Dama Financial to acquire GrowFlow

By Edlyn Cardoza

Dama Financial, the nation’s largest provider of access to banking and payment solutions for the cannabis industry, has entered into an agreement to acquire GrowFlow Corp., whose business management and compliance tools have processed more than $3.3 billion for cannabis retailers, cultivators, processors, and distributors.

Combining Dama’s FinTech and payment solutions and GrowFlow’s industry-leading software platform will create the most sophisticated, comprehensive solution for cannabis companies, integrating product, operations, compliance, and financial data in a more usable and flexible solution than any current offering in the industry. The highly scalable platform will fulfil the business needs and regulatory obligations of any licensed cannabis business — dispensary or wholesale — everywhere cannabis is legal in the United States.

“With this acquisition we are creating the leading platform for cannabis operators, essentially a one-stop shop for the business tools they need to thrive,” said Anh Hatzopoulos, Dama’s co-founder and chief executive officer. “We created Dama to solve real problems for the industry through innovation, and integrating GrowFlow’s software into our fintech is a huge step forward in that mission. To be successful in the long term, cannabis operators need legal, compliant, forward-looking solutions like Dama’s that don’t skirt restrictions through workarounds, and this sets us up to keep innovating to champion our customers and propel a booming market.”

Cannabis is currently legal in 37 U.S. states and four U.S. territories. The U.S. market is expected to reach $43 billion by 2025, according to New Frontier Data. Dama is the only solution available in every state where cannabis is legalized.

“I could not be more excited about this merging of minds and technologies,” said Travis Steffen, chief executive officer of GrowFlow. “Our leadership teams have nearly identical views of the industry and how it is evolving. Bringing our solutions together will allow us to serve customers in many unique ways and compete on much more than price.”

This quarter, the transaction is expected to close subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. Greenhill & Co., LLC is acting as a financial advisor, and Goodwin Proctor LLP is acting as legal advisor to Dama. Cooley LLP is acting as a legal advisor to GrowFlow.