The trio effectively owned about 45 percent of Privateer’s holdings in Tilray as of March 31.: The first private equity firm focused exclusively on the cannabis industry has spawned three billionaires. Brendan Kennedy, Michael Blue and Christian Groh founded Seattle-based Privateer Holdings Inc. in May 2010 and the firm later invested in Canadian pot firm Tilray Inc., whose market value topped $21 billion Wednesday after surging more than 1,200 percent in the past two months. The trio effectively owned about 45 percent of Privateer’s holdings in Tilray as of March 31, according to the cannabis company’s prospectus.