Akerna Corp. is selling its cannabis software platforms for $5 million in cash to a business called MJ Freeway Acquisition Co., after having backed out of a previous deal for the assets.
Denver-headquartered Akerna did not specify who owns the acquiring company.
However, Florida-based cannabis software company Alleaves is “participating in the financing of the acquisition,” according to Akerna’s late Friday news release.
“This transaction marks yet another significant milestone for our company and underscores Alleaves’ explosive and continued expansion in the cannabis industry,” Mike Beedles, Alleaves’ CEO and founder, said in the Akerna news release.
In February, Alleaves paid $30 million to buy cannabis software provider BioTrack from Forian.
The new deal to sell Akerna’s software assets is connected to the company’s exit from the cannabis industry in order to merge with Las Vegas-based cryptocurrency business Gryphon Digital Mining, announced in January.
Earlier in April, Akerna said it was backing out of a $4 million deal to sell its software platforms – MJ Freeway, Leaf Data Systems and Ample Organics – to Kirkland, Washington-headquartered POSaBit Systems Corp. after receiving a “superior offer” from an unidentified bidder.
Akerna’s $5 million software sale to MJ Freeway Acquisition Co. is conditional on the merger with Gryphon closing and vice versa, according to the release.
From the purchase price, $1 million will take “the form of a one-year loan that will be forgiven at closing of the proposed sale transaction.”
Akerna said it plans to use proceeds from the transaction to pay off outstanding accounts payable as well as the remaining “principal balance on its outstanding senior secured convertible notes, net of $500,000 retained for outstanding obligations and net cash requirements associated with the proposed merger between Akerna and Gryphon.”
Akerna shares trade as KERN on the Nasdaq exchange.
