Cannabis operators run two capital problems that get mixed together. One is the building — a licensed dispensary, grow, processing room, or warehouse that a conventional bank will often not touch. The other is operations — payroll, security contracts, packaging, taxes, a merchant cash advance that is already drafting, a license deposit the city wants before the certificate of occupancy.
Jaken Finance Group originates the first problem as cannabis property bridge loans: 8.99%–13.5% interest-only, 12–24 months, collateral-first on licensed real estate. It does not finance plant inventory as primary collateral.
This page is the second problem: an unsecured, business-purpose term loan from $50,000–$500,000, 3, 5, or 7 years, often 3–10 business days, no lien on the grow. Pricing is quoted per file in an approximate 6%–18% band by Preferred Funding Group. State-legal, documented business purpose only. Unlicensed activity is out.
Pre-qualify for cannabis operating capital →
Keep the stacks apart
| Need | Product | Collateral | Who |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buy or refinance the licensed real estate | Cannabis property bridge | The building | Jaken Finance Group |
| Payroll, security, packaging, deposits, MCA payoff | Unsecured term loan (this page) | None | Preferred Funding Group referral |
| A truck, HVAC skid, or hood with a vendor invoice | Equipment financing | The equipment (UCC) | Jaken Finance Group equipment program, 6%–14% |
| Consumer spending or a house you occupy | Neither | — | Wrong product |
Mixing plant inventory into a real estate file is how cannabis deals get declined. Mixing a building lien into a payroll loan is how you trip the next refinance. Write two uses of funds.
Model operating capital, not canopy
The Cannabis operations preset loads $200,000 over 5 years at an illustrative 13% — about $4,553 a month. That is a stress-test inside the illustration band, not a cannabis surcharge published as policy. Change it. If trailing licensed sales cannot support that installment after rent, security, and payroll, the amount is too large.
Unsecured term loan calculator
Model a 50,000–500,000 business-purpose term loan on a 3, 5, or 7-year amortizing schedule. Compare the payment to a merchant cash advance. Results are estimates — not a loan offer. Pricing is quoted per file by Preferred Funding Group.
Monthly payment
—
Fully amortizing
Total interest
—
Over the full term
Total repaid
—
Principal + interest
Effective cost
—
Interest ÷ principal
Program checklist
Term loan vs merchant cash advance
| Term loan | MCA | |
|---|---|---|
| Amount funded | — | — |
| Estimated monthly outflow | — | — |
| Total extra cost | — | — |
Tool-only page: unsecured term loan calculator. Overview: unsecured term loans.
The upside of financing operations instead of raiding the build
1. The license calendar does not wait on a bank. Local approvals, canopy inspections, and opening dates slip when cash is trapped in a construction draw. A known 5-year payment that funds security and opening payroll can be cheaper than three extra months of dark rent on a building you already closed.
2. You do not have to lien the fee-simple to make payroll. Putting the real estate up to float packaging is how operators later cannot refinance the bridge. Unsecured capital leaves property bridge capacity on the collateral that should carry it.
3. Federal banking friction is a cash-timing problem. Many operators still live in cash-heavy, limited-bank relationships. That is not a reason to take a third merchant cash advance. It is a reason to convert a messy, high-velocity obligation into an installment you can put on a P&L. See refinance a merchant cash advance and the FTC small-business financing notes.
4. Security and compliance spend is not optional. Cameras, vaults, access control, and licensed transport are occupancy conditions. Financing them on a 3–7 year note matches how long those systems last better than paying cash out of a thin operating account the week before inspection.
5. You can still sell or refinance the real estate cleanly. Buyers and takeout lenders read UCC filings and blanket liens. An unsecured personal/entity note that does not attach the dirt is easier to explain than a stacked MCA on the same receipts the lease depends on.
Financing cannabis operations is how a licensed room opens and stays staffed. Financing cannabis property is how the deed closes. They are not the same loan.
What underwriting still wants
Expect two years of personal tax returns, a FICO 8, entity docs, and a use of funds that a lawyer would recognize as lawful business purpose in the state of operation. License numbers, local approval letters, and a lease with cannabis clauses help the story; they do not turn this into a real estate loan. There is no published FICO floor. There is no published “we fund every canopy.” Quoted per file.
Do not send a plant-count spreadsheet as if it were an appraisal. Jaken Finance Group will not underwrite inventory that way on the bridge, and the unsecured referral is not a crop loan.
Worked example: dispensary TI and opening payroll
Retail license is approved. Landlord TI covers demising walls. The operator still needs $160,000 for vault, cameras, POS, and eight weeks of payroll before the first legal sale. The building is leased, not owned — no property bridge to draw.
A $160,000 5-year note at an illustrative 13% is about $3,642 a month. Trailing sales at the operator’s other licensed shop support it. A first-time operator with no other cash flow is a harder file — same pattern as restaurants and startups. Evidence first.
Worked example: keep the building loan on the building
A 28,000 sf industrial conversion is already on a cannabis property bridge at 60% LTC (see that page’s worked example). Mid-build, the licensed tenant needs $125,000 for a security upgrade the city just required. Pulling it from the real estate loan blows LTC and the draw schedule.
A $125,000 unsecured 5-year note at an illustrative 12.5% is about $2,812 a month on the operator, not on the sponsor’s bridge. The dirt stays on the 8.99%–13.5% property stack. The city gets the cameras. That is the point of two products.
Unsecured term loan payment vs merchant cash advance. Estimates only — not a loan offer.
Monthly payment
—
Fully amortizing
Total interest
—
Over the full term
Total repaid
—
Principal + interest
Effective cost
—
Interest ÷ principal
Program checklist
Term loan vs merchant cash advance
| Term loan | MCA | |
|---|---|---|
| Amount funded | — | — |
| Estimated monthly outflow | — | — |
| Total extra cost | — | — |
Risks specific to this industry
- Federal conflict does not vanish because the note is unsecured. State-legal is the floor. If the use is not a lawful business purpose, do not apply.
- The payment starts whether the canopy is full. Construction delays are famous. Hold a month of payments in proceeds if you can.
- You are the collateral. There is no foreclosure on a flowering room on this product.
- Tax and banking friction can make a “normal” payment feel heavier. Model cash, not accrual optimism.
Why merchant cash advances show up so often here
Limited banking access pushes licensed operators toward the first lender who will fund on receipts. That is how stacked advances become a second payroll. A 1.40 factor on $150,000 is $210,000 to repay — $60,000 extra — often inside a year, drafted daily. Replacing remaining balance with a 5-year installment will not make federal tax treatment simpler, and it will not make a bank account appear. It can stop the daily ACH from taking Saturday’s retail drawer before rent.
If an advance is already on the account, use remaining payoff in the calculator, not the original fund amount. The MCA refinance page is the same math with more worked examples.
SBA 7(a) is listed in the sources as contrast. Many cannabis operating companies cannot use it. Do not wait 90 days on a program that will not touch the file. Do not pretend this unsecured note is SBA.
Cash, tax timing, and the payment you can see
Cannabis operators often describe “being profitable on paper and broke on Friday.” High effective tax friction and cash-heavy collections mean a $4,553 monthly installment has to be sourced from actual deposits, not from an accrual P&L. Before you size $200,000, pull three months of bank statements and ask whether those deposits still cover rent, payroll, security, and the new note after a 20% sales dip. If the answer is no, shrink the request or do not take it.
That discipline is the same one restaurant lenders apply to prime cost. Licensed retail has its own version: labor, security, and occupancy as a share of legal sales. Unsecured underwriting will not do that ratio for you. You should.
Do not use this loan to speculate on canopy expansion you cannot staff. Extra rooms without labor and without a buyer for the extra production are just a larger electric bill. Finance the bottleneck that is already in the way of legal sales — security that the city named, payroll that keeps the counter open, packaging that lets finished goods leave the room. If the bottleneck is the building itself, you are on the wrong page: go back to cannabis property bridge loans.
How to apply
- Split the request: building vs operations. If there is titled licensed real estate, start the property bridge as its own file.
- Run the operating amount in the calculator until the payment fits licensed trailing cash flow or documented personal income.
- Submit the unsecured financing form.
- Questions on the real estate side: (833) 264-7776.
Pre-qualify for cannabis operating capital · Cannabis property bridge · (833) 264-7776
Sources
- SBA — loan programs (SBA is often unavailable for cannabis; listed for contrast, not as a promise)
- FTC — small business financing staff perspective
- CFPB — Ability-to-Repay and Qualified Mortgage standards (consumer mortgage context — this facility is business-purpose)
Calculator outputs are estimates. Approval and rate are quoted per file by Preferred Funding Group. Jaken Finance Group originates non-owner-occupied investment property loans, including qualified cannabis real estate bridge — not plant inventory. Unsecured operating capital is a referral. Unlicensed activity is not eligible.