06.25.19
Akerna Corp. (NASDAQ: KERN) has become the first regulatory compliance technology company in the cannabis space to be traded on Nasdaq.
The new company was launched as a result of a merger between MTech Acquisition Corp. (“MTech”), the first U.S.-listed Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) focused on acquiring a business in the cannabis industry, and MJ Freeway LLC (“MJ Freeway”), a leading seed-to-sale regulatory compliance technology provider and developer of the cannabis industry’s first enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform.
The merger was approved at a meeting of MTech stockholders last week – about 18 months after MTech’s initial Form S-1 registration statement was filed with the Securities Exchange Commission.
We believe that no other cannabis-related SPACs have been launched in the United States, perhaps because of the long road and travails MTech experienced with its offering.
However, in the time since MTech filed it Form S-1, several Canadian SPACs have been used to take U.S.-based cannabis companies public, such as the $2 billion Columbia Care SPAC transaction that currently trades on the Canadian NEO Exchange.
It remains to be seen if newer exchanges, such as the NEO, can support trading volumes that would normally be associated with multi-billion dollar companies that would traditionally be traded on the national exchanges in the U.S.
Hopefully, Akerna’s successful listing will bring some of the cannabis industry SPAC action back stateside.
Subscribe Now!
Recommended Content
A new milestone for cannabis investing in the U.S.?
First Canadian cannabis company could be headed for NYSE
Hemp prohibition ends with the stroke of a pen
Cannabis cultivator paves the way for marijuana companies on the NASDAQ exchange
After full cannabis legalization in Canada, stocks likely to hit a new high