Tilray Inc. investors is a Canadian maker of medicinal cannabis extracts saw a huge rise in its shares throughout this year. On Wednesday, the shares of the firm rose by 38% while the peak increase during the day was 94%. The shares came to rest finally at $300.

The huge increase in the share price of Tilray made investors and analysts compare the shares of companies dealing in cannabis to the trend in the shares of cryptocurrency firms last year.

The shares of Tilray are now trading at 13 times the price that the company offered during its initial public offering in July of $17. The company did business of just $20 million last year.

The company saw a 30% increase in share prices on Tuesday this week after it secured an approval from the Drug Enforcement Administration allowing it to import cannabis for medical research work into the U.S.

Tilray is now the most valuable cannabis company with a market value of almost $20 billion. The market capitalization of the Nanaimo, Vancouver Island town based company is more than that of companies like American Airlines, Clorox and CBS.

There has been a surge in demand for pot stocks because cannabis as a drug is to be legalized in Canada from next month and this has benefitted Tilray. Additionally, a number established businesses and brands such as beverage makers Coca-Cola Co. and Diageo are eager ot enter the cannabis market.

Its listing on the Nasdaq is one of the reasons that the company has been able to drawn more investor interest than most similar companies because it is U.S. investors and hedge funds are able to get hold of the stocks more easily because of its listing in the US.

The stocks have also been made more expensive because of the limited number of shares available for trading as many sceptical investors might find it difficult to short the shares.

According to the company’s website, the Privateer Holdings Inc.’s $75-million Series B financing round in December 2014 made Thiel’s Founders Fund became the first institutional investor in the cannabis industry. 76% of Tilray is now owned by Privateer Holdings, a Seattle fund started seven years ago to focus on the marijuana business. The value of that stock is now more than $12 billion.

“Our long-term vision is if a patient walks into any pharmacy in any country in the world that has legalized cannabis, that patient should be able to obtain a Tilray product. That’s our global goal,” said Brendan Kennedy, 46, who is the chief executive of Tilary, in an interview this week from New York.

There is little interest among the owners of Tilary to get acquired by a large consumer company, Kennedy said. The company may one day be worth more than $100 billion ge said in a statement.

“I don’t want to get bought by AB InBev or Diageo, I want to be that company,” he added.

(Adapted from LATimes.com)