London-based startup Lyphe Group, a medical cannabis ecosystem that provides patient care, medical treatments and direct-2-patient digital services, announced on Monday that it has raised £5M (approximately €5.89M) in its Series A round of funding.
Lyphe reports that it has witnessed a successful year in 2021, increasing its revenues by more than 250 per cent YoY. With more than 100 team members working across telehealth, dispensing and technology services, Lyphe aims to become the largest medical cannabis operator in Europe.
Investors in this round
The round was led by Leafy Tunnel Ltd, an early-stage venture capital firm that acts as the investment adviser to Leafy Tunnel Fund 1. The Guernsey-based fund invests in European medical cannabis and global medical psychedelics companies at Seed and Series A stages.
Co-founding Partner at Leafy Tunnel, Bek Muslimov, says, “We strongly believe that Lyphe is well-positioned to continue its growth as a market leader in medical cannabis in the UK and Europe. This is an important milestone, which we are excited to contribute to, as these funds should help to further accelerate the company’s expansion strategy across Europe. We are fully aligned with the company’s roadmap towards securing a leading market position in Europe and look forward to supporting the management in achieving Lyphe Group’s next milestones.”
The round also saw participation from Chicago-based cannabis advisory firm, Sharp Capital Advisors, and a syndicate of HNW investors.
“UK’s popular cannabis clinical telehealth and dispensing ecosystem”
Founded by Jonathan Nadler, Lyphe Group, which claims to be a patient-first cannabis access company, has built a digital-first ecosystem that provides clinics, dispensing, import infrastructure, and vital educational services to patients, doctors and the industry. It does that through its operating companies, including The Medical Cannabis Clinics, The Academy of Medical Cannabis, Astral Healthcare, and Dispensary Green.
The company’s goal is to provide safe and effective treatments while normalising cannabis into mainstream healthcare across the world.
Earlier in February 2022, Lyphe Group and Four 20 Pharma GmbH joined together to bring Four 20 Pharma GmbH’s 100 per cent natural unirradiated medical cannabis to the UK.
Funds for expansion in the UK and Europe
Lyphe says that the funds will help the company to expand into multiple markets across Europe with the help of its dispensing software and vertically integrated supply chain.
Lyphe CEO and co-founder, Jonathan Nadler, says, “It was critical for Lyphe to raise enough funds to execute on our scale up plans and be in control of our destiny. We are fortunate to be leaders in our primary market with a very clear growth plan, and as such we have attracted the very best investors into this round from the US, Europe and the UK. Leafy Tunnel sees us step into venture capital, and we are honoured to have them on the cap table and supporting our vision for international growth, alongside Sharp Capital and all other new and old shareholders.”
The leadership team and the Lyphe Board have also been strengthened to accommodate future growth.
Independent non-Executive Chairman and pharmaceutical veteran, Brian Fisher, will join Lyphe’s board alongside his role as Vice-Chair of The Association of Pharmaceutical Specials Manufacturing, having held senior positions with Quantum, Alliance Healthcare and AAH.
The company’s newly appointed CEO, Jonathan Nadler, has been reported to be influential in establishing the foundations of the UK medical cannabis industry, and since co-founding Lyphe, has been building access and demand. Currently, he sits on the board with Fisher alongside the other executive team, James Scarth and Chris Ashton, as well as non-Executive Directors Simon Lawley, Brad Morris, and Sarah Cope.
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