Boulder's BDS Analytics, a cannabis market intelligence and consumer research startup, announced on Tuesday that it closed a $7 million funding round.
The round was led by KEY Investment Partners, Altitude Investment Management and 7thirty, with participation from other investors.
The company, founded in 2015, developed a platform that uses dispensary sales data, industry intelligence and consumer research to provide perspective on the cannabis market.
Clients use the GreenEdge platform to find top-selling brands and products, plan geographic expansion and understand customer needs and wants.
With this funding round, BDS plans to expand its coverage of emerging cannabis markets, while also building out its team and the platform. The company has 53 employees and plans to hire an additional 20 this year.
"As the global cannabis economy continues to expand, it is imperative that we're able to scale alongside it to remain an indispensable asset for key decision makers in the industry," CEO Roy Bingham said in a statement. "We're excited about this new round of funding, which will allow us to further enhance our GreenEdge platform and expand our capabilities to the entire addressable cannabinoid market."
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Prior to this round, BDS raised a $3.5 million Series B in May 2018, led by CanopyVentures and Altitude. This furthered the company's relationship with Canopy, as it graduated from Canopy's cannabis business accelerator program in 2015.
"We've seen BDS Analytics surpass its milestones and are proud to be co-leading this round of financing as it continues to grow. It's an exciting time for the company as it expands product lines into new geographies, grows its industry-leading team and improves its cutting-edge technology and services," John Brecker, partner at Altitude Investment Management, said in a statement.
In addition to this funding, Pete Karabas of KEY Investment Partners will join the board of directors and Micah Tapman, managing partner and co-founder of 7thirty, will take over as chairman.
