By Shariq Khan
Aug 6 (Reuters) – High cannabis-focused web site Leafly is in talks to merge with blank-check firm Merida Merger Corp I in a deal that will worth the mixed firm at greater than $530 million, three folks acquainted with the matter advised Reuters.
The blank-check agency is owned by Merida Capital Holdings, one of many greatest backers of Leafly, whose website visits have seen a meteoric rise because of easing rules in america and rising weed use.
A deal may very well be introduced as quickly as subsequent week, the supply stated, cautioning that talks may nonetheless disintegrate.
Following the merger, Merida will take at the very least one seat on the mixed firm’s board, whereas Leafly’s group will proceed to be led by Chief Government Yoko Miyashita, the sources stated, declining to be named as talks have been nonetheless confidential.
Leafly and Merida didn’t instantly reply to a remark.
The corporate plans use the proceeds from the deal partly to speculate extra into its east coast enterprise, the sources stated.
Based in 2010, Leafly was owned by cannabis-focused personal fairness group Privateer Holdings between 2012 and 2019.
The corporate presents shoppers methods to search out weed shops to purchase the hashish strains they need, runs a pickup and supply service and posts opinions on totally different hashish merchandise.
Greater than half of all North American hashish dispensaries use Leafly’s platform for e-commerce, promoting and different providers.
Prospects of federal legalization and pandemic-led lockdowns have pushed up Leafly’s website visits to greater than 220 million final 12 months, up 12% from 2019, making it the world’s most visited web site on weeds.
The deal, if accomplished, could be the most recent in a nascent sector that has caught the blank-check frenzy. Rival Weedmaps’ dad or mum firm struck a blank-check deal in December to listing on the Nasdaq.
Leafly intends to listing on the Nasdaq below the ticker image ‘LFLY’, one of many folks stated.
Clean-check corporations are publicly traded corporations that use the funds from their preliminary public choices to purchase personal corporations, taking them public within the course of.
Billionaire William “Beau” Wrigley Jr’s Parallel and Jay-Z backed Californian pot producer TPCO Holdings have additionally struck related offers to listing their shares.
Hashish web site Leafly to lift $30 mln in recent funding
From gum to gummies, Beau Wrigley takes pot producer Parallel public
Marijuana Legalization by Statehttps://tmsnrt.rs/3fDoD36
(Reporting by Shariq Khan in Bengaluru; Enhancing by Sweta Singh and Arun Koyyur)
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