Houston, TX, March 15, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — rePlant Hemp Advisors, LLC officially opened the rePlant Hemp Impact Fund 1, LP (The “Fund”) today for investments. As the world transitions from a fossil-based economy, the Fund is focusing on bio-based innovation, a carbon-negative domestic supply chain, good green jobs, sustainable consumer products, and the verifiable sequestration of CO2. Industrial hemp is a growth industry, set to add almost $10 billion to its current $5 billion global market size in the next five years.[i] rePlant Hemp Advisors, LLC aims to place $500 million in the space by 2030, with the Fund’s first close set at $75 million.

rePlant Hemp President and Cofounder Geoff Whaling said, “Hemp is a critical asset on our journey to decarbonization. For every polluting technology phased out, new cleantech must emerge. Hemp plays a vital role in many significant industries, such as green construction, plant-based proteins, bioplastics, sustainable aviation fuels and powering the electrified future of mobility. An investment in hemp is an investment in the emerging technologies that will shape our future.”

rePlant Board Chair and Cofounder Michael Woods added, “Hemp offers virtually all major industries a much needed and critical path toward sustainability. A major use case is construction—as global corporations and governments seek ways to construct carbon neutral and even carbon negative buildings and infrastructure, hemp provides sustainable materials, insulation, flooring and more—right now. And in the near term, hemp will play a standout role in the development of new sustainable construction tech like structural green concrete.”

rePlant Hemp Impact Fund 1, LP is managed by Entoro Investments, a Houston, TX based Registered Investment Advisor. James C. Row, CFA, Entoro Founder and CEO said “Hemp is an American natural resource with enormous opportunity. We’re excited to support our US farmers and their families, while simultaneously investing in world-changing innovative clean tech.” The Fund has hired Clearbrook and Merida Capital Holdings LLC as subadvisers. In this capacity each firm will assist the Fund in sourcing, evaluating, and managing portfolio investments.

Geoff Whaling added, “Nobody said the journey to net-zero was going to be easy. I have been working in this space relentlessly for a decade, and I know the challenges and the almost limitless value that comes from unlocking the potential of hemp. Step one in the US is to invest in our farmers—without the agricultural supply chain and agtech that comes along with that, none of this is possible.”

The rePlant Hemp team brings recognized industry leadership, elite financial acumen and a passion for sustainability to address one of the biggest opportunities of the 21st century. With shared expertise in hemp, finance, marketing and advocacy, rePlant Hemp may represent the most sophisticated approach yet to delivering on the promise of hemp. Cofounder, President and Chief Vision Officer Geoff Whaling has a decade of hemp leadership and liaises with the Administration and Congressional leadership weekly. Cofounder and Board Chair Michael Woods—former CEO and COO of Rothschild & Co. Asset Management U.S., Inc. and before that CEO of DWS Investments and Head of the Americas, Global Client Group, for Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management—is now heading up Big Sun Holdings Group Corporation, focusing on the sustainable 3D printing of structures. CMO Wilson Kello led Collective Growth Corporation with Mr. Whaling, a SPAC which combined on April 5, 2021 with Innoviz Technologies in a $1.4 billion transaction. An award-winning Creative Director, he has over 20 years of creative consulting experience, including acting as creative consultant for cannabis companies such as Canopy Growth Corporation, Kiva Confections, and other disruptive companies in emergent spaces. rePlant Hemp Chief of Staff Erica Stark is the Executive Director of the National Hemp Association and the Pennsylvania Hemp Industry Council and has years of experience in hemp education and legislative advocacy, including testifying before the US Senate Agricultural Committee.

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Geoff Whaling
Michael Woods
Wilson Kello
Erica Stark

 

About rePlant Hemp Impact Fund 1, LP

rePlant Hemp Impact Fund 1, LP was organized as a Delaware limited partnership (the “Fund”) on December 2, 2021 to operate as a private investment partnership. The Fund was formed for the purpose of investing in the expanding industrial hemp sector, defined as hemp for: industrial fiber and grain (seed), climate tech, and global sustainability solutions across a range of industries. The Fund will invest directly or through other private pooled investment vehicles (each a “Portfolio Fund” and together “Portfolio Funds”), advised by third party managers who employ a variety of investment strategies and techniques. The use of industrial hemp for material manufacturing inputs and nutrition is a $5 billion global industry predicted to grow to $14 billion by 2027. The key driver of growth is widespread demand for new sustainable materials and processes as the world transitions away from a fossil-based economy. In the US the hemp industry is hampered by an almost nonexistent domestic supply chain; the expanding $500million+ US market is reliant upon imports. The Fund aims to repatriate the US industrial hemp agricultural and processing supply chain to fuel dynamic growth in an industry that many experts see as a major player in combating climate change and securing a sustainable future. Concurrently, the Fund aims to support demand and lengthen the hemp value chain by investing in downstream markets including nutrition, auto parts, green construction, paper and packaging, bioplastics, bioenergy and more. The Fund will chiefly focus on North America, though the General Partner will look to global IP and downstream use cases as the Fund endeavors to develop the US into a major global producer and exporter of sustainable hemp-based technologies. Each investment of the Fund shall be referred to as a “Portfolio Investment” and together as the “Portfolio Investments.”