Sanity Group’s 13-slide deck is a masterclass in establishing credibility within a highly regulated and often stigmatized industry. By splitting the business into Sanity Medical and Sanity Care, the founders demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of market segmentation. The deck relies heavily on the founders' pedigree—citing experience at Rocket Internet and BCG—and concrete traction, specifically a 10% weekly growth rate and partnerships with retailers like Douglas (2,800 stores). While the deck is light on financial projections and specific use of funds, it successfully positions the co…
Key takeaways
- The company operates two distinct business units: Sanity Medical for pharmaceuticals and Sanity Care for consumer products (Slide 4).
- Sanity Group reported a Compound Weekly Growth Rate (CWGR) of 9%, resulting in roughly 10% growth per week (Slide 5).
- The founders have significant tech and consulting backgrounds, including Rocket Internet, BCG, and L'Oreal (Slide 2).
- The consumer brand VAAY is positioned as a leader in Germany, supported by Google Trends data showing a spike in interest (Slide 8).
- Strategic retail partnerships include Douglas (2,800 stores, $5bn revenue) and Flaconi (Slide 9).
- The expansion roadmap targets the UK in November 2020, followed by Austria, Switzerland, Netherlands, and France (Slide 10).
- The deck highlights a previous $22 million financing round involving Scooter Braun's TQ Ventures and Cherry Ventures (Slide 12).
- The mission is specifically focused on the European market, aiming to unlock cannabis benefits for health and wellbeing (Slide 3).
Introduction: The Corporate Face of Cannabis
Sanity Group’s Series A pitch deck is a 13-slide presentation that aims to professionalize the cannabis industry for institutional investors. Rather than leaning into the counter-culture history of the plant, the deck emphasizes scientific research, health, and wellbeing. The company positions itself as a holistic European cannabis company, utilizing a multi-brand strategy to navigate the complex regulatory environment of the EU.
Slide 1: Title Slide
The deck opens with a high-contrast, black-and-white image of a lab technician in a white coat and mask, meticulously working with a cannabis flower. This immediately sets a clinical, professional tone. The Sanity Group logo is prominent at the bottom, establishing a clean, corporate identity from the outset.
Slide 2: The Founders
Slide 2 introduces Fabian Friede and Finn Age Hänsel, both Managing Directors and Founders. This slide is heavy on 'pedigree' logos. Friede is credited with 9 years of experience in startups and technology, specifically mentioning Locafox and the management team of Rocket Internet. Hänsel is highlighted for 10 years of experience, including a stint at Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and the successful IPO of THE ICONIC. The inclusion of logos like L'Oreal, Movinga, and ProSiebenSat.1 serves to validate their ability to operate at a high level within established corporate and high-growth environments.
Slide 3: Why We Are Here
This slide outlines the company's mission through three pillars: 'We Believe' (everyone deserves a healthy life), 'Cannabis' Potential' (scientific research is proving its benefits), and 'Our Purpose' (unlocking these benefits for Europe). It is a standard 'vision' slide that attempts to ground the business in a broader social and health-oriented context, moving away from recreational connotations.
Slide 4: One Company, Multiple Synergies
Slide 4 is critical for understanding the business structure. It breaks Sanity Group into three entities: Sanity Group (the holding company providing shared services), Sanity Medical (pharmaceuticals and patient support), and Sanity Care (consumer products and wellbeing brands). This structure suggests a diversified revenue stream and a way to hedge against regulatory changes in any single sub-sector.
Slide 5: Traction and Growth
The headline on Slide 5 is bold: "We are growing 10% per week." The slide features a bar chart showing net revenues per week in $K, spanning from week 48 of the previous year to week 17 of the current year. A trend line indicates a "+9% CWGR" (Compound Weekly Growth Rate). The chart shows that while Sanity Medical (blue) provides a steady base, the vast majority of the recent growth is driven by Sanity Care (green). The visual evidence of a steep upward trajectory is a classic Series A requirement.
Slide 6: Deep Dive - Sanity Care
Slide 6 serves as a transition into the consumer side of the business. It features a high-quality lifestyle image of a product called "The Hug" from the brand "This Place." The text emphasizes the development of non-psychoactive cannabinoid products and the goal of building the strongest consumer brands in Europe. This slide signals that the company is as much a brand-builder as it is a cannabis company.
Slide 7: European Consumer Market Coverage
This slide segments the consumer market into two categories: the "Premium Lifestyle Segment" (targeting millennials aged 20-40) and the "Premium Mature Segment" (targeting 'best-agers' aged 35-65). It showcases two distinct brands: VAAY and This Place . By showing specific product lines for each, Sanity Group demonstrates a sophisticated approach to demographic targeting and product-market fit.
Slide 8: Market Leadership in Germany
Slide 8 uses Google Trends data to argue that VAAY is already the leading brand in Germany. The graph compares VAAY against competitors like Nordic Oil, Limucan, Nutree, and Canobo. A dotted box highlights a significant spike in search interest for VAAY toward the end of the timeline (April 2020). While search volume is a proxy for brand awareness rather than sales, it provides a competitive benchmark in a nascent market.
Slide 9: Major Retail Partnerships
This is perhaps the strongest slide for proving commercial viability. It lists three major partnerships: Douglas (2,800 stores, $5bn revenue), Flaconi (largest online perfumery in Germany), and Parfumdreams . For each, it notes that Sanity Group is a "Strategic CBD Partner." The scale of Douglas, in particular, suggests a massive distribution network that few startups can claim.
Slide 10: European Expansion Roadmap
Slide 10 maps out the future. It identifies the UK as the next strategic focus market for November 2020, followed by Austria and Switzerland. It also mentions a Q3 2020 launch for the Netherlands and France. The map visually reinforces the company's commitment to being a pan-European leader, which is a larger and more complex opportunity than just the German market.
Slide 11: The Backbone
Featuring an image of their physical office building, this slide emphasizes that Sanity Group is building the "strategic and administrative backbone" for all business units. It’s a subtle way of saying they are building a platform that can launch and support multiple cannabis brands efficiently, rather than just being a single-product company.
Slide 12: Press and Previous Funding
Slide 12 serves as a social proof wall. It features headlines from Bloomberg, Health Europa, and Forbes. The Bloomberg headline is particularly notable: "Scooter Braun Invests in European Cannabis as Region Opens Up." The text mentions a $22 million round involving TQ Ventures, Cherry Ventures, and Casa Verde Capital (Snoop Dogg's fund). Mentioning high-profile investors like Scooter Braun and Snoop Dogg adds a layer of 'celebrity' validation to the existing 'corporate' validation.
Slide 13: The Gateway
The final slide is a simple black background with white text: "We are the gateway to European Cannabis." It is a definitive closing statement that summarizes their entire value proposition to an investor: if you want exposure to the European cannabis market, this is the vehicle to use.
What Works in the Sanity Group Deck
Pedigree and Credibility: The founders' backgrounds at Rocket Internet and BCG are perfectly suited for a Series A pitch. It tells investors that these are not enthusiasts, but professional operators who know how to scale businesses in regulated environments. The inclusion of high-profile previous investors like Cherry Ventures and TQ Ventures further de-risks the opportunity for new investors.
Clear Segmentation: The division between Medical and Care is a smart strategic move. It allows the company to pursue high-margin, long-term pharmaceutical plays while generating immediate cash flow and brand equity through consumer CBD products. The deck explains this duality clearly without getting bogged down in scientific jargon.
Tangible Traction: The 10% weekly growth rate and the partnership with Douglas are the 'meat' of the deck. In a sector often filled with 'projections' and 'regulatory hopes,' Sanity Group provides hard evidence of current market demand and large-scale distribution capability.
What is Missing from the Sanity Group Deck
The Ask: Surprisingly, for a Series A deck, there is no slide detailing the amount of capital being sought or the valuation expectations. While this is sometimes handled in a separate document or during the meeting, its absence in the deck leaves a hole in the narrative regarding the company's capital needs.
Financial Projections: While the weekly growth is impressive, the deck does not provide a long-term view of the P&L. There is no mention of when the company expects to reach profitability or what the projected revenue is for the next 3-5 years. This makes it difficult to assess the ultimate scale of the opportunity.
Unit Economics: There is no data on Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) or Lifetime Value (LTV), particularly for the Sanity Care brands. In a competitive consumer market, understanding the efficiency of their marketing spend is crucial for evaluating the sustainability of their 10% weekly growth.
What a Founder Should Copy
The 'Gateway' Positioning: Sanity Group doesn't just say they sell cannabis; they position themselves as the essential infrastructure for an entire continent's industry. Founders should look for ways to frame their company as the 'gateway' or 'platform' for their specific niche.
Visual Professionalism: The deck avoids all the visual clichés of the cannabis industry. By using high-quality photography, clean typography, and a minimalist color palette, they signal to institutional investors that they are a serious, health-focused enterprise. This is a vital lesson for founders in 'edgy' or emerging industries.
Leveraging Strategic Partnerships: Instead of just listing their own achievements, Sanity Group leans heavily on the credibility of their partners (Douglas, Flaconi). If you have signed a deal with a market leader, that logo should be one of the most prominent things in your deck.
Final Verdict: This is a highly effective Series A deck that prioritizes execution and credibility over hype. While it lacks some of the deeper financial metrics, it successfully builds a narrative of a professional, fast-growing leader in a complex new market.
Frequently asked questions
- What is Sanity Group's core business model?
- Sanity Group utilizes a two-pronged approach. Sanity Medical focuses on developing innovative cannabis-based pharmaceuticals and supporting patient therapies. Sanity Care focuses on non-psychoactive cannabinoid consumer products for the wellbeing market. This allows them to capture value in both the highly regulated medical sector and the faster-moving consumer goods (FMCG) market across Europe.
- How does the deck prove market traction?
- Traction is demonstrated through three main metrics: a 10% weekly revenue growth rate shown in a bar chart, Google Trends data showing their brand VAAY leading competitors in Germany, and signed retail partnerships with major players like Douglas, which operates 2,800 stores across Europe. These data points move the conversation from 'potential' to 'proven execution'.
- Who are the founders and what is their background?
- The company was founded by Fabian Friede and Finn Age Hänsel. Friede brings 9 years of startup experience, including the management team at Rocket Internet. Hänsel has 10 years of experience, including time at BCG and a successful IPO of THE ICONIC. Their combined experience in scaling high-growth tech and consumer companies is a central pillar of the deck's credibility.
- What is the geographic focus of the company?
- The company is strictly focused on the European market. Slide 10 outlines a clear expansion strategy starting from their home market in Germany, moving to the UK in late 2020, and then targeting Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and France. They position themselves as the 'gateway to European Cannabis' rather than a global player.
- What information is missing from this pitch deck?
- The deck lacks a formal 'Ask' slide detailing how much capital is being raised in the Series A and how those funds will be allocated. It also omits detailed unit economics (CAC, LTV), long-term financial projections, and a comprehensive competitive landscape beyond a simple Google Trends comparison for the German market.
