.

Jakob Sons does not expect that it will only be available in pharmacies.

"It doesn't fit with their product range." In Malta, for example, special smoking clubs are currently being opened.

Proponents of legalization hope that users will be decriminalized and that crime authorities will also be relieved – in 2020 there were almost 200,000 proceedings against consumers nationwide.

In addition, legal marijuana is much safer.

Police officials, on the other hand, warn against trivializing the drug.