Referral deals are the way that this new partnership hopes to alleviate businesses’ typical cash-flow problems when it comes to cannabis.
Safe Harbor Financial, a subsidiary of the Nasdaq-listed company SHFS, and FundCanna have announced a partnership to aid cannabis companies in overcoming persistent money and banking obstacles.
Safe Harbor’s new partnership with FundCanna, a fellow lender, offers a single-stop shop for cannabis operators that have been shut out from traditional banking.
Safe Harbor is going to send its clients to FundCanna if they require loans or financing for equipment, and FundCanna’s borrowers will be directed to Safe Harbor banking services. Safe Harbor will manage all accounts for the loan, according to this news release.
Safe Harbor CEO Terry Mendez said, “This partnership provides a practical and scalable solution which puts cannabis operators’ financial needs first.” He is trying to bring new life back into his company following a difficult financial period.
Safe Harbor recently posted mixed results for 2024 – its lending business is booming – up 123% for the year – but the company still recorded a hefty $48.3 million loss. Mendez is still determined to revamp the company, even though he was appointed earlier this year, following Sundie Seefried’s resignation.
In March, he told shareholders he wants to transform Safe Harbor from just a cannabis banking operation into a comprehensive business services hub – including expanded lending, which the FundCanna deal supports.
Adam Stettner, founder of FundCanna, says that the partnership brings together “two trusted platforms committed to solving persistent barriers financial in cannabis.” Adam Stettner, founder of FundCanna says the partnership “brings together two trusted platforms dedicated to solving persistent financial barriers in cannabis.”
As cannabis businesses continue to face cash shortages, traditional banks are keeping them out of their reach due to the federal ban. Safe Harbor has processed more than $25 billion worth of cannabis transactions in the past five years since it was founded. The deal is a crucial part of Mendez’s plan to not only serve cannabis, but also other industries that are “debanked”, such as crypto or gaming.