Need Capital? Here’s What Cannabis Lenders Are Looking For in 2026

Over the years, debt has become one of the cannabis industry’s primary sources of capital, amid signs of regulatory momentum and lender interest continuing to grow. Despite that, financing remains expensive, selective, and dependent on strong fundamentals.

That’s according to industry experts, including lenders, advisors and banking executives, who joined a panel moderated by AnnaRae Grabstein, founder of Wolf Meyer, at the last IgniteIt Cannabis Capital Conference in Chicago. Jade Green, president and co-founder of Next Titan Capital; Mike Blumenthal, executive director at Cannabiz Credit Association; Tony Repanich, president and CEO of Shield Banking; and Adam Stettner, CEO of FundCanna, joined Grabstein on stage at the Chicago Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile.

The panelists agreed that these days more financing options are becoming available; however, they warned operators to be strategic about when and why they borrow.

“When this industry gets access to capital, it grows,” FundCanna’s Stettner said. His company has underwritten over 6,000 cannabis businesses. According to Stettner, access to working capital enables businesses to purchase inventory, fund expansion, and build a predictable foundation for growth.

Still, not all debt is created equal.

That said, sale-leasebacks continue to be one of the industry’s most common financing tools, Next Titan Capital’s Green said. These transactions provide operators with non-dilutive capital. Green cautioned that many companies underestimate the long-term cost.

Operators typically sign 10-year leases at cap rates between 11% and 15%, Green explained. That move sacrifices the ability to refinance if borrowing costs fall in the future.

Panelists also touched on the industry’s trade debt problem. Cannabiz Credit Association’s Mike Blumenthal said his organization is tracking approximately $3 billion in trade receivables, with about half consisting of overdue invoices.

Stettner also shared his perspective.

“Our industry… has a delinquent accounts receivable issue north of $4 billion,” he said, adding that around 11% to 12% of gross sales go unpaid at the end. Operators tend to act as lenders by extending product on credit without properly assessing a customer’s ability to pay, Stettner explained.

According to Blumenthal, basic underwriting practices are often overlooked.

“Just running a basic credit check… takes 60 seconds,” he said. “Banks don’t loan you money without underwriting, but many operators are effectively acting as banks.”

When it comes to traditional banking, it is slowly beginning to shift, Shield Banking’s Repanich highlighted. He added that while community banks still favor real estate-backed lending,  discussions around federal cannabis reform have encouraged more financial institutions to consider the cannabis sector.

Still, panelists argued that a flood of cheap capital is a questionable scenario.

Stettner said traditional businesses are declined by banks roughly 75% to 80% of the time. Having that in mind, it’s unrealistic to expect cannabis companies to enjoy widespread approval suddenly, he added.

“We’re currently at an approval rate of like one to two percent,” Stettner noted. “Seeing approval rates of 10% in the coming year would be awesome. Fifteen percent would be outstanding.”

Nevertheless, debt should be used to generate growth, instead of as a way to cover ongoing losses, experts highlighted.

“Debt is not a bridge from operating loss to something else, unless there’s a plan on how you’re going to use that capital to change your operating loss circumstance,” Stettner said.