As angel investors, we get front-row seats to witness the rise of some of the largest and most lucrative industries the world has ever seen.
I’ve personally witnessed plenty of paradigm shifts in my own career, like the rise of ecommerce, the takeover of artificial intelligence, the transformation of the fintech industry, and so many more.
But this year, there’s a red-hot industry exploding in value unlike ever before… and as always, angel investors get first dibs.
I’m talking about cannabis… and more specifically, cannabis tech.
This year, millions of investor dollars are piling into this corner of the industry. In the third quarter alone, for example, VCs poured around $57 million into cannabis tech startups.
But what is cannabis tech? Well, it could be just about anything. The cool thing about cannabis tech is that it intersects with a bunch of other massive industries.
Some, like Blackbird, provide marketing tools for cannabis retailers. Others, like Dutchie, have built e-commerce platforms for dispensaries. There’s even a crowdfunding site, called CannFundr, specifically designed for cannabis-related startups looking for funding.
(And over at Angels & Entrepreneurs, we recently featured a company whose software app is helping cannabis business owners easily sell and deliver their products in North America.)
Cannabis tech is one part of a larger cannabis industry that’s picked up serious steam this year.
In fact, cannabis is one of very few industries that wasn’t affected too negatively by the COVID-19 pandemic. With millions of people stuck at home, companies across the country are seeing unprecedented demand for their products.
Marijuana Business Daily projects that retail sales of both medical and recreational cannabis will hit $15 billion by year’s end. That’s a 40% increase from last year’s numbers.
By just 2024, yearly sales numbers could hit $37 billion, as cannabis-use becomes more widespread across the country.
It’s also estimated that by 2024, cannabis businesses could pump around $130 billion into the American economy every single year… and numbers like these have piqued the interest of some of our country’s top decisionmakers.
This week, the Senate approved a bill that would expand marijuana and CBD research in the United States.
The House of Representatives passed a similar bill last week.
And just two weeks ago, the House passed a bill that decriminalized marijuana at a federal level. Whether or not this bill passes through the Senate, this vote represents a major opportunity for the cannabis industry moving forward.
Cannabis is already expected to be a $73 billion by 2027, with the number of cannabis-related brands jumping over 15X (from 166 to 2,650) between 2014 and 2018.
Thirty-four states have legalized marijuana (at least medically), and 67% of the population supports legalizing it further.
All of this to say, we’re likely about to see some incredible winners enter the cannabis space… and now is the time to take advantage of it.
Now, if you’ve been following me this week, you probably remember me talking about a brand-new cannabis startup that’s getting ready to launch very soon.
It’s led by Bruce Linton (the “Godfather of Cannabis”), and he thinks it could be worth $100 billion within the next five years.
I have full faith that Bruce can do it. He’s already one of the world’s most successful cannabis entrepreneurs, having launched Canopy Growth Corp. just seven years ago.
Canopy grew by over 75,000% in six years and turned at least 200 everyday people into millionaires when they invested.
Neil Patel is a successful entrepreneur and investor who has been active in the startup scene for nearly two decades. Born in London, England, he moved with his family to Orange County, California when he was two years old, where he was surrounded by entrepreneurs and innovators from an early age. Neil is the founder of several companies, including Crazy Egg, Hello Bar, and Quicksprout – companies that established Neil as one of the world’s leading digital marketers. But Neil spends more time these days on the other side of the table – as an angel investor. He has made some unbelievable returns backing early-stage startups. Now, he’s here to teach you to do the same. Neil launched the Angels & Entrepreneurs Network to pull back the curtain on the world of “pre-IPO” investment, because he believes everyone should have access to the same playing field – not just society’s high and mighty.
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this is a big opportunity for the little guy!!