Cannabis-focused investment manager KEY Investment Partners announced its partnership with a four-member advisory board Thursday as momentum behind cannabis investing continues to accelerate.
Founded in 2018 on the realization that the legal cannabis industry is under-serviced by investment managers with institutional experience, KEY’s location is just one part of what makes them stand out among cannabis-focused venture/growth equity firms.
“KEY Investment Partners is in the right place at the right time,” said Earl Gallegos of his decision to join KEY in an advisory capacity. The founder of Earl Gallegos Management, a serial entrepreneur, and seasoned executive was tapped by KEY for the advisory board.
Harvard JD Sarah Gersten, 18-year investor and philanthropist Marion Mariathasan, and serial entrepreneur Roy Bingham round out a board that reflects KEY’s outlook around the cannabis market at large. Gersten is a member of the NORML(1) Bar Association and co-founded the cannabis-focused law firm Buddle, and Mariathasan stakes his claim as the founder of Simplifya, which offers operational compliance services to cannabis companies. “Taken together, these board members represent a diverse spectrum of subject matter expertise. Their networks and experience will no doubt prove valuable to KEY as we source and diligence cannabis investment opportunities with attractive risk-adjusted returns for our clients,” said Jordan Youkilis, one of KEY’s founding partners.
“It’s a great pleasure to be involved with KEY at this early stage,” said Bingham of the partnership. “I’m sure we will achieve great things and it’s also great to be included as an advisor in such an exalted company.” Bingham, a Harvard MBA and former McKinsey consultant, co-founded the well-known cannabis-focused market intelligence and data firm BDS Analytics, which helps provide consumer insights to cannabis businesses and industry analysts alike.
“We have carefully cultivated relationships with seasoned executives both inside and outside of the cannabis industry to create a diverse and efficacious advisory board. We will lean on the experience of our board members as we navigate the emerging cannabis economy in search of market leading, innovative companies,” said Tiby Erdely, another of KEY’s founding partners.
"There is just so much innovation in the space," said Pete Karabas, one of KEY's founding partners. "It's undeniable; it can be hard to explain how quickly the cannabis market is evolving to potential investors who aren't on the ground or who aren't very familiar with legal cannabis." As recently as a few years ago, investing in legal cannabis was a veritable wild west of risky stock-picking and reckless speculation. But those are the old days.
About KEY:
KEY Investment Partners is an investment management firm focused on providing growth capital to earlystage cannabis companies. They invest opportunistically across all sub-sectors of the cannabis industry, with the intent of identifying high-growth, market-leading companies that are backed by exceptional management teams. Karabas, Erdely and Youkilis co-founded the firm after the three worked together for the Swiss-based private equity firm Partner’s Group AG (SIX: PGHN). The team has over 20 years combined investment management experience from institutions like Goldman Sachs, GE Capital, and Equity Residential investing on behalf of some of the largest pension funds and endowments in the world. KEY is headquartered in Denver, CO - the most established and mature legal cannabis market in the US - positioning the firm at the forefront of the most exciting trends and developments in the space.
For inquiries, please visit: www.keyinvestmentpartners.com/contact
Email: contact@keyinvestmentpartners.com
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(1) National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws
