Marijuana tissue-culture technology company raises more than $15 million

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Conception Nurseries, a Sacramento, California-based cannabis genetics firm, raised $15 million with the addition of approximately $12 million in a Series A funding round to help add scale and automation to its operation.

According to Green Market Report, the funding round was led by New York-based cannabis data group Viridian Capital Advisors with facilitation by broker-dealer Pickwick Capital Partners.

Raises of this amount are particularly noteworthy during the global coronavirus pandemic.

Conception CEO Kevin Brooks said the company’s goal is to help cultivators by bringing tissue-culture technology, also known as micropropagation, to the cannabis industry.

Growers are typically dependent on “mother plants” to produce clones that, according to the company, deliver inconsistent harvests with diluted and uncontrollable traits.

“This results in cultivators being unable to accurately forecast production and end users being unable to depend on a consistent experience,” Brooks told Green Market Report.

“Tissue-culture technology allows Conception to quickly mass-produce identical, disease-free plantlets with customized and consistent profiles.”

According to Brooks, the company’s technology will reduce growers’ operational risks and costs while increasing yields.