Jay-Z: Marijuana Mogul? He joins New Cannabis Venture as Chief Visionary Officer



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The stated goal of the new company is “to redefine the industry with a mission to both strengthen the California cannabis market and create a impactful global business.” Subversive Capital predicts that the combined revenues of the two brands will reach $ 185 million this year and $ 334 million in 2021.

The news comes barely a month after Jay-Z unveiled MONOGRAM, a new cannabis brand he launched with Caliva, where he has been the brand’s chief strategist since July 2019.

In his role as Visionary Director at TPCO, Jay-Z will guide both branding and Social Equity Ventures, described as a corporate venture capital fund that will invest in black-owned and black-owned cannabis companies. minorities and contribute to progressive criminal justice initiatives. These initiatives are to include bail reform, industry skills training, job placement, radiation clinics, and application support for the California Social Equity Program, which provides support to people who were negatively affected by the state’s previous criminalization of cannabis. TPCO will fund Social Equity Ventures with an initial target of $ 10 million and an annual contribution of at least 2% of its net profit.

“While we know that we cannot fully redeem the injustices created by the ‘war on drugs’, we can help shape a brighter and more inclusive future,” Jay-Z said in a statement. “The brands we build will pave the way for a legacy rooted in fairness, access and justice. We are creating something people can trust and we are investing in our future, our employees and our communities.

Jay-Z’s label and management company Roc Nation are also part of the deal, which will rely on Roc Nation artists to help build and promote the new cannabis giant.

Importantly, TPCO also plans to leverage Caliva’s e-commerce platform, Caliva.com, in order to “rapidly scale” the direct reach of the company’s consumers across California, with the hopes to reach 75% of the state’s cannabis users by the end of 2021 and nearly 90% by the end of 2022. Caliva and Left Coast Ventures currently reach about half of California’s cannabis users.

Joining Jay-Z in the TPCO leadership team is Steve allan as CEO, Brett cummings as CFO and President of Left Coast Ventures and Dennis o’malley as COO and President of Caliva. The board of directors will include the CEO of Roc Nation Desiree Perez, former CEO of Yahoo and Autodesk Carol Bartz, Partner of Tuatara Capital Al foreman, CEO of La Jolla group Daniel Neukomm, Director NetApp and Barracuda Jeffry Allen, CEO of Subversive Capital Leland hensch and founder and president of Subversive Capital Michael auerbach.

Jay-Z may be the greatest musician in the California cannabis industry, but he’s definitely not the first. Carlos Santana, Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead, B-Real of Cypress Hill and the Bob marley real estate are among those who have tried to capitalize on the state’s growing market. According to a study conducted by Arcview Market Research and BDS Analytics, cannabis sales in California reached nearly $ 3 billion in 2019, an increase of 18% year over year.

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