An Incubator For Cannabis Startups That – Get This – Is Government Sponsored Is Setting Up Shop in Israel’s Negev Desert

Cannabis

Here in the United States, the notion of a government-sponsored cannabis tech incubator is pretty much unthinkable. But in Israel, just such an incubator concentrating on medical cannabis is reality and about to get underway.

Its sponsors call it the world’s first government-supported cannabis incubator.

Says Kfir Kachlon, who is with the investment platform OurCrowd and is the tech lead for the project: “Cannabis for you [in the U.S.] sounds controversial, but in Israel, we have been researching cannabis for decades, and no one is afraid of cannabis in the government.”

Indeed, the government’s Israeli Innovation Authority (IIA) is financially backing the incubator, CanNegev, named for its Negev desert setting in Yerucham, a small town in Israel’s Southern District.

Each of the six initial startups at CanNegev – eventually increasing to 30 — will receive a non-diluted loan of 85 percent and up to NIS 1 million (about $U.S. 289,461) for R&D costs for a year.

Covering the remaining 15 percent private equity and likely, even more, will be three major investors: OurCrowd, the investment platform based in Jerusalem with international branches worldwide, including in the U.S.; the pharmaceutical company BoL Pharma, an Israel-based pharmaceuticals company; and Perrigo, an Ireland-based provider of health and wellness solutions. Their combined total future investment is estimated to be NIS 130.

Read More At Forbes

Image Source: Forbes