Akerna Corp. (NASDAQ: KERN) has completed its previously announced acquisition of Ample Organics Inc., effective July 7, 2020.
Ample Organics was acquired for CDN $7.5 million in cash and approximately 3.3 million shares exchangeable into an equivalent number of Akerna common stock valued at approximately CDN $41.8 million.
Akerna initially announced the acquisition in December 2019, valuing Ample Organics at approximately CDN $60 million.
Cowen acted as exclusive financial advisor to Akerna, and INFOR Financial Inc. acted as exclusive financial advisor to Ample Organics. Dentons Canada LLP acted as legal counsel.
Led by John Prentice, Toronto based Ample Organics Inc. is a cannabis seed-to-sale platform. Since 2017, Ample Organics had raised $15 million in equity funding from Green Acre Capita, Osmington Inc. and private investors from Canada and Bahamas.
Denver, Colorado based Akerna is a global regulatory compliance technology company in the cannabis space. Akerna’s service offerings include MJ Platform®, Leaf Data Systems®, solo sciences, Trellis and Ample Organics.
photo credit: Ample Organics
News Release
Akerna Completes Acquisition of Ample Organics
DENVER, July 8, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Akerna Corp. (Nasdaq: KERN), a leading provider of enterprise software solutions for the cannabis industry and developer of the cannabis industry’s first seed-to-sale enterprise resource planning (ERP) software technology (MJ Platform®), is pleased to announce it has completed its acquisition of Ample Organics Inc., Canada’s industry-leading seed-to-sale platform with a majority market share.
“After working closely with John and the team at Ample over the last six months finalizing our integration and go to market strategies, I could not be more confident in the merits of the transaction and associated synergies,” said Jessica Billingsley, chief executive officer, Akerna. “The cannabis economy runs on Akerna. The close of our acquisition of Ample Organics solidifies our position as the scaled global technology provider serving the industry.”
This combination provides Akerna with a significant advantage as the company leverages its pre-eminent global technology platform, addressing the entire supply chain and its regulatory bodies through accountability and transparency. With this acquisition, Akerna is further executing on its business strategy of complementing strong organic growth with select acquisitions of highly targeted and synergistic technology companies.
“Today marks a significant milestone for Ample Organics,” commented John Prentice, chief executive officer of Ample. “We are thrilled to be joining forces with Akerna to create the only true provider of technology solutions for the cannabis sector across North America.”
Under the terms of the transaction, Ample Organics was acquired for CAD$7.5 million in cash and approximately 3.3 million shares exchangeable into an equivalent number of Akerna common stock.
Cowen acted as exclusive financial advisor to Akerna, and INFOR Financial Inc. acted as exclusive financial advisor to Ample Organics.
All numbers are based on currency exchange rates as of Dec. 17, 2019.
About Akerna
Akerna is a global regulatory compliance technology company in the cannabis space. Akerna’s service offerings include MJ Platform®, Leaf Data Systems®, solo sciences, Trellis and Ample Organics. Since its establishment in 2010, the company has tracked more than $18 billion in cannabis sales. Akerna is based in Denver.
SOURCE Akerna Corp.