Cannabis Company Flora Growth Makes $401 Million Bet on AI Technology

A cannabis company is making a big change. Flora Growth Corp., which trades on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the symbol FLGC, just announced a $401 million deal to back an artificial intelligence project called Zero Gravity.

This deal shows how some companies are willing to make major changes to get into the growing AI market. Flora Growth’s stock price jumped 69% after hours when they announced the news.

The $401 million comes in two parts. Flora Growth will put in $35 million in cash. The remaining $366 million comes from digital tokens called 0G tokens, which are worth $3 each. This values the entire Zero Gravity project at $3 billion.

Several investment firms are backing this deal. DeFi Development Corp., which focuses on the Solana blockchain, is leading the investment with $22.88 million. Other investors include Hexstone Capital and Carlsberg SE Asia, plus several smaller firms.

The deal should close around September 26, 2025, but shareholders need to approve it first. Some investors will get special warrants that let them buy more tokens later.

Zero Gravity, also called 0G, is building technology for AI that runs on blockchain networks. Their main achievement is training a massive AI model with 107 billion parameters using computers spread across the internet.

This is a big deal because most AI training happens in expensive data centers. Zero Gravity claims their method is 357 times more efficient than similar research from Google. The company has already raised $75 million in earlier funding and secured a $250 million token purchase agreement from the 0G Foundation.

The 0G blockchain is designed to let AI applications run completely on the blockchain network. This could make AI more transparent and accessible to everyone, not just big tech companies.

Flora Growth is bringing in new executives for this change. Michael Heinrich, who helped start Zero Gravity, will become Executive Chairman. Daniel Reis-Faria will be the new CEO.

Reis-Faria explained the company’s thinking: “AI isn’t just transforming what companies do, it’s transforming how they must build infrastructure. This treasury strategy offers institutional investors equity-based exposure to the foundational infrastructure enabling transparent, verifiable, large-scale, cost-efficient, and privacy-first AI development.”

The old cannabis business will take a back seat. Flora Growth currently makes CBD products under brands like JustCBD and Vessel, but these operations are not the focus anymore.

The 0G token is about to launch publicly. The 0G Foundation will give tokens to early supporters through an airdrop on Monday, September 23, 2025. After that, major cryptocurrency exchanges will start trading the token.

Binance, one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges, announced they will list 0G on September 22. They’re also giving away tokens to users of their BNB savings products.

This timing works well for Flora Growth. They’re betting on a token before it becomes widely available, which could lead to big gains if the project succeeds.

Flora Growth’s move comes at a tough time for companies that hold cryptocurrency as treasury assets. According to Standard Chartered bank, many of these companies are struggling because crypto prices have dropped and their market values have fallen below key thresholds.

However, Flora Growth sees opportunity in the AI sector. The company will hold most of its money in 0G tokens, making it essentially a bet on whether Zero Gravity’s technology will succeed.

The cannabis industry has also faced challenges. Flora Growth’s revenue dropped 21.78% last year to $59.51 million, though their losses decreased by 72.11% to $15.91 million.

DeFi Development Corp.’s CEO Joseph Onorati said his company is excited about the partnership: “We’re thrilled to partner with FLGC on this fundraise and look forward to driving a deep collaboration between 0g and Solana.”

The deal also includes holding some Solana tokens, giving Flora Growth exposure to another major blockchain platform.

Flora Growth is making a complete business transformation from cannabis to AI technology. The $401 million deal represents one of the largest corporate investments in a pre-launch AI token. Whether this gamble pays off depends on Zero Gravity’s ability to deliver on its promises of more efficient AI training.

The company’s shareholders will vote on the deal soon. If approved, Flora Growth will become ZeroStack and join the small group of public companies betting their future on blockchain-based AI technology.