Ankur Rungta, Founder & CEO of C3 Industries (NCIA Cannabis Business Summit 2021)

We speak with Ankur Rungta, the Founder & CEO of C3 Industries as part of our NCIA Cannabis Business Summit 2021 coverage. C3 Industries, a multi-state, vertically integrated cannabis company headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with several product brands including the award-winning Cloud Cover Cannabis and Galactic Meds, and a retail network, High Profile Boutique Cannabis. C3 Industries launched its first production operation in 2018, with a 36,000 square foot indoor cultivation and manufacturing facility in Portland, Oregan. The company has since opened additional operations in Michigan and Massachusetts. The company produces high-quality cannabis products across all categories in Oregon and Michigan and is soon to launch in Massachusetts and Missouri. You recently opened a new 15,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in St. Louis, which will commence operations this month. In addition to the facility, C3 has finalized an exclusive licensing partnership with California’s Kiva Confections to bring its premium edibles brands to the Missouri market. Per the agreement and subject to regulatory approvals, it will produce Kiva’s full suite of brands: Lost Farm gummies, Camino gummies, Petra mints, Terra chocolate bites, and Kiva Bars. They will produce C3’s Cloud Cover Cannabis line of concentrates, cartridges, and pre-rolls starting late 2022. Ankur Rungta is co-founder and chief executive officer of C3 Industries Inc. Under his leadership, the company has raised over $100 million of capital and currently employs almost 400 people. Ankur and his team have overseen the development of six award-winning cannabis production facilities as well as twenty-one retail stores in Michigan, Massachusetts, Missouri and Oregon. Ankur is also a co-founder and board member of Nickel City Pictures, a film and television production company based in Los Angeles and New York City that has produced such box-office hits as “John Wick 2,” “November Man,” and “Mother’s Day,” among others. Prior to launching these companies, Ankur worked as an investment banker at Moelis & Company in New York and as a corporate attorney at Sullivan & Cromwell in New York, advising clients on capital markets and M&A transactions. Ankur earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan in 2004. He earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law school in 2008, when he graduated Magna Cum Laude and Order of the Coif. In 2014, he was nominated to the Michigan Opera Theatre Board of Directors. He has taken an active role in the arts organization – where he serves as Vice Chairman of the Board and leads the Nominating and Governance Committee, the youngest person to hold those roles. Ankur is also a dedicated family man. He and his wife reside in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with their two children. He enjoys traveling, spending time with his family, playing basketball, watching college and professional sports, and keeping up with current events and politics. Ankur was born in Columbus, Ohio, and grew up in Buffalo, New York.