
Did you a Little Rock hemp-based company recently received a $500,000 injection to continue to grow?
Tree of Life Seeds Inc. will use the money to consolidate its locations across the country to its Little Rock headquarters, said CEO Jason Martin. “Last year we operated in 18 states, and next year we only anticipate operating in three,” he said. Those states are Arkansas, Colorado and Oklahoma.
“We’re staffing up here locally and building out infrastructure here in the state of Arkansas,” Martin said.
Founded in 2015 by Martin and Brian Madar, Tree of Life hopes to have 40 employees in central Arkansas by the end of the year.
The company sells everything from seeds to finished goods, including CBD oil products that it wholesales and retails.
Its revenue last year was listed at between $1 million and $5 million on its filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. Martin said the company expects to do “significantly more than that this year.”
Martin said the company took on debt instead of selling shares to raise the $500,000 “because we’re seeing the valuation of our company grow rapidly right now. So it’s much better from our perspective to be able to assume debt, pay that off within the year without giving equity at an undervaluation.”
Martin said the lenders were from the New York City area.