Bloomwell Group receives highest seed funding in EU cannabis space at over $10 million

Frankfurt-based The Bloomwell Group has closed a seed funding round at over $10 million via Masure 8 Venture Partners. In the EU cannabis space, this is the highest publicly known seed round. With the investment, The Bloomwell Group is repositioning itself as a holding company for medical cannabis companies and potential recreational cannabis companies that may be viable in the future.

Now if you’re thinking that $10 million is going towards growing better, faster, strong weed, contrary to the company moniker, under the Bloomwell Umbrella, existing portfolio companies including Highterkeit, Algea Care, and Ilios Santé will focus on the entire value chain of medical cannabis, save for cultivation.

The European cannabis market is projected to be worth €403.4 million by the end of 2021 and growing at a CAGR of 67.4% from 2021, will reach €3.2 billion by 2025. The Bloomwell Group’s home market of Germany is projected to constitute over half of the European market until 2024 and will be worth over €840 million by the end of the forecast period.

Founded in 2020, within the past year, Bloomwell has grown to a headcount of 160 employees and has an expected turnover of €5 million this year. In addition to CEO and co-founder Niklas Kouparanis, Bloomwell’s board now includes telemedicine veteran Prof. Dr. Reinhard Meier, who co-founded Teleclinic and helped lead it to an eight-figure exit to Switzerland’s Zur Rose Group, finance industry professional Samuel Menghistu, and Measure 8 Venture Partners founding partner Boris Jordan.

In addition to the Teleclinic exit, Meier has founded and invested in several other medical startups and initiated a number of VC funds. Jordan, who is responsible for the operations of Curaleaf, a publicly traded cannabis company, created Measure 8 in 2018 to further capitalise on ongoing cannabis sector investments, and Menghistu has been active in banking, investments, M&A Transactions and IPOs for more than six years.

"Many high expectations of investors and global corporations in the European cannabis industry have not been fulfilled as promised since the 'Cannabis Law' in March 2017 came into place, even though the market has grown steadily,” comments Bloomwell Group co-founder Anna-Sophia Kouparanis. “With Bloomwell, we have shown within a timeframe of one year how much can be achieved through entrepreneurial finesse. Nevertheless the still quite young European cannabis industry is full of potential for Bloomwell’s future development. While the market is consolidating elsewhere, all signs point towards growth and expansion through the combination of cannabis, innovation, digitalisation, and a radical D2C or direct-to-patient approach.”