CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Leaf Trade, a technology company whose wholesale ordering platform connects licensed cannabis vendors and dispensaries, today announced that it has raised $4.5 million in a round led by Hyde Park Angels and Duke Software Investments, with additional participation from Chingona Ventures. The capital will assist the company in expanding to new states and markets to meet current and prospective clients’ needs and in expanding its data science and engineering teams.

Today, the cannabis supply chain is a system fraught with inefficiencies. Cannabis vendors rely on phone calls, text messages, and emails to receive orders and communicate with customers, making order fulfillment a time-consuming, inexact, and arduous process. Leaf Trade’s platform resolves those issues by making order fulfillment digital and streamlined. On the Leaf Trade platform, buyers can easily place orders and sellers can easily manage order fulfillment, without the need for back-and-forth communication across numerous disparate channels. The platform also provides vendors with analytics to help them grow their business.

“We built our platform organically driven by user feedback to directly address the needs of those in this industry,” said Michael Piermont, chief revenue officer at Leaf Trade. “The relationships we’ve built with our clients have become symbiotic partnerships, wherein we grow together into emerging markets and collaboratively transform the wholesale cannabis industry.”

“This is an exciting time for Leaf Trade and our clients. Being on the ground floor and helping them grow has been a joy. We can’t wait to roll out new features and products for them,” offered Leaf Trade co-founder and CEO, James Yi.

“Leaf Trade’s strong customer adoption demonstrates its leadership in the cannabis supply chain software market,” commented Jeff Kleban, member of Hyde Park Angels and board member of Leaf Trade. “Once customers start using Leaf Trade’s platform, they never leave. That’s why we believe that Leaf Trade will become the industry standard for managing product in a cannabis market expected to grow to $40 billion by 2025.”

This funding adds momentum to Leaf Trade’s already significant progress. The company has signed five of the largest cannabis companies as clients: Verano, Green Thumb Industries Inc. (GTI) (CSE: GTII) (OTCQX: GTBIF), GrassRoots, Columbia Care Inc. (NEO: CCHW) (OTCQX: CCHWF) (FSE: 3LP), and Vireo Health International, Inc. (CSE: VREO) (OTCQX: VREOF). In October 2019, Leaf Trade expanded from four states to 12 to meet demand from these and other customers. By the end of 2019, the company plans to grow to 20 states.

About Leaf Trade

Headquartered in Chicago, Leaf Trade is a technology company whose wholesale ordering platform connects licensed cannabis vendors and dispensaries. Using the features on Leaf Trade’s platform, vendors can streamline all order fulfillment processes, increase sales through custom storefronts, and generate powerful reports and analytics. Dispensaries can leverage Leaf Trade’s tools to discover trending products through its data-driven shopping process, easily request samples and marketing materials, and manage orders from their customers from start to finish. To learn more about Leaf Trade, visit leaf.trade or follow @leaf_trade on Twitter.