Bespoke Financial fuels ongoing growth and expansion of LadyBug Farms

By Edlyn Cardoza

Bespoke Financial, the nation’s first cannabis focused FinTech lender, has partnered with LadyBug Farms to provide a $3.5 million line of credit as the large-scale California cultivator expands its cultivation facilities to continue to meet the growing demand of California’s cannabis patients and consumers.

Well known as the “farm behind California’s favorite brands,” LadyBug Farms cultivates for industry leading brands such as Old Pal, Cookies, Miss Grass, Pure Beauty, Weed and Dimebag among others. Its decision to pursue debt financing was based upon a combination of factors, most notably the lack of traditional funding in the cannabis industry and a desire to avoid capital investments as a means to maintain control of the company. The line of credit is helping the longtime California business expand its existing greenhouse capacity across three locations, as well as to provide the flexibility needed to focus on its business, rather than worry about operational expenses. LadyBug Farms has been a working farm producing commercial flowers for major retailers and florists since 1947 and entered the cannabis industry five years ago.

“It’s rare to find a cannabis business with such a rich history and expansive experience in cultivation,” said George Mancheril, founder and CEO of Bespoke Financial. “We knew that LadyBug had a reputation for high quality, but we have been really impressed by the company’s strong performance to date, and how they have positioned themselves to steadily grow with the market and continually expand their customer base.”

Headquartered in Monterey, California with additional cultivation facilities in Half Moon Bay, LadyBug Farms is a cannabis cultivator, processor, co-packager and distributor supplying products to some of the state’s leading retailers and is recognized for its high quality and fair market pricing. The farm harvests cannabis five days a week throughout the year producing up to 100,000 pounds of biomass annually. It is no secret that cannabis businesses can be notoriously difficult to fund through non-equity diluting options, which can dramatically reduce opportunities to scale businesses.

Jake Brookes, Chief Operating Officer of LadyBug Farms, said, “So many companies in cannabis are busy raising capital, which leaves them unable to focus on operating the business. Taking the debt financing route enables us to manage our expansion and growth plans while still maintaining control and giving us the flexibility to really focus on our core strengths. But our experience and longevity really provides the resources we need to handle debt during our growth, and we don’t have to worry about losing sight of our long term focus and plan to grow with the market and our partner brands.”

Founded in 2018, Bespoke Financial is the nation’s first licensed FinTech lender focused on the cannabis industry and is focused on bridging the divide between institutional investors and cannabis. Led by a premier team of experts in FinTech and cannabis industries, Bespoke Financial provides clients access to working capital by offering short term lending options to fuel business growth in the legal cannabis industry, reducing cash flow cycles and providing cannabis companies greater financial flexibility. The company is backed by respected venture capital firms such as Casa Verde Capital, Greenhouse Capital Partners, Outbound Ventures, Vista Investment Group, Ceres Group Holdings and Sweat Equity Ventures.