Athol, Mass.-based Ascend Wellness, a company that cultivates and processes marijuana, raised $55 million in a new round of funding to support its expansion in the East Coast. The fund split comes with $37 million in a bridge round of preferred equity and $18 million in senior debt.
The round was led by Shire Capital, Three Bays Capital, and JM10 Partners. Existing investors including Poseidon Asset Management and Salveo Capital also participated. The latest round brings the company's total capital to $100 million.
The company raised $40 million in December last year and announced plans to open three retail dispensaries in the Boston area.
One of them is coming to fruition with its first adult-use flagship store called 'Ascend' located at 272 Friend St. near Faneuil Hall, set to open by the end of 2019. The five-story building will be sprawled across 16,000-square feet. Additionally, the company is also building a 9.5-acre cannabis cultivation facility, called MassGrow in its hometown, Athol. The campus is expected to produce 15 million grams of cannabis annually.
The company is in the process of obtaining additional licenses in Massachusetts, Michigan and Illinois, and using funds from this round to expand to its fourth state -- Ohio -- through an agreement to purchase a tier II cultivation license. The state allowed use of medical marijuana in January and Ascend Wellness is in advanced discussions for dispensary licenses in the state.
“AWH is excited to close on funding that will allow us to build out our market leading Massachusetts operations and to enter the newly legalized Ohio market,” AWH Founder and CEO, Abner Kurtin, said in a statement. “We expect to be operating in all four of our markets by the end of 2019.”
