Canopy Growth Corp (TSE:WEED) (NYSE:CGC) (FRA:11L1)’s $500 million deal this week should be a sobering moment for anyone in the cannabis industry investment mix. It’s yet another first, being the largest sum ever raised in a single financing for a cannabis company.

With an interest of 4.25 percent, its as cheap as money gets for corporations, almost. The conversion rate of ~20 shares per $1000 note implies a share price today of $48 a share for Canopy Growth, a premium of 23 percent.

The world’s largest and most conservative capital pools are now participating in an industry that a mere 5 years ago was pretty much still illegal.

And now, on the cusp of becoming the first nation among the G7 to have both a recreational and medical regulatory framework in place, the first, biggest, and most valuable cannabis company on Earth has achieved a truly investment grade rating.

CEO Bruce Linton has led the company into this new era, eschewing quantity for quality in his growth strategy, launching intelligent strategic satellites to Canopy like Tweed Main Street, that, when considered in its entirety, assures Canopy an almost infintie supply of cannabis from partners who are incentivized to leave the marketing to Tweed as a reliable outlet for products.

Canopy Rivers, soon to be a public entity on its own, gives Canopy Growth the ability to finance entities it thinks might one day be comlimnetary to its corporate mix, while providing a measure of security through diversification into as-yet unproven sub-segments of the evolving cannabis marketplace like cannabis foods, bioceuticals and even clothing.

WATCH Bruce Linton riffs on Canopy’s diverse approach and even pays a compliment to Aurora Cannabis Inc.

Canopy Health Innovations embodies a pure research and development enterprise that itself could become a billion dollar “big pharma” play. The medical applications for the full range of Cannabinoids is at this point still in its infancy.

In many respects, Canopy’s evolution into a Fortune 500 brand (don’t worry – it’s coming) is a testament to the leadership of the entire Canopy team, who have judiciously avoided the excesses of instant unicorn executives, and commendably declined to default to hubris and bombast – two garments of massive corporate success that few fail to don.

Now with an implied valuation of $11 Billion, Canopy Growth has pulled way out in front of the next biggest licensed producers, and established a new status for the cannabis industry in its entirety.

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