Highly Objective

Distru raised $3M in July 2019 from Felicis and Global Founders and didn't raise again until November 2024. Poseidon led the $6M Series A, its first time investing in the Company. 💡 Founding Story and Early Focus on Distribution. Blaine Hatab , Co-Founder & CEO of Distru , discusses the company's founding story. Distru was initially focused on building software to enable cannabis distribution...

Introduction to NewLake Capital Partners and Business Model. NewLake Capital Partners, a sale-leaseback REIT, is focused on the cannabis industry, owning 32 properties across 12 states. Jarrett Annenberg, SVP and Head of Investments at NewLake, explains that NewLake primarily purchases real estate from cannabis operators and leases it back to them, providing a capital infusion for the operators. T...

We check in with Hirsh Jain on the Red Wave: MO ('22) → OH ('23) → FL ('24) → ND, SD, NE, AR ('25), Market growthrResumption with 30%+ market growth via OH, FL, PA, MN ($32B --> $44B), and 27 Adult-Use States by EOY 2024 and the possibility of 30 Adult-Use states by EOY 2025. Hirsh Jain is the Founder of Ananda Strategy, a strategy consultancy advising leading cannabis brands, r...

Kyle Neathery (Samson Extracts) is the CEO of Samson Extracts, an Alabama-owned and operated manufacturer of high-scale CBD extracts.  Previously, Kyle served as the Director of Operations and General Manager for High Life Farms, a privately-held, family-owned cannabis company operating 150,000 square feet that includes an impressive portfolio of cultivation, manufacturing, distribution, in-house...

Chris founded Cannabis Xpress in 2018 after selling his previous cannabis retail chain, Star Buds Cannabis Cannabis. He has experience in Cannabis M&A and Distribution from his time at Origin House. Cannabis Xpress currently has 16 stores in Ontario and New Brunswick, focusing on smaller towns without other dispensaries present.

Mario Naric is the Founder & CEO of Motif Labs, a leading brand house in Canada’s including Boxhot (#1 vape brand in Canada), Rizzlers, DEBUNK and Boondocks. The company did C$90M of Revenue in 2013 and double-digit EBITDA.

Mark is CEO and Co-Founder of The Bettering Company. Previously, he had a 35-year career in the finance sector, primarily focused on growth companies and startups. After spending 14 years on Wall Street in investment banking at Salomon Smith Barney / Citigroup Global Markets, he joined a client, Thomas Kaplan, as the first employee and co-founder of Leor Energy. He helped build Leor Energy into on...

Michael Johnson  was appointed Metrc’s CEO in May 2022. He previously served as the company’s President and CFO from May 2021 to May 2022, where he was responsible for driving the company’s strategic and financial decisions. Prior to joining Metrc, Michael served as CFO at InformedDNA in St. Petersburg, Florida, and CM Group Global, in Nashville, Tennessee.

FloraWorks is a discovery stage company developing a multifaceted approach to cannabinoid and cannabinoid-inspired drug development utilizing traditional chemical synthesis, advanced biological assays, and cutting-edge computational science to advance cannabinoid research for a new generation of therapeutics. Alleh Lindquist, CEO, FloraWorks. Prior to co-founding FloraWorks, Alleh was a CEO of Swe...

urban-gro, Inc.® (Nasdaq: UGRO) is a fully integrated architectural, engineering, construction management, and cultivation systems integration company focused on delivering complete design-build solutions to the indoor CEA and Commercial sectors. With experience in hundreds of CEA facilities spanning millions of square feet across the globe, we design, specify, procure, engineer, and integrate com...

Eaze is a delivery focused multi-state cannabis operator. Eaze have over 1,500 employees nationwide, we’re the largest cannabis retailer in CA with over 1,000 employees, #3 retailer in colorado with full vertical integration and a growing presence in Michigan and Florida. Background on Eaze’s founding in 2014 as a technology company in California before acquiring Green Dragon and expanding into Co...

Marc Beginin is the founder and CEO of Prodigy Processing Solutions, a cannabis extraction equipment and technology industry. Before starting Prodigy, Beginin led Precision Extraction Solutions, a cutting-edge extraction equipment company he established in 2014, which was acquired by Agrify Corporation (NASDAQ: AGFY) in October 2021. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beginin/

Re-launched as its own standalone company in 2020, the AlphaRoot story actually started early on in the growth of its now sister company, Founder Shield. Around the same time Founder Shield began to really gain a foothold in emerging industries, the legal cannabis industry began to take off. Given the Founder Shield team’s expertise in working in emerging markets that most traditional insurance co...

Sunderstorm is currently in CA, NV, CO, and MA. The company plans to launch in IL soon. The company also announced in December 2022 plans to enter Thailand through an agreement with THCG Group Ltd. (THCG), a Thailand-based, vertically integrated medical cannabis license holder with existing cultivation, distribution and retail operations, including wellness centers. The company expects this market...

Curio Wellness is the leading wholesaler in most recent adult-use market in Maryland. They're also one of the only cannabis operators with FDA approved safety certifications for manufacturing. Focused on product innovation to introduce first to market cutting edge brands like terpene chews. The company also has a franchising program and fund aimed at helping minority entrepreneurs with its Far...

Hemper launched in 2015 as a curator of monthly, limited-run cannabis accessory boxes and now has ~33,000 monthly subscribers (different packaing and products) with more than 500,000 boxes shipped to date. The company's limited-run boxes include celebrity-designed and curated editions with original artwork that have become collectors' items. The company also designs and manufactures its ow...

Zach Marburger is Cresco Labs' Chief Information Officer. He oversees the technology and data infrastructure throughout the organization and is responsible for designing, scaling and implementing technological systems and data platforms to optimize the customer experience. Throughout his tenure with the company, Mr. Marburger has worked in various executive roles supporting Retail, Operations...

Willow Industries is the industry leader in cannabis kill step and post-harvest microbial decontamination technology. Founded in 2015 by CEO Jill Ellsworth , the company is built on one simple principle: cultivators should be equipped with resources to provide patients and consumers with consistently safe cannabis. Based in Denver, CO, Willow's services are currently available to all licensed...

As of June 30th, 2023, Naturae has 3 brands and ~30 SKUs selling at 15 of the 16 opened adult-use dispensaries in New York. We discuss Challenges and evolution of the company from CBD to Cannabis; Development of in-house brands while also running a vertically integrated company (excluding retail); Strategy to defend their brands in the market as more brands and MSOs enter. Naturae is focused on pr...

Jane Technologies Launches Revolutionary New Point-Of-Sale Platform to Transform Dispensary Operations Leverages leading, proprietary e-commerce technology to enhance in-store shopping experience and empower retailers SANTA CRUZ, Calif., June 21, 2023 – Jane Technologies, Inc. (“Jane”), the cannabis industry’s leading e-commerce provider and creator of the largest online cannabis marketplace, toda...

Sundie Seefried has spent ~40 years in the credit union industry. In 2014, she saw that Cannabis-Related Businesses (CRBs) needed financial services and that Colorado communities would be safer if the new industry had access to banking solutions. Seefried was the former CEO of Partner Colorado Credit Union (PCCU). Established in 2015 by PCCU, Safe Harbor was formed to provide an unmet need–complia...

David Goubert is President and CEO of Ayr Wellness and is responsible for overseeing the Company’s operational and commercial functions, including production, supply chain, retail, wholesale and marketing. Mr. Goubert joined Ayr from Neiman Marcus Group, one of the largest multi-brand retailers in the United States, where he helped lead the company through a transformation into one of the stronges...

Jason Desentz is a HR leader with over 20+ years of progressive human resources experience working for start-up cannabis companies & Fortune 100 companies. He has developed an innovative framework to help companies build resilient and sustainable organizations. Mike Siebold is a strategic advisor and investor to several cannabis teams domestically. His exposure to the hiring demand and movemen...

Summary. Advanced Vapor Devices (AVD) has quietly built the second-largest vape company by market share, just behind CCELL. In my conversations with CEO, Alex Kwon, it's clear that the company prefers to be heads down on execution, while letting the product, technology, and customers (such as Trulieve , Jeeter , Gold Drop , Blue River , Jetty , to name a few) speak for itself. Despite maintain...

Benjamin Ballinger is a cofounder of Shryne Group, California’s largest vertically-integrated operator—with retail, manufacturing, cultivation and distribution operations across the state, and the parent company of STIIIZY—the biggest vape brand in the US. As one of Shryne’s top executive, Benjamin oversaw the massive scaling of the company through California’s initial legalization period from 201...