"Peter Thiel's Founders Fund becomes first institutional investor in marijuana"

From City AM:

The Founders Fund, headed by PayPal founder Peter Thiel, has made a multi-million dollar investment in America's flowering marijuana industry.

After weeks of media chatter, Founders Fund confirmed its investment in Privateer Holdings, the firm responsible for the launch of Marley Natural, one of the world's first global cannabis brands.

The company has not revealed the size of its investment, but it came as part of a second round of financing totaling $75m. Thiel's venture capital firm is breaking new ground as the first institutional investor in the marijuana industry.

The company's chief executive Brendan Kennedy, says the new money will be used to invest in medical marijuana and other legal ventures. He believes the market for cannabis in the US could be worth as much as $50bn....MORE