對日趨成熟的大麻市場來說，今年是個拐點。大麻行業金融和戰略咨詢公司Viridian Capital Advisors提供的數據顯示，從年初至今，大麻類公司已經融資近138億美元，而2017年只有35億美元。

過去12個月大麻行業流入資金激增的動力來自加拿大國家層面以及密歇根、俄克拉荷馬和猶他等美國幾個州在立法上的變化。公眾越發支持大麻合法化，而公眾支持力度的不斷增大讓投資者更有信心來支持這個領域中的企業，也促使大型飲料和煙草公司在大麻產品上賭一把。

大麻類公司所籌資金

Viridian Capital Advisors的數據表明，2018年全球大麻行業的上市和非上市公司已經融資近138億美元

所籌資金增多的主要原因是融資規模不斷擴大——2018年單輪融資平均金額從2017年的810萬美元增至2360萬美元。

Viridian的副總裁哈里森·菲利普斯說：“一旦有公司拿到1億美元并把這些資金投入這個領域，從而在收購競標中獲得競爭力，其他經營者為了與之抗衡也會籌集類似數額的資金。這就形成了某種良性循環，讓這些公司的融資額不斷增多?！?/p>

對大麻行業來說，2018年最引人注意的趨勢可能就是大型酒類和煙草公司爭相奪取這個市場的份額。其中一大亮點是生產科羅娜啤酒的星座集團斥資40億美元參股Canopy Growth。另外，位于丹佛的啤酒公司摩森康勝宣布與加拿大的大麻產品制造商Hydropothecary Corporation建立合資企業。擁有萬寶路品牌的奧馳亞表示將對設在多倫多的大麻生產商克羅諾斯集團投資18億美元。

全球數據研究機構PitchBook稱，2018年美國大麻合資公司的價值比2017年增長了一倍多，大麻領域的私募股權投資也上升了三分之一以上。隨著合法醫用大麻市場的發展，2018年最大的一些合資及私募交易出現在了美國醫療保健行業的大麻公司身上，包括Verano Holdings、Surterra和Cura Cannabis Solutions。

2018年10月，加拿大成為第二個休閑用大麻徹底合法化的國家（烏拉圭于2013年實現休閑大麻全國合法化）。2016和2017年，加拿大相關公司的融資額持續上升，原因是醫用大麻項目擴大以及加拿大總理賈斯廷·特魯多表示有意將成人使用大麻合法化。

菲利普斯認為，2019年可能成為驗證之年，因為已經獲得投資的加拿大公司需要在前幾個月拿出它們在新的成人用市場上所取得的成效，這樣今后才能籌集到更多資金。

在美國，大麻在聯邦層面仍不合法，跨州貿易被禁。而許多公司都打算在幾個孤立市場，也就是大麻已經合法化的州開展業務。它們或者到別的州復制自己的設施，或者在那里收購已經成立的小公司，這些都會促使它們融資。

菲利普斯指出，因此每一輪能融資1億美元左右的將是較大的跨州經營商，比如MedMen、Green Thumb、Cresco、Palliatech和Columbia Care，它們都已經在多個市場布局。

他說，較小的美國公司則為提高品牌知名度而繼續籌集資金。涉足大麻二酚產品線的新公司開始獲得投資的時間遠早于2018年農業法案的通過。該法案于上周四獲特朗普總統簽字生效，也正式給予漢麻（hemp）合法身份。漢麻是大麻的一種，有提煉大麻二酚等多種工業用途，但精神活性物質四氫大麻醇的含量不足0.3%。

Viridian的總裁及創始人斯科特·格雷珀預計，盡管今年增長迅速，但只要美國市場的投資和收購交易次數持續上升，2019年的增速甚至會更快。專門研究大麻產業的投資集團ArcView Group估算，到2022年美國大麻市場銷售額將達到234億美元。

大麻合法化得到更多公眾支持可能會在2019年的立法中體現出來——國會議員們正在考慮提議允許大麻公司獲得聯邦存款保險公司支持的銀行賬號。美國衛生部部長已經表示，聯邦政府可能會調整大麻法規，允許在這方面進行更多的醫療研究。

格雷珀說：“直到6個月前，大多數行業活動中的大部分還都在美國市場以外進行，原因就是聯邦層面不合法、沒有商業銀行服務和缺乏跨州貿易等一直存在的問題。更大的資金池，無論是公共的還是私人的，現在開始放心地認為美國將成為世界上最大的市場?！保ㄘ敻恢形木W）

譯者：Charlie

審校：夏林

This year has been a turning point in the maturing marijuana market.

Cannabis-related companies raised nearly $13.8 billion so far this year, compared to just $3.5 billion in 2017, according to data from Viridian Capital Advisors, a financial and strategic advisory firm for the cannabis industry.

The spike in capital flowing into marijuana businesses in the last 12 months was driven by legislative changes both at the national level in Canada and at the state level in U.S. states like Michigan, Oklahoma and Utah. As public support for legalization grows, and growing public support for legalization—shifts that have given investors more confidence about backing companies in the space and enticed big players in the beverage and tobacco industries to make bets on cannabis products.

Capital Raised by Cannabis-Related Companies

Public and private companies in the global cannabis industry raised nearly $13.8 billion in 2018, according to Viridian Capital Advisors

The surge in funding was largely driven by increasing deal size—the average deal rose to $23.6 million in 2018, up from $8.1 million last year.

“Once one company raises $100 million and starts to deploy that into the space, to be competitive in the acquisition bidding process, other operators have to raise similar amounts of capital to be competitive,” says Harrison Phillips, vice president at Viridian. “That creates a sort of positive feedback loop where these companies raise more and more capital.”

Perhaps the most notable cannabis trend of 2018 was the rush of big alcohol and big tobacco companies taking stakes in market. A splashiest was Coronoa-maker Constellation Brands’ $4 billion stake in Canopy Growth. Denver brewer Molson Coors, meanwhile, announced a joint venture with The Hydropothecary Corporation, a Canadian cannabis producer, and Marlboro maker Altria said it would invest $1.8 billion in Toronto-based Cronos Group.

The value of venture capital deals in the U.S. marijuana industry more than doubled this year compared to 2017, according to data from Pitchbook, and private equity investments in cannabis increased by more than one-third. Some of the largest VC and PE deals in 2018 went to American cannabis companies in the healthcare sector, including Verano Holdings, Surterra, and Cura Cannabis Solutions, as legal medical marijuana markets expanded.

In October, Canada became the second country to legalize recreational marijuana nationwide (after Uruguay in 2013). The amount raised by companies in the country has already been on the upswing in 2016 and 2017 as the medical cannabis program grew and prime minister Justin Trudeau announced the intent to legalize adult use.

2019 will likely be a proving year, said Phillips, as Canadian companies that have received investments will need to deliver results in the new adult use market in the early part of next year if they hope to be in a position to raise more money going forward.

In the U.S., where marijuana remains federally illegal and interstate commerce is banned, many of the companies attempting to operate in more than one of the isolated markets where marijuana has been legalized have been driven to raise funds this year as they’ve moved to either duplicate their facilities in new states or to acquire smaller businesses already established in the new region.

For this reason, it’s the larger, multi-state operators like MedMen, Green Thumb, Cresco, Palliatech, Columbia Care, all of which have already built their businesses in multiple markets, that are raising those $100 million-or so rounds, Phillips said.

Smaller U.S. companies continue to raise money to increase brand awareness, he said, and new ventures in CBD (or cannabidiol) product lines have drawn investments this year as well ahead of the 2018 Farm Bill passage. President Trump signed the bill into law on last Thursday, officially legalizing hemp. The hemp plant, which has multiple industrial uses including extracting CBD, is a variety of cannabis plant with less than 0.3% of the psychoactive THC (or tetrahydrocannabinol) compound.

Even given this year’s growth, Viridian president and founder Scott Greiper predicts that 2019 will be even bigger as far as the number of investments and acquisitions in the U.S. market, which is expected to generate $23.4 billion in sales by 2022, according to Arcview Research.

The growing public support for legalization may begin to show up in legislation in 2019 as lawmakers consider a bill to allow marijuana companies to access FDIC-backed bank accounts. The U.S. surgeon general has also indicated that the federal government may move toward rescheduling cannabis to permit more medical research.

“Up until about 6 months ago, the majority of most of the activity was outside the U.S. market because of the continued issue with federal illegality and lack of commercial banking and lack of interstate commerce,” Greiper said. “Larger pools of capital, public and private, are starting to get comfortable that the U.S. market will become the largest market in the world.”