The world's biggest cannabis company is... American

If you were asked which is the largest cannabis company in the world, there’s a good chance you’d answer Canopy Growth, which is its market capitalization since Constellation Brands took over within the company. But in terms of revenue, the largest companies are located across the border, in the United States.

Until now, Green Thumb Industries had dominated the U.S. market with RISE, a chain of cannabis retail stores; a portfolio of eight brands (including Beboe and Incredibles); the operation of more than a dozen production facilities, and the management of licenses for approximately 70 retail locations across 12 U.S. states. With an EBITDA margin of over 25%, Green Thumb is one of the most profitable companies the cannabis industry has ever seen. Its expansion is expected to continue, as Green Thumb has acquired licenses to open up to 96 stores across the country—more than double the number it currently operates.

Green Thumb has, however, been dethroned by Curaleaf Holdings, a Massachusetts-based company that grows, processes, and sells cannabis through dispensaries in 18 states, and which last week acquired Grassroots, a Chicago-based cannabis grower and retailer, for 830 million $. This makes Curaleaf the world’s largest cannabis company in terms of sales, with expected annual revenue of approximately 1 billion $, according to estimates by Executive Chairman Boris Jordan, the the first billionaire in the cannabis industry.

A gamble or a stroke of genius?

Two-thirds of the U.S. states have now legalized cannabis medical. On the recreational side, 11 states and Washington, D.C., have already legalized it, a number that is expected to double within four years. Curaleaf is therefore anticipating this market growth, which could either skyrocket in the event of federal legalization or continue to be managed on a state-by-state basis.

The acquisition of Grassroots would help Curaleaf better compete with all the consumer products giants that would enter the cannabis market if the U.S. government legalized cannabis, Jordan said.

«Clearly, this is a big gamble,» said declared Jordan. «This could go wrong,» especially if the federal government changes its approach to protecting states that legalize marijuana or does not change its regulatory stance. «But I think the genie is out of the bottle» when it comes to federal legalization, he added.