Univo was one of the loudest names in Israel's medical cannabis boom. It traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, built a pharmaceutical-standard plant in Ashkelon, controlled a farm, bought into a pharmacy and counted former prime minister Ehud Olmert among its shareholders. In December 2022 it asked a court to freeze its creditors, owing, by one count, about NIS 63.5 million. Its operating assets were later sold for NIS 4.6 million. This profile traces how that happened, using court filings and the Israeli financial press.
This profile is general information about a company's history, not investment advice. Most sources are Hebrew-language press reports of court and stock-exchange filings; where they disagree, both figures are given.
What Univo was
Univo (Univo Pharmaceutical Industries) was founded by Golan Biton, who ran it as chief executive and was its largest shareholder. It became a public company by merging into a shell already listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, where it traded as UNVO (Globes, 1 March 2020). Olmert invested in April 2019 and became a shareholder. The company's website later presented him as its president and a director (Cannabis Magazine, 8 November 2023, Hebrew).
The business was built to cover the whole supply chain:
- a manufacturing plant in the Ashkelon industrial zone;
- 51% of the Amit Oren farm in Moshav Renen in the south;
- a trading house, the licensed wholesaler that sells to pharmacies;
- 51% of the Medi Pharm pharmacy in Holon, bought for about NIS 5.5 million around mid-2021.
The money came from well-known investors. They included Palo Alto Networks founder Nir Zuk, who put in about NIS 11 million, and Haim Horowitz, son of the late Teva chairman Eli Horowitz, who chaired the board (Bizportal, 21 November 2022, Hebrew). The Avisror group lent NIS 7.5 million to the farm.
The import strategy
Univo bet that Israel would become an exporter and that its plant would process foreign flower for local pharmacies. In March 2020 it signed an exclusive collaboration with Canada's Canopy Growth. The first stage was an import of 470 kg of dried cannabis, to be processed in Ashkelon and sold under a joint brand. In a second stage, once Israel allowed exports, Canopy could use Univo's plant to supply Europe (Globes, 1 March 2020). Univo was also among the companies that obtained export approval (Cannamonitor).
Imports later caused one of its largest debts. A shipment of more than a tonne from Canada's Tilray reached Univo's warehouse without its data loggers, the devices that prove a cold chain, and was rejected. In November 2022 Tilray demanded about $5.8 million (NIS 19.8 million) for that shipment and others. Univo said some of those other shipments were never delivered. The company had not booked the claim in its financial statements (Cannabis Magazine, 25 November 2022, Hebrew).
The collapse, 2022
Univo reported a representative loss of about NIS 12.8 million in the first half of 2022 and carried a going-concern warning. In November 2022 the Israel Securities Authority said that warning should already have appeared in the first-quarter report. The point mattered because two consecutive warnings let bondholders demand immediate repayment. By then the bonds traded at a yield above 500%. The plant had already stopped working (Cannabis Magazine, 25 November 2022, Hebrew).
The pharmacy went the same month. Univo's partners in Holon, who held the other 49%, moved the pharmacy's takings to a bank account Univo could not reach. Each side accused the other of breaching their agreement (Cannabis Magazine, 11 November 2022, Hebrew). The dispute ended with the partners buying Univo's 51% for about NIS 2.86 million, roughly half what Univo had paid for it.
On 6 December 2022 Univo petitioned the Beersheba District Court for a 60-day stay of proceedings. Cannabis Magazine put its debts at about NIS 63.5 million, of which about NIS 56 million was owed by Univo itself:
| Creditor | Amount |
|---|---|
| Bondholders | about NIS 24 million |
| Tilray (payment demand) | about NIS 20 million |
| Mizrahi-Tefahot Bank | about NIS 12 million |
| Avisror group (loan to the farm) | about NIS 7.5 million |
Source: Cannabis Magazine, 7 December 2022, Hebrew. Calcalist later gave the claimed debt as about NIS 50 million, with bondholders owed NIS 21.6 million net (Calcalist, 26 February 2023, Hebrew). The difference appears to be mainly how the disputed Tilray claim and accrued interest are counted.
The company blamed over-regulation, sudden rule changes and a flood of new competitors. In the filing, the Ashkelon plant was in "temporary shutdown" with five staff kept on to protect the licences. Olmert, still listed on the company's site, told reporters he had not been involved for a long time.
The sale
Univo's own debt plan did not survive. The court appointed trustees, Shai Glickman and Alon Fradkin, to sell the assets (Calcalist, 26 February 2023, Hebrew). The process took three attempts:
- February 2023: a cannabis farm owner offered only about NIS 1 million for the plant and trading house.
- February 2023: a bid of NIS 11.2 million, which included the listed shell, won the tender. Police and the Health Ministry then disqualified the buyer from the cannabis industry, and the deal fell through.
- May 2023: the court approved, subject to creditors, a sale to a Zano family company for NIS 4.6 million. The buyer got all of the plant and the trading house and 51% of the farm, but not the shell. It already controlled another producer, Better, bought for about NIS 3.5 million, and planned to merge the two (Cannabis Magazine, 9 May 2023, Hebrew).
The final price was about 7% of the debt, and about 40% of the bid that collapsed. The assets were later held by AID Cann IL, wholly owned by Moshe Zano.
The aftermath
Two court fights followed the sale.
The founder's shares. In November 2023 the Tel Aviv District Court ruled on a suit by a former partner of Biton's. The partner said the idea for Univo was his and that he was owed half of Biton's shares. Judge Yaakov Sharvit agreed and ordered Biton to hand over half his holding, about 11% of the company. The judge also found that the two men had hidden the partner's stake, which arose from agreements the court called illegal, from the regulator and from public shareholders. The partner had a criminal record that would likely have barred the company from a licence. Biton said the shares were worthless and that the partner had signed away his claim (Cannabis Magazine, 8 November 2023, Hebrew). By then the listed shell held no assets, so the ruling had little cash value.
The buyer's reversal. In March 2024 AID Cann asked the court to cancel its purchase retroactively. It claimed that the companies' accounting records and data had been erased and could not be restored. It also said the trading house had been built without a building permit and lacked a valid licence, and that NIS 1 million it paid for supplier debts had not been passed on. The trustees replied that AID Cann was the party failing to pay. By then the new owner had launched only three products in pharmacies and said it was focusing on markets abroad (Cannabis Magazine, 6 March 2024, Hebrew).
Where Univo stands now
We have not found a public report of how the cancellation claim ended. The Health Ministry's licence register of 14 September 2026 lists the Amit Oren farm company, and both Better companies, among licence holders whose licence or quality certificate has been frozen or cancelled (data.gov.il, Hebrew). On the available evidence, none of Univo's former operations is producing medical cannabis today. This profile will be updated if the court record or a new owner surfaces.
Why Univo's story matters
Univo shows the early industry's weak points at small scale. Prominent names and a stock-market listing raised money but did not create a market. A plant built for imports and exports depended on foreign supply and on export rules that came late. Disclosure was also weak: a regulator flagged a missing warning only after the fact, a large supplier claim was left off the books, and a court later found that part of the ownership had been hidden. For the full record of the period's failures, see Israel's cannabis shake-out, 2022–2026. For two other early ventures that did not survive, compare BOL Pharma and Bazelet. The producers still operating are listed in the company directory and our Companies hub.
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.
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