U.S. pot financing outpaces Canadian cannabis companies on CSE

Growing flowers of cannabis intended for the medical marijuana market are shown at OrganiGram in Moncton, N.B., on April 14, 2016. U.S. cannabis companies raised more capital via the Canadian Securities Exchange during the first 10 months of this year than their domestic counterparts, marking that tipping point for the first time. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ron Ward

TORONTO — U.S. cannabis companies raised $1.5 billion on the Canadian Securities Exchange during the first 10 months of this year, surpassing their Canadian counterparts for the first time.

Data from the smaller, alternative exchange shows U.S.-based pot company financing activity in the January-to-October period usurped the $1 billion raised by Canadian-based issuers during the same period.

CSE chief executive Richard Carleton says investor attention is shifting away from the Canadian industry, which is well-capitalized, to the U.S. where “the real activity is yet to come.”

Cannabis remains illegal at the federal level south of the border, but political sentiment is warming up to the drug.

Pot companies have flocked to the CSE due to its looser listing rules than the Toronto Stock Exchange, and marijuana listings accounted for 70 per cent of the $3.6 billion in financing activity during the first 10 months of 2018.

The CSE had 212 pot industry deals and $2.5 billion raised in the January-to-October period this year compared with 156 deals and $691 million raised during all of 2017.

The Canadian Press