Some things only come around once in a lifetime, and the cannabis industry provides a rare secular growth opportunity for those with the vision and agility to navigate this rapidly-emerging sector. Founded in 2017, HALLEY Venture Partners is a venture capital firm that looks to invest early in these truly life-changing trends. HALLEY seeks to find the next crop of elite companies and visionary founders that will grow into the industry leaders shaping the space for years to come.
HALLEY is focused on building highly-scalable companies in the legal cannabis and hemp sectors. We aim to nurture them when needed and stand aside when they are flourishing. The HALLEY team brings together professionals with deep and complementary experience in both investing and operations from cannabis, technology, and agriculture. The team has been focused on the cannabis sector for five years and understands the opportunities and challenges facing the industry today, tomorrow, and beyond. HALLEY believes the momentum of cannabis is undeniable and works to partner with companies that are best positioned to capitalize on an industry that should grow to over $100 billion upon full federal legalization.
Steven J. Schuman is the Managing Director of HALLEY Venture Partners, L.P., a venture investment firm he founded in 2017 that focuses on building the best technology and medical companies in the legal cannabis and hemp industries. Mr. Schuman has 17 years of public and private equity investment experience in agriculture, technology, and manufacturing. From 2010-2016, Mr. Schuman was a Senior Analyst and Portfolio Manager for Passport Capital, LLC, a multi-billion dollar investment management firm headquartered in San Francisco. Prior to Passport, Mr. Schuman was a Senior Sell-Side Equity Analyst at Prudential Equity Group covering the agriculture and chemical industries. Mr. Schuman started his career in engineering at Cargill and Dow AgroSciences. He has worked for Fortune 100 corporations as well as multiple start-up companies.
Mr. Schuman received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from The Ohio State University and an MBA from The Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley, where he was a Mayfield Venture Capital Fellow.
Mr. Taffet joined HALLEY in 2019 as a general partner after working as CFO of Shift Cannabis Co., a multi-state operator of cannabis assets in Colorado and New Mexico and a strategic partner firm of HALLEY Venture Partners LP since 2017. As a general partner at HALLEY, Mr. Taffet is responsible for all aspects of the HALLEY partnerships including deal sourcing, due diligence, portfolio management and he is a member of the HALLEY investment committee along with Mr. Schuman. Previous to Shift, Mr. Taffet was a Principal at Intuitive Private Equity, multi-strategy private equity firm based in Boulder, Colorado and Silicon Valley where he was primarily responsible for capital deployment in the cannabis space. Mr. Taffet has worked with over ten operating companies as a financial client advisor, including market analysis and modeling in multiple states. He has extensive experience in private equity performing investment analysis, due diligence, and deal execution as well as serving as a board member to portfolio companies. In addition, Mr. Taffet’s background includes wide-ranging experience in M&A and capital markets advisory across several continents, with previous positions at Deutsche Bank in both the US and Latin America. From 2008 to 2012 he worked on and investigated deals in Australia, Canada, Japan, and Russia.
Mr. Taffet received a BA in Mathematical Economic Analysis from Rice University.
Founder & Managing Director of Advance Ventures, a Silicon Valley-based venture investment fund for early-stage start-ups across three core sectors: Sustainability, Mobility and Vertical Focused Information Technology.
Achieved +14 meaningful exits; approximately one every 18 months since 1999.
Named by Silicon Valley Business Journal to both their "30 under 30" and "40 under 40" lists of most influential business leaders in Silicon Valley.
Co-founder of Broadcast Production Group, an interactive media pioneer, and served as CEO until its acquisition in 1999 by Parago (acquired by NASDAQ: HAWK), a leading global financial engagement management company.
Board Member of HALLEY Venture Fund portfolio companies Front Range Biosciences and PathogenDx.
Awarded a US patent in wireless connectivity.
Active lecturer at Santa Clara University's Leavy School of Business, University of Californai Haas School of Business, Stanford University, San Jose University and UCLA / Digital Media Arts Program.
Board President & Former Executive Director for the Cannabis Distribution Association (CDA)
Vice President of Supply Chain for Flow Kana, the largest privately-funded cannabis company in the US
Co-Founder & Former President of River Distributing (RVR), the first large-scale California cannabis distribution company; acquired by CannaRoyalty in 2018, under contract in 2019 for sale to Cresco Labs for $1.1 billion.
Board Member of California Growers Association
Independent Business Development Consultant
Due Diligence Analyst - Tech Coast Angels
HR & Corporate Wellness Director - IDEA Health & Fitness Association
Project Manager - The Vanguard Group
MBA and B. S. Finance, San Diego State University
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