Open Book Extracts, the cannabinoid product maker founded by two Northeast Ohio entrepreneurs, has raised between $20 million and $25 million to expand its research and product development efforts as well as its plant in Roxboro, North Carolina.
The second part of a funding round that began in April was led by the corporate venture unit of British American Tobacco, called Btomorrow Ventures.
"Their interests aligned perfectly with ours, which are focused on R&D innovation and sophistication that we all believe will raise the bar for the broader cannabinoid industry as it continues to grow and mature," said David Neundorfer, Open Book Extract's CEO.
Open Book, which has raised more than $50 million since 2019, plans to use the money to support its research efforts, including toxicology, safety and efficacy research on cannabinoid ingredients and finished products, the company said in a statement.
Neundorfer co-founded Open Book in 2019 with his high school friend, Oscar "Oz" Hackett, who is the company's president and chief financial officer. The cannabinoid product manufacturer is held by Steady State LLC in Waite Hill, Ohio, according to a regulatory filing.
Neundorfer and Hackett also co-founded Greenleaf Apothecaries LLC, winner of one of Ohio's first medical marijuana dispensary licenses in 2018, according to Cleveland.com.
Greenleaf Apothecaries initially opened five The Botanist dispensaries in Cleveland, Akron, Canton, Columbus and Wickliffe, which were sold last year to Acreage Holdings Inc. in New York City.
Neundorfer also is a founder and former CEO of LineStream Technologies in Cleveland, the provider of modular control software to semiconductor and industrial automation companies, which was acquired in 2017 by Danfoss, the Danish multinational company, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Neundorfer and Hackett chose "Open Book" as the name for their latest company because it signified a break with the low-THC industry's lack of transparency, Neundorfer said. (THC is the chemical responsible for most of marijuana's psychological effects, according to LiveScience.com.)
Prior to 2020, some industry players were known for having "inconsistent products that either didn't live up to their label claims or didn't do what they said they were going to do," Neundorfer said. Some unscrupulous actors and brands also made unfounded medical claims, he said.
So, Nuendorfer and Hackett took their company in the opposite direction.
They invested heavily in cannabinoid research and innovation, developed high-quality sources and earned multiple quality certifications for their manufacturing methods.
"We support about a hundred brands in the industry," Neundorfer said.
"We provide reliable ingredients," he said. "We do world-class formulation work to develop the recipes for everything from gummies to beverage enhancers to soft gels. And then we also do finished goods manufacturing onsite."
