Flower-to-bottle hemp: CBD brand RE Botanicals gains US$3m funding

22 Oct 2019 --- Equity funding company BIGR ventures has made a US$3 million Series A investment in organic Cannabidiol (CBD) brand RE Botanicals. The additional funding follows an original investment of US$2 million in the company earlier this year, which allows RE Botanicals to further the momentum generated by the recent merger with its sister brand Palmetto Harmony. Thanks to BIGR’s funding, RE Botanicals has already been able to bring its new, larger 100ml CBD tincture sizes to the market. The company is currently researching new delivery systems other than tinctures or capsules.

“We are shaking up the hemp CBD industry with the first vertically integrated certified-organic flower-to-bottle hemp CBD company. By setting the standard as an organic, glyphosate free, fully transparent brand, we are showing consumers that they have a healthier alternative,” John Roulac, CEO of RE Botanicals tells NutritionInsight. The company is also the first Department of Agriculture (USDA) certified organic company of its type in the US.

Despite organic hemp products only accounting for one percent of the marketplace today, Roulac affirms that BIGR’s investment illustrates the impending growth of organic hemp CBD. He notes that RE Botanicals also advocates for regenerative agriculture and soil health.

RE Botanicals is the first USDA certified organic company of its type in the US.“RE Botanicals was our first foray into investing in the world of hemp and CBD. As the CBD industry continues to grow, we aim to lead by example by putting our funding into a company whose transparency, testing, quality and environmental conservation stands above competitors,” says Carole Buyers, Managing Partner of BIGR Ventures.

Since its merger with Palmetto Harmony, RE Botanicals has positioned itself as the largest certified organic CBD company in the US. 

Authenticity concerns
RE Botanicals is aware of the threat product adulteration and fraud can potentially pose to its business. “Poor quality products, made from poorly grown hemp and poor processing methods, are rampant in CBD today. Our USDA organic seal helps ensure consumers know we have a quality offering, as does our transparency and third-party rating systems such as Center for Food Safety, which recently gave us an A rating,” says Roulac.

RE Botanicals’ product offerings include high-quality Relief Body Oil, made from USDA Certified Organic ingredients and tinctures for both humans and pets, as well as CBD capsules. Palmetto Harmony’s roster includes pain-relieving topicals, organic CBD oils, capsules and skincare. RE Botanicals can be found at Sprouts, Safeway/Albertson’s, Fresh Thyme Farmers Market, Lucky’s, EarthFare, HEB, Erewhon, Giant Eagle and other retailers. 

Newcomers flood CBD market
The CBD industry is bustling with newcomers and novel products to the market. NutritionInsight spotted a range of hemp and CBD products on the show floor at Anuga in Cologne, Germany this month. 

On the other side of the globe, a recently formed joint venture (JV) between Arcadia Biosciences and Legacy Ventures Hawai’i is scaling its Hawai’ian hemp cultivation footprint. The JV has introduced a new auto-flowering hemp varietal and initiated oil extraction operations on the islands. 

A JV between brewery AB InBev and cannabis company Tilray is set to commercialize non-alcoholic CBD-infused beverages throughout Canada. The plan is to have CBD-infused beverages available for sale in Canadian markets to adult consumers as early as December 2019. 

Meanwhile, Socati Corp. is integrating advanced microencapsulation technology from the food and beverage spaces into applications within the hemp-derived ingredients market. The US producer of tetrahydrocannabinol-free (THC) full-spectrum hemp extracts has debuted a line of flavorless water-soluble ingredients aimed at enabling manufacturers to incorporate hemp-derived cannabinoids into their products. 

By Anni Schleicher