By Lynda Kiernan, Global AgInvesting Media

Intrinsic Capital Partners announced it has closed Intrinsic Health Partners LP (the Fund)  – its growth equity fund focused on technologies and life sciences advances that are applied to the legal cannabis and hemp industries – at $102 million. 

Founded in Pennsylvania by principals Gerald Stahlecker, Cornelius Merlini, and Dr. Howard Goodwin, Intrinsic Partners is the first investment firm with a team that includes both experienced institutional investors and tech and life science operators to target opportunities in ancillary cannabis and hemp businesses.

“We are excited to invest on behalf of our investors in this high growth industry,” said Dr. Goodwin. “We believe this is a multi-decade secular trend, and a rare opportunity to invest in a space where there’s tremendous underlying demand, a strong industry-wide growth profile and scarcity of capital.”

Driving the success of Intrinsic’s operator-centric investment model is its diverse network of experienced advisors spanning consumer marketing, technology, healthcare, and regulatory policies that have supported the firm’s investment and segment diligence, market risk assessment, and regulatory evaluations.

To-date, the bulk of the capital invested in the legal cannabis and hemp sectors has been committed to licensed cultivators, dispensaries, or brands in the recreational sphere. Intrinsic has pivoted its sights on investing in ancillary tech companies that aren’t pigeonholed into a niche, but rather support the industries in a broader way. 

“While developing our investment thesis and fund strategy, it became clear to us that many of these businesses would benefit from more than just capital,” said Merlini. “So, we built a top team of advisors who have scaled valuable businesses and are able to provide our portfolio companies with strategic advice, mentoring, operational support and regulatory know-how.”

This group, which has taken an active hand in building and scaling Intrinsic’s portfolio in their roles as either board directors or members of the management team includes:

~ Bill McComb – former CEO of Liz Claiborne, Inc., company group chairman for DePuy Orthopedics within Johnson & Johnson, and president of McNeil Consumer Healthcare

~ Minnie Baylor-Henry – former director, DDMAC, of the FDA and National Health Fraud Coordinator of the FDA, Worldwide VP of Regulatory Affairs for Medical Devices & Diagnostics within Johnson & Johnson, and VP of Medical & Regulatory Affairs for McNeil Consumer Healthcare

~ Bob Sheroff – former global head of supply chain across multiple divisions with Johnson & Johnson, including Global Biologics at Jansen, and Worldwide VP of Quality at Warner Lambert, and,

~ Bob Miller, Ph.D. – former SVP of Gilead Sciences, Inc. and head of Quality across multiple divisions of Johnson & Johnson.

So far the fund has committed $65 million across four investments, with plans to deploy capital across a further two.

As it currently stands, the portfolio includes ACT Laboratories, a lab testing company; Treez Inc., a startup offering business management software; Hound Labs Inc., a provider of marijuana and alcohol breathalyzer technology; and Elemental Brands Inc., a producer of hemp-derived consumer healthcare products. 

Stahlecker noted, “This is a unique and opportune time for a fund with dry powder to invest in market segments where traditional capital providers and strategic corporations have largely stayed on the sideline, creating pricing dislocation, attractive private market valuations and ample exit strategies.”

 

– Lynda Kiernan is editor with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, and HighQuest Group’s Oilseed & Grain News. She is also a contributor to the GAI Gazette. She can be reached at lkiernan@globalaginvesting.com.