Over a billion dollars has been raised in the cannabis industry in 2016 according to Viridian Capital Advisors.

The billion dollar line was crossed last week in part with C$40 million raised by OrganiGram Holdings, Inc. The deal will allow for the build out and expansion of the company’s cultivation, extract and derivative facilities. In addition to that, Tetra Bio-Pharma, Inc., another Canadian deal got C$1 million in a private placement with Aphria Inc. to initiate clinical trials in PhytoPain Pharma.

Scott Greiper, President and founding partner of Viridian said that the billion dollars was mostly raised in North America, with minor amounts from other countries. He also stated that the Canadian market is a meaningful metric as to what the U.S. market could end up looking like in the future. Canadians had legalized medical marijuana years ago, but the program was slow to build. The election of Prime Minister Trudeau jump started efforts for the medical marijuana industry. [Read more at Forbes]