$3 Billion Flows Into 'Stigmatized' Industries Just THIS Month 🚀

Welcome to Advance Genie, weekly newsletter that helps operators in highly stigmatized industries find alternative financing methods.

While traditional banks continue avoiding accounts for frontier operators, institutional capital told a different story in October: nearly $3 billion in financing flowed into these industries.

Three major deals closed or launched this month, spanning psychedelics, gaming, and public markets. 

Each one proves the same point: the capital exists. 

It's just not coming from traditional sources.

$3 Billion Across Three 'High-Risk' Industries

October 2025 marked a turning point for industries typically excluded from mainstream finance. 

Three significant transactions closed within weeks of each other, totaling $2.99 billion in capital deployment.

Big Pharma Goes All-In on Psychedelics

On October 17, AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) completed its acquisition of Gilgamesh Pharmaceuticals' Bretisilocin for up to $1.2 billion. 

The deal brings a Phase 2 psychedelic compound into one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies.

AbbVie's willingness to deploy over a billion dollars signals that major pharmaceutical companies now view psychedelics as legitimate therapeutic investments, not fringe science.

The deal structure itself matters. 

AbbVie acquired the specific drug candidate while Gilgamesh spun out its remaining programs into a new entity. This asset-purchase model allows biotech founders to monetize breakthrough compounds while retaining their broader platforms - an important financing blueprint for early-stage psychedelics companies.

Public Markets Back Psychedelics

Days after AbbVie's acquisition closed, another psychedelics company demonstrated access to traditional capital markets. Atai Life Sciences (NASDAQ: ATAI) raised $149.5 million through a public offering.

The timing wasn't coincidental. 

The offering came immediately after the FDA granted Breakthrough Therapy designation to Atai's intranasal treatment for treatment-resistant depression.

This shows that psychedelics companies achieving regulatory milestones can access both public equity markets and relationships with major investment banks.

Gaming Operator Secures $1.64 Billion Term Loan

The largest financing of October came from gaming. 

Allwyn International announced a $1.64 billion Term Loan B on October 28 to finance its acquisition of PrizePicks, North America's largest daily fantasy sports operator.

The deal values PrizePicks at an initial enterprise value of $2.5 billion, potentially rising to $4.15 billion if performance targets are met over the next three years. 

PrizePicks generated $339 million in adjusted EBITDA over the 12 months ending June 2025, demonstrating the profitability that attracts sophisticated debt financing.

This structured finance approach - term loans with performance-based earnouts - provides gaming operators with a blueprint for funding acquisitions without full equity dilution.

What This Capital Validates

These three deals share common characteristics that matter for operators in excluded industries:

Speed over perfection. AbbVie moved from announcement to close in under 60 days. Atai's offering priced and closed within days of FDA designation. Capital moves quickly when the opportunity is clear.

Institutional participation. These weren't desperate capital sources. Investment banks like Jefferies structured the deals. Institutional investors including Janus Henderson participated. Major pharmaceutical companies deployed billions.

Multiple capital structures. The October deals included asset acquisitions ($1.2B), public equity offerings ($149.5M), and term loans ($1.64B). No single structure dominates - operators have options based on their business stage and needs.

For founders in cannabis, psychedelics, gaming, and other stigmatized sectors, October's deals prove that the capital gap isn't about your industry's viability. 

It's about finding capital sources that understand your regulatory environment, unit economics, and growth trajectory.

Cannabis Operators Solving the $4 Billion Receivables Crisis

Cannabis businesses face a working capital crisis that most industries never experience: $4+ billion tied up in delinquent receivables across a $35 billion legal market. 

When nearly 20% of revenue sits in overdue payments, operators can't plan, invest, or sometimes even survive.

Traditional banks don't offer invoice factoring or accounts receivable financing to cannabis companies. Private lenders have filled this gap with specialized products built specifically for the industry's challenges.

FundCanna's Buy-Now-Pay-Later Platform

This month FundCanna unveiled ReadyPaid™, a business-to-business buy-now-pay-later platform purpose-built for cannabis supply chains.

The mechanics solve a fundamental cash flow problem:

For sellers: Immediate, no-recourse payment at point of sale. If a buyer defaults, FundCanna absorbs the loss - sellers never chase receivables.

For buyers: Net 30 terms at no cost, with optional six-month extended payment plans. Payment terms now match revenue cycles instead of forcing cash outlays before product sells.

For the supply chain: Approval takes under four minutes. Funding arrives same-day. Transactions happen seamlessly online or via phone support.

The announcement introduced the ReadyPaid Trusted Partner Network - a public directory of vendors using the platform. Buyers can now search by state or vertical to find suppliers offering flexible terms, expanding procurement options while signaling vendor credibility.

Why This Model Works for Stigmatized Industries

Traditional banks just don't understand cannabis regulatory nuances. 

They don't know the difference between plant-touching operations and ancillary businesses. 

They can't underwrite around Section 280E tax implications that prevent normal business deductions.

Specialized lenders built their entire underwriting model around these realities. They understand that cannabis operators pay effective tax rates above 70%. 

They know that state regulatory cycles affect cash timing. 

They can assess risk in multi-state operators versus single-state businesses.

The specialization creates better products: approval in minutes instead of months, same-day funding instead of weeks, flexible terms that adjust to cannabis business models instead of forcing operators into rigid bank structures.

Direct Access to Federal Payment Rails (Without Traditional Banks)

The biggest infrastructure shift this year for stigmatized industries isn't happening in Congress. 

It's happening at the Federal Reserve and through mainstream payment processors adopting stablecoin rails.

Fed Proposes 'Skinny Master Accounts'

Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller just announced a proposal that could fundamentally change payment access for excluded industries. 

Waller outlined skinny master accounts - a streamlined version of the Fed accounts that banks use to access U.S. payment infrastructure.

The proposal would allow eligible non-bank entities direct access to Fedwire and ACH payment systems without requiring full banking charters. 

These accounts would come with limitations - no interest on balances, potential balance caps, no overdraft privileges, no discount window access - but they would provide the core benefit: direct access to federal payment rails.

"I wanted to send a message that this is a new era for the Federal Reserve in payments," Waller said. "The DeFi industry is not viewed with suspicion or scorn."

For businesses systematically excluded from banking services - cannabis operators, crypto firms, adult entertainment platforms - this creates a potential pathway to payment processing that doesn't rely on discriminatory banking relationships. 

If a business can hold reserves directly at the Fed and process payments through federal infrastructure, traditional bank debanking becomes less critical.

Stripe Launches Stablecoin Infrastructure

While the Fed develops its proposal, mainstream payment processors are already building alternative infrastructure. 

On October 14, Stripe launched stablecoin subscription payments in private preview for U.S. businesses.

The feature supports recurring payments in USDC over Base and Polygon blockchains, with automatic settlement in fiat currency. Businesses manage both traditional and stablecoin subscriptions in a unified Stripe dashboard.

The key innovation: Stripe built a smart contract that eliminates the need for customers to manually approve each recurring transaction. Users save their wallet once and authorize recurring payments - just like saving a credit card.

Early adopters are seeing significant benefits. 

AI company Shadeform has shifted approximately 20% of its payment volume to stablecoins, cutting transaction costs by half while achieving near-instant settlement. For businesses serving global customers, stablecoin rails eliminate slow cross-border payments and reduce fees.

Stripe's move into stablecoin infrastructure follows its announcement of "Open Issuance" - a platform allowing any business to create and manage custom stablecoins. 

Combined with subscription capabilities, businesses can now build proprietary payment rails that don't depend on traditional banking relationships.

And Stripe isn't alone. 

Following passage of the GENIUS Act establishing federal stablecoin regulation, multiple major processors announced crypto initiatives this month.

For high-risk merchants already paying inflated processing rates (often 4-6% compared to 2-3% for standard merchants), these alternatives offer both cost savings and reduced dependency on processors that can terminate service with minimal notice.

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