Between 2022 and 2026, many of the companies that had promised to make Israel a cannabis superpower went into insolvency proceedings, were sold for a small fraction of the money invested in them, or left the industry. These events are documented in detail in the Hebrew business and trade press, case by case, but almost nowhere in English as a single record. This guide brings them together: who failed, what they owed, who bought what was left, and what the pattern says about the market that remains.
This guide is general information, not investment advice. Several of the proceedings below are still open, so check current court and exchange filings before relying on any detail.
The backdrop: a stock-market bubble that burst
At its peak in December 2020, the cannabis sector on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange was worth about NIS 4.7 billion. By November 2022 it was worth about NIS 1 billion. At that point six of the companies that had made up the sector's index had already left cannabis or were in the process of leaving (Calcalist, 29 November 2022, Hebrew).
Imports run through two of the failures below, in opposite ways. Pharmocann blamed a 2021 regulatory change that, in its words, flooded the market with cheap, high-quality imported product (Cannabis Magazine, 11 June 2024, Hebrew). BOL Pharma said it had made the opposite mistake: it imported very large volumes in a short time because it expected a ban on imports that never came. How the import trade works is explained in where Israel's medical cannabis comes from.
The cases, in order
Cantek (August 2022). Cantek had set out to own the whole value chain: farm, factory, trading house, pharmacies, an exclusive import deal with Canada's Aurora and a German subsidiary. It asked the court for a stay of proceedings with about NIS 25 million of debt. Its own filing said it had spent more than NIS 100 million while its pharmacy, farm and factory were still waiting for approvals. The creditors' petition was led by Bank Mizrahi-Tefahot and InterCure (Cannabis Magazine, 2 August 2022, Hebrew).
Univo (December 2022). Univo was a listed producer led by former prime minister Ehud Olmert and its controlling shareholder, Golan Biton. It petitioned the Beersheba District Court in December 2022 (Cannabis Magazine, 7 December 2022, Hebrew). It owed about NIS 63.5 million, including NIS 24 million to bondholders, NIS 20 million to Tilray and NIS 12 million to Mizrahi-Tefahot. The winning bid, NIS 11.2 million, collapsed after police and the Health Ministry disqualified the bidder from the cannabis industry. In May 2023 the court approved, subject to creditors' consent, a sale of the factory, the trading house and 51% of the farm to a Zano family company for NIS 4.6 million, to be combined with another producer, Better (Cannabis Magazine, 9 May 2023, Hebrew). That sale price was about 7% of the debt.
CannAssure (February 2023). After years of losses, CannAssure agreed to sell its cannabis business to its chief executive, Ada Bar-Kama, one of its controlling shareholders, in return for her company taking on its debts. The listed shell stayed with its public shareholders (Cannabis Magazine, 23 February 2023, Hebrew).
Panaxia (2021–2024). The first listed Israeli cannabis company with EU-GMP certification sold its pharmacy business, moved its export manufacturing to Malta and had its Israeli manufacturing licences cancelled in early 2024. Its listed company became a fund manager, Barak Investment House. The full story is in our Panaxia profile.
Therapin (November 2023). Therapin had started operating only in 2020. It asked for a stay of proceedings with about NIS 13 million of debt (Cannabis Magazine, 7 November 2023, Hebrew).
Pharmocann (February–June 2024). Pharmocann had been one of the pioneers of the industry before the 2016 reform and was worth about NIS 150 million on the exchange in 2020. It lost its farm on a Health Ministry order, fell out with the contract farm that grew for it, and declared insolvency in February 2024 with about NIS 3 million of debt. In June 2024 InterCure bought it out of liquidation for NIS 450,000. The price covered all its shares, about 8,000 packaged products and a genetic bank of roughly 50 strains bred over 15 years (Cannabis Magazine, 11 June 2024, Hebrew).
BOL Pharma (March 2024). Breath of Life was among the largest producers of the early market. In 2021 it employed 125 people across its own farm, factory and trading house. By 2023 it had stopped growing and manufacturing and moved to brokering deals only. On 31 March 2024 seven group companies applied to open insolvency proceedings. They owed about NIS 26 million to suppliers and NIS 8.6 million to the bank, after losses of about NIS 107 million in 2022 alone (Cannabis Magazine, 31 March 2024, Hebrew).
David & Goliath Pharma (November 2025–January 2026). This company ran a packing plant serving other brands. In November 2025, 21 employees who had not been paid since September petitioned to have it wound up. On 22 January 2026 the Beersheba District Court approved a rescue plan instead. Under it, investor Reuven Schoenberger's company takes 75% of the shares in a deal worth about NIS 7.49 million. The court pushed for a better offer, and the pot for ordinary creditors grew from NIS 240,000 to about NIS 990,000 (Cannabis Magazine, 22 January 2026, Hebrew).
Bazelet (December 2025–July 2026). The largest failure of the period was Bazelet, the country's biggest processing and packing plant, which filed with about NIS 153 million of debt. In July 2026 its creditors approved an arrangement under which suppliers recover less than 15 agorot on the shekel (Cannabis Magazine, 28 July 2026, Hebrew). The full account is in Bazelet: how Israel's largest cannabis plant went insolvent.
Tikun Olam (December 2025–August 2026). In December 2025, Barak Rosen and Assi Tokhmayer offered NIS 10 million for 75% of Tikun Olam-Cannbit. That valued the company at about NIS 13.3 million, under half its market value, and the share price fell 38% (Calcalist, 29 December 2025, Hebrew). Minority shareholders blocked the deal, and the Israel Securities Authority required their approval. In May 2026 the company asked the Lod District Court to approve a creditors' arrangement covering NIS 16 million of debt, which would let a similar deal go through. It reported 2025 revenue of NIS 9 million, down from NIS 35 million. Its chairman, Ronen Elad, separately offered NIS 2.1 million for the remaining cannabis business (Calcalist, 6 May 2026, Hebrew). According to Calcalist, the court approved the Rosen–Tokhmayer proposal in August 2026 as part of the arrangement: they are to pay NIS 5 million for 99.9% of the shares, and Elad is expected to take the remaining cannabis activity in return for writing off the company's debt to him (Calcalist, 6 October 2026, Hebrew). The background is in what happened to Tikun Olam.
IM Cannabis (September 2026). IM Cannabis took the opposite route to most of the companies above. Rather than leaving Israel, it sold its European business to an entity controlled by its own chief executive and kept the Israeli operation (IM Cannabis, 29 September 2026). See our IM Cannabis profile.
The pattern
Three things recur across the cases.
Sale prices were a small fraction of the money invested. Univo's assets sold for about 7% of its debts, and Pharmocann sold for less than half a percent of its 2020 market value. Bazelet's suppliers recover under 15 agorot on the shekel. Shareholders in these companies were mostly wiped out.
The survivors are buying. InterCure appears on the creditor side of Cantek and Bazelet, and as the buyer of Pharmocann's brand and genetics. Seach Medical is another survivor. In the first half of 2026 it reported revenue of about NIS 75.3 million, slightly lower than a year earlier, while its net profit more than doubled to NIS 9.7 million (Ice, 2026, Hebrew). Its chief executive describes the bubble years as rivals chasing market share at loss-making prices, a phase he sees ending through consolidation (Bizportal, 2026, Hebrew). The large operators are profiled in InterCure (Canndoc) and on our companies hub.
The failures moved from farms to the plants that serve them. The early casualties were vertically integrated hopefuls such as Cantek, Univo and BOL. The 2025–2026 casualties, Bazelet and David & Goliath, were contract processing and packing plants. That matters because most brands now outsource their production to such plants.
What it means for patients
A brand name on a pack does not tell you who grew or processed the product, and the owner behind a brand may have changed since you last bought it. Israeli medical cannabis labels must name the licence holders involved, and those names can be checked against the Health Ministry's public register. How to do that is explained in how to compare Israel's medical cannabis producers. If a product you are prescribed disappears from pharmacies, switching to a different one is a decision for your prescribing physician. The licensed farms still operating are covered in who grows medical cannabis in Israel.
Compiled and reviewed by Tamar Levin, Editor. Sources are linked inline. This guide is informational and is not medical or legal advice; consult a licensed physician about your own treatment.
More on this topic: Companies.