CBD start-up Alphagreen raises £1.1m seed funding
Alphagreen – Europe’s leading marketplace for CBD and alternative healthcare products – has secured £1.1m of seed funding to help finance the roll out of new products and services alongside their expansion into the US.
This is the largest amount raised to date in Europe for a CBD marketplace. Participants in the seed round included Stockholm-based Enexis AB, US cannabis fund West Creek Investments and angel investors, including Igor and Oleg Tikhturov.
“At the moment the majority of turnover comes from commission fees, content creation, and display ads. This injection of funding will allow Alphagreen to launch and offer a new range of integrated e-commerce services incl. fulfilment, performance marketing, hosting, and data analytics to address specific problems faced by makers of CBD and alternative healthcare products, much in the way that The Hut Group operates.”
Amaury De Poret from Enexis commented that, “Enexis is delighted to support the continued growth of Alphagreen. With its innovative solutions and strong technical abilities, the company is uniquely positioned in the key CBD online marketplace segment”.
US Cannabis Fund, West Creek Investments Walter Arnold said :”Alexej and the Alphagreen team have identified a unique and mutually beneficial way to connect high-quality CBD brands with interested consumers, through an out-sourced direct to consumer model. US brands are looking for growth opportunities in the UK and Europe and Alphagreen provides them with a strong platform to scale in these regions”.
Alphagreen generates revenue from companies listing products on its platform as well as offering them end-to-end e-commerce technology services including translation, SEO and other marketing support. The London-based start-up currently generates organic traffic of 50k unique visitors a month and 80k page views and is growing at an impressive rate 30-40% month on month. This investment will enable Alphagreen to significantly increase the support they provide to consumers brands through their tech-enabled services.
“The funding allows us to set up a new service in the US, the world’s biggest CBD market. We’ll establish and run a bespoke platform for American consumers looking to buy products as well as help leading US brands such as Charlotte’s Web enter Europe and list their products on our site.” said Alexej Pikovsky, co-founder and CEO of Alphagreen
“The global market is poised for a significant growth phase. The wider US cannabis market is currently enjoying robust expansion, with the sector rallying by over 50% in the last month.”
“On top of this, investor optimism has been boosted by hopes Joe Biden’s presidential victory could lead to further decriminalisation. In addition, the UN next month will be discussing descheduling cannabis as well as providing clarity around the international trade of CBD products.”
“These factors will provide significant support for the CBD industry in particular – and Alphagreen will be perfectly positioned to benefit from these fundamental changes to the way the market will function.”