FRENCH cannabis start-up Rainbow has raised €2m (£1.7m) to boost its portfolio as it looks to become the leading hemp-based brand in Europe.

The company launched in 2019 by five entrepreneurs currently has two wellness brands – Kaya, a range of food products mostly consisting of supplements, and the Peace and Skin organic hemp cosmetic collection – as well as offices in Paris, Berlin and London.

This latest funding round for Rainbow is the firm’s second in the past year.

In June 2020 the enterprise launched by Emmanuel Jesberger, Gaétan Laederich and Camille Brocco (the names behind Vaïvaï, which introduced coconut water to France), Ludovic Rachou (of innovative confectionery brands Onegum and Bonsai) and Alison Ouvrier-Neyret (a doctor of pharmacy who is in charge of product development) raised €1m (£855,000) from private investors to facilitate the launch of both Kaya and Peace and Skin.

European Expansion

Sponsors this time around include Senseii Ventures, and private equity fund Artemis Growth, which invests in the burgeoning cannabis market including leading global data and canna-tech firm Prohibition Holdings.

Other Artemis investee companies include; Aureum, a Danish medical cannabis extraction firm and CBD firms CBVIT, and PhytoPūr Bio, with facilities in the Czech Republic.

Now Rainbow plans to use this latest cash injection to boost its reach in Italy, Germany and Poland, and boost its workforce from 35 to 50.

It also aims to offer 100% French products made with CBD created in the republic in line with expected regulatory changes.

The French government has been left with no choice but to adapt current legislation following last autumn’s Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruling that the country’s veto on the sale and production of whole hemp-derived cannabidiol products contradicts EU law. [Read More @ Businesscann]