Partner Colorado Still Invested in Denver Cannabis Business

It closed Sept. 30, 2022 at $139.80 just after the credit union spun off Safe Harbor.

Partner Colorado has remained the largest shareholder in the company it founded as a CUSO in 2015 to provide financial services to cannabis businesses. The credit union once considered its equity stake its most likely payoff from the spinoff.

Partner Colorado's stake was worth $117.4 million at the time of the September 2022 spinoff. It fell to $11.4 million by July 2023 and $2.3 million by April 11, 2025 following a "going concern" warning filed with the SEC.

Based on the credit union owning 1.08 million shares or 37.1% of the company last September, a 37.1% state would have been worth $872,211 on Monday, when it closed at $0.81 per share.

Also, after the September 2022 spinoff, Partner Colorado members were promised $56.9 million from Safe Harbor. In an initial concession in early 2023, Partner Colorado members exchanged that promise of cash for the $14.5 million senior secured promissory note in March 2023.
The remnant was the $10.7 million the credit union extinguished last September.

As part of a renegotiated contract with Safe Harbor signed Feb. 4, Partner Colorado required Safe Harbor to put a copy of its software in "escrow" exclusively for the credit union's ownership and use it if the company went bankrupt.

"The company is required to deposit into escrow a current copy of the source code and technical documentation for the company's proprietary software that is used to perform" account services. "In the event of certain defaults by the company under the Second Amended CAA or if the company enters into, among other things, bankruptcy, then the escrowed software will be released from escrow and transferred to PCCU."

Despite those losses, Partner Colorado now seems to be doing fine. It did lose $163,041 (ROA -0.10%) in the fourth quarter, but for the full 12 months it earned $1.8 million (1.18%).

Over the long haul, it has lost net worth. It stood at $61.9 million, or 10.8% of assets, at the end of 2021. It then rose to $145.3 million, or 20.9% of assets, at the end of 2022 in the wake of Safe Harbor's spinoff.

Net worth quickly fell back to earth. At the end of 2025 it stood at $59.3 million, or 9.27% of assets.

So depending on the starting point, Partner Colorado has lost $2.7 million or $86.1 million of its members' net worth in the credit union over the past three or four years.

The company's situation is different.

Safe Harbor is still showing net losses three years after the spin-off, which is not that unusual for a startup. But the continuing drop in the stock shows investors are not encouraged.

That's despite a change of leadership a year ago, when Terry Mendez took over as CEO. Mendez has made changes in the company's operations and been building relationships with banks and credit unions outside of Partner Colorado.

Its latest results were through Sept. 30, 2025. The company has not announced when it expects to release fourth-quarter results. It released its 2024 results April 14, 2024.

Company filings showed it still depends heavily on the credit union.

"The company derives substantially all of its revenue from services provided to PCCU," according to the third-quarter filing. For the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2025, Partner Colorado represented 85.4 % of total revenues, up slightly from 82.4 % in the first nine months of 2024.

The company's falling stock price raised an issue the company faced a year ago.

Nasdaq can delist a stock if it falls below $1.00 for 30 consecutive days, but it usually gives companies a 180-day window to comply.

In March 2025, Safe Harbor drove its stock back up through a reverse split: Taking 20 old shares and returning one new share. But the fix has frayed.

As of March 30, Safe Harbor has been below $1.00 for 16 days. The stock was last above $1.00 on March 9, closing at $1.03, up from $0.88 the previous day and falling back to $0.85 on March 10.

March 9 was when Safe Harbor released a letter to shareholders from Mendez, citing the company's strengths.

"Today, Safe Harbor has a strong financial base and is ready to grow: We are debt-free, hold more than $6 million in cash, and have secured a long-term agreement with a major customer [Partner Colorado] that is expected to generate at least $10.5 million in incremental cash flow" through 2031, Mendez wrote.

"The single most important thing I can tell a shareholder today is this: We eliminated substantially all of the company's debt in September 2025," he wrote.

Safe Harbor also increased deposits by 29% in the 12 months ending Feb. 4 in states that have loosened restrictions on cannabis businesses, "driven by more than 100 new accounts."

In September 2025, Safe Harbor launched its "Fully Managed Cannabis Banking Program," offering a compliant turnkey program designed for community banks, credit unions and financial institutions seeking to serve the legal cannabis market.

Safe Harbor said it "manages everything, including compliance, onboarding, account support and loan syndications while deposits remain directly at the financial institution."

The company has also expanded its lending platform beyond commercial loans backed by real estate.

"We now have the ability to structure financing across the entire operator lifecycle, from startup funding of as little as $5,000 to transactions as large as $25 million or more, funded through our network of credit unions, regional banks, family offices and private equity relationships," he wrote.

Contact Jim DuPlessis at Jim.DuPlessis@arc-network.com.