Ken Clement of ABcann Medicinals Inc. is to celebrate his birthday in a big way Thursday as the company he founded goes public.

Shares of ABcann Medicinals Inc., which opened in 2014 and began selling cannabis to customers across Canada last year, are to be listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange Venture Exchange as ABcann Global (TSXV: ABCN).

This spring, the company completed a process called a reverse takeover, where it amalgamated with an existing publicly traded shell company that is not operating. ABcann transfers its operations to that company and assumes its public status.

“This is the very, very, very beginning and yes it is a few years old, but still it is an industry that will be here for hundreds of years, medically and recreationally,” Clement said in an interview Tuesday.

“How big can the industry be? It is hard to tell, but Canada is leading the world.”

ABcann is one of the 34 companies licensed to grow medicinal marijuana in Canada.

Since beginning to sell to patients in June last year, the company has since seen a 30 per cent increase each month.

In the past few months, the company has raised close to $27 million to fund its expansion, including a 1,200-square-metre (13,000-square-foot) addition to its Vanluven Road facility.

The company’s growth, and the potential for more, has the company already working to build a new, 9,300-square-metre (100,000-square-foot) facility on a 26-hectare (65-acre) property near its existing building.

The company currently employs about 50 people. Once up and running, the new facility is expected to employ more than 300 more people.

The new building is to be a scaled-up version of the existing facility, which is licensed to produce approximately 625 kilograms of medical marijuana a year.

In addition to the Canadian market, the company has exported to Israel and Australia and has applied to begin exporting to Germany.

“The sky is the limit for it,” he said.