If you want to be an investor in hemp, here’s your chance, courtesy of the legislature and a legislator. Friday afternoon Sen. Don Coram, a Republican from Montrose, and representatives of the state Department of Agriculture will unveil a crowdfunding campaign for a start-up hemp production company called Paradox Ventures.

Coram is a founder and board member of Paradox Ventures. The seed-to-sales hemp business is based in Naturita in Montrose County.

The bipartisan House Bill 1246 sailed through the legislature in 2015. It allows start-ups to raise money through crowdsourcing. Coram, then a House member, voted for the bill when it passed the lower chamber, 65-0, but he wasn’t one of the 40 members of House who co-sponsored.

Then-Rep. Gordon Klingenschmitt, R-Colorado Springs, who strongly opposed marijuana legalization and consistently pushed to clamp down it during his two years in the House, co-sponsored and voted for the bill.

Though it does not specify investing in hemp, the law is getting a test drive with the product.

“Since its passage in 2015, the Colorado Crowdfunding Act has not been utilized,” Coram said in a statement. “Paradox Ventures is a huge opportunity to see how this law will work.”

The law allows the new business to crowdsource up to $1 million, and possibly up to $2 million, by submitting additional paperwork and meeting other requirements. Individuals can invest up to $5,000.

Hemp is the non-intoxicating byproduct of the cannabis plant, and lawmakers last session additionally approved a study to see if it could be fed safely to livestock.

Some of the co-sponsors of the 2015 bill and  other Paradox Ventures board members will join the announcement on the first floor of the Capitol at 1 p.m. Friday.

Coram characterized the crowdsourcing as homegrown investing.

“Rural Colorado doesn’t need consultants, we need capital,” he said. “This is a tool to get us there.”

The legislature passed four bills directly related to hemp last session:

(Editor’s note: This story was updated after the governor’s office said Lt. Gov. Donna Lynne would not be able to attend the announcement, as previously planned.)