With hopes for greener grass in Germany vanishing, consolidation is within the playing cards for hashish firms


As 2023 comes to an finish, it’s only pure to mirror on what occurred within the markets we cowl. However on the subject of hashish, the reply is “not a lot,” which gained’t assist hashish startups which might be already dealing with a difficult funding setting.

Particularly, 2023 wasn’t the yr that Germany legalized grownup leisure hashish use. That issues as a result of that’s not what the authorized hashish market as soon as anticipated, and every time there may be misalignment between actuality and what buyers anticipated, particularly when public firms boosted stated expectations, it’s not often excellent news. Or no less than, not for everybody.

“One development to look out for in 2024 is consolidation,” stated cannabis-focused investor Matt Hawkins, a managing principal at specialised VC agency Entourage Impact Capital. “Corporations have spent vital capital in preparation for a large business market in Germany. [As] the probabilities of that occuring fade, firms won’t be capable of assist their operations with out becoming a member of forces.”

Let’s check out what to recollect from 2023 and what to anticipate in 2024, with assist from a brand-new international hashish report from market intelligence agency Prohibition Companions.

What didn’t occur

The expectations that the EU’s most populated nation would possibly legalize leisure marijuana didn’t come out of skinny air; this chance was very a lot on the desk ever since a visitors gentle coalition took energy in Germany in December 2021. However this coalition of social democrats, liberals and greens watered down its plans a lot since then that one has to surprise how effectively ready it was to beat authorized challenges that shouldn’t have come as a shock.