Meet the top bankers raking in millions by helping strike deals in the booming cannabis industry

• Wall Street banks have pulled in over $577 million in fees from cannabis deals since 2017.
• Canaccord Genuity led the pack, raking in $170 million. Goldman Sachs was a distant second.
• Momentum for cannabis legalization in the US has been a windfall for Wall Street. 
• See more stories on Insider’s business page.

Since Colorado legalized cannabis in 2012, cannabis companies have been going public, buying up competitors, and raising millions in a bid to dominate the burgeoning industry.

Analysts expect the industry to skyrocket to $100 billion in the US alone by 2030, and cannabis companies are jockeying for market share. Investment bankers on Wall Street are competing to land those deals.

More recently, banks hungry for fees have feasted on the rise of megamergers and special purpose acquisition companies, especially as momentum for legalization ramps up in the US. 

In an effort to find out where all this money’s going — and which banks are on top — Insider asked Dealogic to compile a league table for investment banks in cannabis between 2017 and August 4. 

Since 2017, investment banks have pulled in over $577 million in fees from cannabis and cannabis-related deals, exclusive data from Dealogic indicated. Canaccord Genuity, a midsize investment bank in Canada, leads the pack, having made $170 million.

Goldman Sachs is a distant second: The bank pulled in close to $65 million.

Here’s the full list of the top dealmakers in cannabis:

Note: This is an updated version of a story published in 2019.