Front Range Biosciences Raises $10 Million for Cannabis Research
Front Range Biosciences (FRB), a leading agricultural biotech company specializing in tissue culture propagation of high value crops, announced in a press release on October 4, 2018 (1), that it has completed a $10 million Series A round of financing for cannabis research.
Front Range Biosciences (FRB), a leading agricultural biotech company specializing in tissue culture propagation of high value crops, announced in a press release on October 4, 2018 (1), that it has completed a $10 million Series A round of financing for cannabis research.
"This financing will help us accelerate our Clean Stock program in Colorado, California, and Canada, in addition to aggressively pursuing IP development and resourcing our varietal development program for hemp and cannabis," said Dr. Jonathan Vaught, CEO and co-founder of FRB, in the press release. "As cannabis and hemp legalization spreads throughout the United States and internationally, there is an increase in demand for clean, quality crops-this capital will also enable us to expand our capacity to meet a small portion of that demand. We appreciate the support from our early investors and are pleased to welcome new investors to the family as we execute on our mission to provide growers with a wide variety of disease-free and true-to-type plant stock."
According to the company’s website (2), the Clean Stock program provides cannabis, hemp, and coffee producers with pesticide-free, virus-free, true-to-type plants by using the best practices in agricultural technology. FRB's Clean Stock program reportedly leverages tissue culture, the sterile propagation of baby plants through duplication on a nutrient culture medium of known composition, to solve operational problems such as disease, inefficiency, inconsistency and scale.
Investors reportedly include Phyto Partners, WelCan Capital, Salveo Capital, Cornerstone Opportunity Partners, Sand Hill Angels, Harvard Business School Alumni Angels of New York, New York Angels, Altitude Investment Management, and other new and returning investors. FRB has completed the largest fundraising by a U.S. cannabis biotech company to date.
