Top cannabis-centered site Leafly is in discussion with blank-check Company Merida Merger Corp I in an arrangement that would value the merged company at more than $530 million, three individuals acquainted with the matter said.
The blank-check company is owned by Merida Capital Holdings, perhaps the greatest backers of Leafly, whose site visits have seen a fleeting ascent on account of facilitating guidelines in the US and rising weed use.
An arrangement could be reported within one week from now, the source said, forewarning that talks could in any case self-destruct.
Following the consolidation, Merida will take no less than one seat on the new board, while Leafly’s team will be driven by CEO Yoko Miyashita, the sources said, declining to be named as talks were as yet private.
Leafly and Merida didn’t quickly react to a remark.
The company plans to utilize the returns from the arrangement more for its east coast business, the sources said.
Established in 2010, Leafly was owned by cannabis-centered private equity group Privateer Holdings between 2012 and 2019.
The company offers customers ways to discover weed stores to purchase the cannabis strains they need, runs a pickup and delivery service, and posts reviews on various cannabis items.
Over half of North American cannabis dispensaries utilize Leafly’s platform for e-commerce, advertising, and different services.
Possibilities of federal legislation and pandemic-led lockdowns have pushed up Leafly’s webpage visits to in excess of 220 million last year, up 12% from 2019, making it the world’s most visited site on weeds.
The arrangement, whenever concluded, would be the most recent in a growing sector that has gotten the blank-check furor. Opponent Weedmaps’ parent company struck a blank-check bargain in December to list on the Nasdaq.
Leafly means to list on the Nasdaq under the ticker image ‘LFLY’, one individual said.
Blank-check firms are publicly traded companies that use funds from their IPOs to purchase private firms, taking them public in the process.
Billionaire William “Beau” Wrigley Jr’s Parallel and Jay-Z supported Californian pot maker TPCO Holdings have additionally struck comparable arrangements to list their shares.
