GROWPACKER – the next Amazon of cannabis?
GROWPACKER; THE NEXT AMAZON OF CANNABIS?
What could Amazon possibly offer to make them even more successful? Imagine they offered the manufacturing, branding, packaging and total distribution of every one of their client’s products.
Well that’s what California based GrowPacker does; except they do it for anything and everything related to the cannabis industry. With regards to everything I mean; non-alcoholic beverages, carbonated and non-carbonated beverages, water, candies, chocolate bars, brownies, cookies, creams, lotions, massage oils, vape oils, pre-rolls, flower and the list goes on…
Growpacker clients provide them with their cannabis and preferred product parameters, including product specs and with that information Growpacker turns it into a finished ingestible and edible product. Because let’s face it, if your still invested in cannabis stocks that don’t produce eatables, start smoking your profits away because you missed the boat.
On top of converting your THC and CBD into anything infused, Growpacker will take care of formulations, lab testing, packaging and; even the total distribution and transportation of your product. They have a turn key formula with all the required licenses to boot! And to make this even more delicious, the competitors are far behind. Growpacker was one of the first to begin this process and therefore have acquired all, I mean all, the necessary licenses to make this a growers dream come true. Currently Growpacker has +450 clients in the pipeline and nearly 100 that have started the on-boarding process for production with upwards of 10 inquires per day. If only all start-ups could be so fortunate…
Another satisfying point about Growpacker is that they do what they say. By the end of 2018 they said that they would have all their licences and they did. They also said that they are working on a high-profile brand relationship with THC infused beer start-up, Ceria Beverages Company, and it was solidified.
Speaking of Ceria, let’s look at the advisory board and shareholders of Growpacker. Keith Villa, the original founding member of Blue Moon Brewery, America’s #1 craft beer with annual revenue exceeding $250M and brand value of over $1B now owned and operated by MillerCoors, is a special advisor and shareholder to the company. He is also the one spearheading Ceria.
Furthermore, the special advisory board is made up of InterContinental Beverage Capital; (IBC) founders Joe Messina, Stephen F. Horgan and Doug Christoph who have all held top executive positions at Coca Cola and MillerCoors. (IBC) is involved in serving financial and operational planning, debt restructuring, investment, re-branding, business performance, revenue growth and profitability. These three powerhouses make it clear that Growpacker is starting on a solid business foundation.
And if this weren’t enough, Jon Cooper founding member of Ebbu Inc. a U.S hemp research company recently acquired by Canopy Growth Corporation for $429M USD is also a special advisor and shareholder. He brings everything research and development on the hemp platform to push the boundaries of cannabis tech.
Now if this is not a formula for success, I don’t know what is. Combining the turn key production and distribution formula with some of the most successful people in business along with a company who is far ahead of its competition, feels as comfortable a stock pick as a good old THC infused Ceria beer! Watch out Amazon, here comes Growpacker.
About Growpacker
Growpacker is a fully-licensed cannabis co-packing and bottling company that operates in California, now the worlds fifth largest economy and Americas largest consumer market. Taking a bifurcated approach on the industry, Growpacker will have the ability to manufacture products for both the regulated cannabis market (dispensaries) as well as the open market for products that are CBD only (grocery, convenience store, etc). They have proprietary THC & CBD infusion technologies, allowing them to design and manufacture the most premium cannabis-infused products on the market, including both water and oil-based products.
About Momentum PR
Momentum PR is a cutting-edge public and investor relations consulting agency, representing companies within the Canadian investment community.
Since 2009, Momentum PR has been servicing small and mid-cap Canadian-listed public companies, seeking to increase their exposure across North America. The focus at Momentum PR is on building and driving brand awareness. Momentum PR cultivates new audiences in the media and investment communities by proactively engaging interested parties on behalf of client companies, through online and offline channels.
Disclaimer:
All editorial content contained herein is solely the responsibility of Momentum PR and does not reflect, in any way, the opinions of Growpacker
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Isabelle Arsenault
Media Relations
MomentumPR
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- Published in Blog, Cannabis, growpacker, Marijuana, News Home, Technology
Canada Cobalt Works Jumps Almost 12% on Back of Positive Assays
Sometimes the market reacts as we think it should and sometimes it doesn’t. The recent market reaction to a Canada Cobalt Works, (TSXV: CCW) (OTC: CCWOF,) press release proves that good news still has the ability to move share prices in the right direction.
According to a November 2, 2018 story in mining.com Canada Cobalt Works shares rose almost 12% after the company hit high grades at its flagship property, the Castle Mine, located in the Cobalt silver/cobalt camp, near Cobalt in Northern Ontario.
Recent drilling at Castle returned high grade vales for cobalt, silver and nickel.
- 2.8% cobalt, 261 g/t silver and 1.65% nickel over 7.00 meters in hole CA18-001
- 1.87% cobalt, 4,763 g/t silver, 1.29% nickel and 1.19 g/t gold over 2.54 m in CA18-002
- 3.16% cobalt and 10,741g/t silver (345 ounces per tonne) over 0.60 meter in hole CA18-003
In the November 2, 2018 press release, president and CEO Frank Basa said: “These cobalt grades are very high in a global context and demonstrate the unique opportunity at the Castle mine, from which we have already created battery grade cobalt sulphate through our proprietary Re-2OX process for evaluation by clients in Asia and Europe,” To put the Castle mine cobalt assays into perspective, most cobalt is a fractional derivative of mining copper, nickel, manganese or arsenic. Low results, such as 0.5%. are considered a high grade for cobalt.
As well as showing cobalt grades at the top of their class, the press release also underlines that Canada Cobalt Works is working on a far sighted strategy that includes capturing as much of the Chinese market as possible.
According to the Cobalt Development Institute, 94% of cobalt is produced as a byproduct of copper and nickel mining. Of that more than 50% comes from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and is usually described as “conflict cobalt.”
Conflict cobalt is just one of the reasons that cobalt mining in North America and other parts of the world is taking off. Just as blood diamonds helped power Canadian diamond exploration, and production, conflict cobalt is driving the search for ethical cobalt in jurisdictions that are politically stable. Tesla, for instance has long been known to be searching out secure North American cobalt for its supply chain.
According to a story in the Financial Post the cost of cobalt has risen from US$22,000 a ton in 2016 to US$90,000 a ton in 2018.
Cobalt is considered a “Critical Raw Material,” because of its use in lithium-ion rechargeable batteries used not only by the military but the general public as well. These are the batteries that power electric cars, (EVs), laptops and cell phones.
While consumer electronics will remain a strong battery metals driver EV demand is expected to multiply. A recent report by McKinsey&Company sates, “The underlying driver for both lithium and cobalt demand is the EV revolution, which is gathering pace. The latest estimates from McKinsey’s Future Mobility Initiative, suggests that global EV production will increase from 3.2 million units in 2017 to 13 to 18 million units to 26-36 million units in 2030.” The report also forecasts that China will account for 50%-60% of EVs by 2030.
Around the turn of the last century Cobalt in Northern Ontario went through a massive silver rush. Mines in the Greater Cobalt Camp produced over 500 million ounces of silver and over 30 million pounds of cobalt. Canada Cobalt Works has established a unique position for itself in the Cobalt Camp. It may also have a first mover advantage because of its advanced status.
Canada Cobalt owns the Castle Mine, which was formerly one of the highest grade silver-cobalt properties in the camp. Castle eventually closed down when silver prices went through a slump. As the price of cobalt began to rise, junior mines started exploring for cobalt in both abandoned mines and in green belts.
Canada Cobalt is the most advanced cobalt mine in development in the Cobalt Camp. It is the only mine that has permitted access to underground workings. Level 1 has now been modernized for safety and efficiency and the company intends to drill through the winter. Once again it is also the first company in the Cobalt Camp to start underground drilling. The company also believes it has found a new discovery 1.5 km east of the mine.
If you put the extremely high cobalt grades to one side, along with the silver, nickel and gold showings, Canada Cobalt also has an advantage that no other producer can offer. President and CEO Frank Basa has developed a proprietary metallurgical process to refine cobalt without the expense and time it would take to build a smelter. Not only is building a smelter expensive but the construction and break-in period would extend the length of time required before the cobalt can be produced and hit the markets.
Basa’s invention the Re-20X process pushes all the buttons that anyone could want. It reduces the amount of time it will take for CCW to market its cobalt. It is environmentally green, highly efficient and cost effective and scalable.
Tests at CCW’s Castle Mine pilot plant showed recoveries of 99% cobalt, 81% nickel, 84% manganese and it removed 99% of the arsenic.
CCW is a value added company and intends to market its cobalt as battery grade cobalt sulphate. At 22% cobalt sulphate hexahydrate the company’s production exceeds the technical specifications of battery producers in Asia. The company, thanks to its Re-20X process, has a revenue stream that few others produce. It can use Re-20X to reclaim battery and other metals form abandoned consumer electrics, computers, cell phones and laptops.
As matters now stand it looks as Canada Cobalt will be producing at least two out of the four battery metals now in demand, cobalt and nickel and may also be producing manganese, another battery metal. If investing in battery metals is on your radar, Canada Cobalt works may be the best in its class.
On November 12, 2018, Canada Cobalt Works (TSXV: CCW) (OTC: CCWOF,) was trading at $0.62.
This blog is written for educational purposes only. It should not be construed as investment advice. Every investor should perform their own due diligence. In the interests of transparency, Canada Cobalt Works is a client of Momentum Public Relations.
- Published in Blog, Canada Cobalt Works, Mining
Canadian and US Cannabis Edibles and Consumer Products Market Set to Explode to US$ 4.1 Billion by 2022
Canopy Growth CEO Bruce Linton: “…related cannabis products have the potential to disrupt as much as $500 billion annually in non-smokable areas and industries: alcohol, sleep aids, appetite aids, sports drinks, medicines and pet care.”
If you can read them, the signs are there.
The marijuana edibles industry, that part of the recreational marijuana that be ingested as a candy, a chocolate, a candy bar or in a mixed drink or a beer is going to be huge and may very well eclipse that old standby the smokeable flower or bud.
During the summer ResearchAndMarkets predicted that the global cannabis infused edible products market would grow at an expected CAGR of 25.01% from 2018 to 2022. The infused beverage market would include CBD based
recovery drinks and tonics as well as potent THC infused beers.
An October 11, press release announcing a new report, “The Tasty Future of Cannabis Edibles,” by BDS Analytics and Arcview Research predicted that by 2022 the edibles market would exceed US$4.1 billion, up from US$1.5 billion, for the Canadian and US market in 2018.
A June article in Forbes ran the headline “New Data Shows that Smoking Marijuana is a Dying Trend.” The data it references is the 2018 Deloitte report on the emerging Canadian marijuana market and the Forbes story says, A recent analysis from Deloitte shows that “smokable marijuana” in the northern nation will generate in upwards of $5 billion in 2019. But the edibles sector is predicted to hit somewhere between $12 and $22 billion by the time the market is in full swing.”
According to the BDS and Arcview report the THC infused candy and chocolate market segment took the lion’s share of the US market at 60%. The press release quotes Troy Dayton the CEO of ArcView Market Research: “Established big brand food and beverage companies are beginning to take notice of the cannabis edibles market and this is likely just the tip of the iceberg.”
If anyone doubts that edibles and beverages are the next big thing they should remember Constellation Brands $4 billion investment in Canopy Growth. Of course if that doesn’t convince you then there is also the partnering dance between Coca-Cola and Aurora that somehow didn’t get off the ground. Just how big the market is going to be is still up for grabs.
In a video on TheStreet.com, Canopy Growth CEO Bruce Linton claimed that related cannabis products have the potential to disrupt as much as $500 billion annually in non-smokable areas and industries: alcohol sleep aids appetite aids sports drinks and medicines and pet care.
If you think the $500 billion figure was a bit too high Constellation Brands COO Bill Newlands predicted that the legal cannabis product market would hit $200 billion plus. “Our View is that in the next ten plus years, this is going to be a $200 billion business worldwide. And some would argue that’s understating the case.”
It’s not difficult to see why the edibles market segment is going to take off.
Smoking is, after all, bad for you. The more difficult question to answer maybe how to profit from what will be a long term market build out and development, one that, ResearchAndMarkets.com has predicted will grow at an astonishing rate of 25.91% CAGR for the years 2018-2022. At the moment almost every major Canadian marijuana company has either a beverage in development or edibles underway in a test kitchen. Edibles and beverages are made from oils and compounds removed from the plants by volatile or non-volatile extraction methods. One way of investing in this developing market lies in investing in those companies that are extracting THC and CBDs from marijuana and then selling it business to business for use in either medical marijuana or as food grade marijuana.
North Bud Farms (CSE: NBUD) is building out its 95 acre site in Low Quebec where it is in within 10 km of a major hydro power plant. Construction is scheduled to be finished Q1 2019 and at the moment is on time and within budget.
The company is also in the process of applying of for a production license under the Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulation (ACMPR). North Bud has cleverly tagged itself as Marijuana 2.0, in reference to the second wave of legal marijuana slated for October 2019, when the edibles and infused beverage market will be open for business. The company’s strategy is to supply two underserved markets by producing and selling certified pharmaceutical grade cannabis and GMP standard raw cannabis for the food and beverage industry. The company also intends to develop and market new products.
To that end it has recently signed a number of agreements that will help turn its words into action. On September 27, 2018 the company announced that it had signed an agreement with American firm Made By Science to license its cannabinoid infusion technology for food and beverage platform.
On October 17, 2018 North Bud announced that it had created a distribution company, “1017,” so named to commemorate the date of marijuana legalization Canada, and signed a letter of intent to acquire Janey’s, one of the six licensed marijuana accessory distributers in Ontario. Janey’s is also engaged in marijuana product development. North Bud intends to develop multiple products over a variety of product segments under the 1017 brand.
As of November 15, 2018 North Bud Farms, (CSE: NBUD) was trading at $0.25.
Given the predicted explosion in the marijuana consumables and edibles market laying a bet or two on companies in that field makes sense and one such company that bears keeping an eye on is Arev Brands International (CSE: AREV), formally Arev Nutrition Sciences. Arev originally saw life as a developer and marketer of coconut oil based health products. It is focussed on two distinct market sectors, consumer products and manufacturing as an ingredients supplier. Along the way the company also developed a unique extraction technology and this is where they fit into the consumables market segment.
In a press release on Bloomberg the company announced that it had reached a major milestone in extraction development with its partner Alternative Extracts Inc. Using its proprietary extraction system Arev has developed a
system that preserves flavour and aroma and which in the case of beverages may lengthen shelf life. It intends to manufacture finished oil products with proprietary strains bred to specifically address key health issues: anxiety, pain management, central nervous system disorders, insomnia and libido.
Arev also has an exclusive distribution agreement with the award winning full line of BARE Topical products.
In September 2018 the company completed its acquisition of BC Bud Depot. BCBD has one of the world’s largest cannabis seed banks. Over the last 14 years BCBD has won over 40 awards and was the first Canadian company to win an international award with “BC God Bud,” now Canada’s most award winning strain of all time.
On November 15, 2018 AREV was trading at $0.365.
This blog should not be construed as investment advice. Every investor is obligated to perform his or her own due diligence. In the interests of transparency Arev and North Bud Farms are both Momentum Public Relations clients.
- Published in AREV Nutrition Sciences, Blog, Marijuana, Medical Marijuana, NorthBud
Crop Infrastructure May Have The Largest Hemp/CBD Site in Nevada.
Momentum Public Relations
Blog: October 4, 2018
A Canadian Press story published in the Huffington Post on September 27, 2018, by Armina Ligaya reported that American research house Brightfield Group has updated its 2018 CBD report and predicted that CBD market value will now reach US$22 billion by 2022. To show how much market perceptions have changed, in 2017, according to Forbes, Brightfield estimated that CBD would US$1 billion by 2020.
A blog on the Brightfield site captures the disparity between the two figures perfectly. It is posted under the title: CBD Worth $22 billion by 2022? That’s crazy, right? In another Brightfield blog Bethany Gomez wrote, “I have never seen anything like the explosion we are seeing right now in CBD.”
CBDs are the cannabinoids used in medical research and being developed into drugs to treat a variety of illnesses and diseases. There are drugs under development based on CBDs to treat fibromyalgia, nausea from cancer therapies, pain and there is at least one trial underway to see if CBD-based drugs can replace drugs like fentanyl. There are also veterinary CBD based drugs under development for pain and anxiety in dogs and cats.
CBDs are also the ingredient used to infuse everything from anti-ageing formulations, arthritis creams and non-THC beverages.
If you have invested in the marijuana market then you should also be looking at the CBD market because according to Brightfield, the market for CBDs could be larger than the market for recreational marijuana.
Here’s where things start to get interesting. The active psychoactive ingredient in marijuana is THC. CBDs can be refined from either marijuana or hemp and it’s much cheaper to refine it from hemp.
Most Canadian ‘pot-cos’ have some form of medical research branch. Canopy Growth for instance has a subsidiary, Canopy Health Innovations that is developing a CBD based treatment for insomnia. This past summer it appointed Dr. Mark Ware, a well respected researcher, as its Chief Medical Officer. Aurora has the Aurora Research Institute which is developing treatments for cardiovascular disease, cancer and neurological disorders. Aphria is funding Tetra Bio Pharma’s subsidiary Phyto Pain Pharma’s clinical trials.
Hemp can also be used to produce CBDs. Whether or not farm grown hemp would meet the clinical levels of purity for medical use is another question, pesticide residues and fertilizer residues may rule out medical use for hemp derived CBDs.
But the medical market may only be the tip of the iceberg. According to the US government there are 25,000 different products derived from hemp. On sale now are clothes made out of hemp, rope and fabric as well as a host of new age lotions, potions, creams and topical ointments. Least we forget, almost every Canadian marijuana company also has a CBD infused beverage under development and even the king of soft drinks, Coca Cola is noted as also looking for a CBD dance partner. These are the products that Brightfield expects to drive the CBD market.
The United States federal government is moving towards legalizing hemp in the 2018 Farm Bill which will be voted on soon. American farmers are anxious to find a product that will replace declining tobacco sales. Currently, the negotiations for a new farm bill have stalled.
Until now, Cannabis has been a Schedule 1, federally controlled substance ranked with heroin and LSD. This has meant that the market in CBD enhanced products has been a grey one largely splintered and usually located in old fashioned head shops, modern dispensaries and by mail order off of the internet. Once hemp becomes legal for interstate commerce CBD health and wellness products including CBD based dog treats will come out of the grey market and stand a chance of gaining national shelf space in chains like Walmart and Walgreens.
If the CBD market is going to be as big as recreational marijuana, or as those at Brightfield think, even bigger, then you owe it to yourself to take a good look at the CBD market.
The CBC posted a CBD story on September 27, and in it Tina Fraser, an Ottawa-based lawyer who advises the marijuana industry described the kind of products being developed and already sold in some cases by saying: “Think about cosmetics, and skin creams, and arthritic topical creams, and all sorts of types of products that you would go to a drug store to buy that could have these potentially therapeutic effects from CBD … That’s certainly not unrealistic, and I think in fact, odds are, we will be there [in Canada]. I hope, within the next five years.”
Investors looking for a way to play this developing market may want to take another good look at Crop Infrastructure Corp. (CROP:CSE). CROP is unique for any number of reasons.
To begin with, it may be the only Canadian marijuana company that doesn’t have any operations in Canada. If the future of the Canadian marijuana industry lies on foreign shores then CROP has already landed. And then there is CROP’s business model. It is based on Real Estate Investment Trusts. For the right tenant CROP will buy land, build roads and greenhouses and provide management, quality control and branding. In return CROP benefits from a two-year return on investment and royalties that stem from an ownership position that ranges from 30% to 49%.
At the moment CROP has 176,000 square feet covered or under construction and an additional 134,000 square feet planned. As well the company has interests in 325 acres of outdoor production. The company has two operations in Washington State and Nevada, one in California and in Italy. The company also has permits for Jamaica and two joint venture dispensary application in process in California. CROP has the US and Italian distribution rights to more than 55 CBD-based NHPs, natural health products and is of course developing its own CBD-infused recovery beverage.
According to a deleted tweet by Epstein Research, Epstein management believes that Crop has substantial exposure to the developing American CBD and hemp market because it has the largest hemp operation in Nevada. If you believe CBD is going to be big, then you should take a long close look at Crop and its operations.
This blog should not be construed as investment advice it is written for informational purposes only. It is incumbent on every investor to perform their own due diligence. Crop Infrastructure is represented by Momentum PR.
- Published in Blog, CROP Infrastructure
TD Forecasts Marijuana Will Hike GDP by $8 Billion
The Chinese Are Coming
Synthetic CBDs and THC: Better Living Through Chemistry
TD Forecasts Marijuana Will Hike GDP by $8 Billion
Momentum Public Relations
Blog: September 26 2018
Just when you thought the Canadian marijuana industry was a slam dunk for becoming a dominant global force the Chinese are beginning to set up and take notice. According to a September story in The GrowthOp, the Postmedia marijuana industry news website, here come the Chinese.
Arcview Market Research and BDS Analytics have predicted that by 2027 the global marijuana market will be worth $US57 billion and you can be sure that Chinese business will see that as an attractive market. The Chinese will have to play catch-up, but catch-up is a game the Chinese play very well. Things will kick off when CannaTech: Hong Kong’s first cannabis investor symposium takes place on November 1st.
While Chinese investors will probably start to pour into the Canadian cannabis industry, they will as legislation changes, consider starting their own industry. Chinese herbal medicine has longed used marijuana as an ingredient.
URI Capital Management, one of the symposium sponsors was quoted in the story as saying: “Asia, more specifically China, is poised to leverage its unique advantages in Hemp and agriculture to become a dominant global leader. URI is proud to become the first Chinese financial conglomerate to focus on the Asian cannabis industry and will leverage the firm’s world-class research and investment resources to lead the way.”
If there is any doubt about the marijuana market drying up Canopy Growth (TSX:WEED) spun off its investment arm last Thursday and by Friday, Canopy Rivers Corp. (TSXV:RIV) market evaluation had more than doubled, according to a story in the Financial Post, to $1.6 billion. Before its IPO Canopy Rivers was valued at $600 million.
RIV has already made ten investments in Canada and one in Italy. According to the company website the investments include licensed producers, pharmaceutical formulators and retail.
As noted by Bloomberg it was the first time a bank, CIBC, had helped a marijuana company list on a Canadian stock exchange. CIBC led the deal with GMP Securities and Eight Capital.
The Bloomberg story contained the following quote: “We’re really trying to make this smart money that goes global,” Bruce Linton, chief executive officer of Canopy Growth and acting CEO of Canopy Rivers, said, “The scouting has been pretty active.”
Tilray (NASDAQ:TLRY) showed just how volatile marijuana stocks could be by rising 98% before plunging and then climbing back up to gain 44% on September 19, 2018. Tilray stock started climbing when the US FDA granted it permission to export medical marijuana for a trial in California as a treatment for essential tremors. The stock then came down to earth when a Florida Republican came down on the deal and said that the trial should be using American produced medical marijuana.
According to Bloomberg, Tilray shares rose to US$176 a share and then dropped like a stone to US$123 a share, finally ending the week up by 12%. Since it IPO in July, Tilray has risen by 800%.
Just as Aphria sold its interest in Liberty Health Sciences last week Aurora Cannabis (TSX:ACB) has spun off its American interests by spinning off Australis Capital (CSE:AUSA). Last Fall The TMX Group ruled that American federal overruled American state law and that consequently Canadian marijuana companies with American operations faced delisting if they did not exit the American market.
Like Canopy Rivers, Australis is an investment vehicle designed to aid American marijuana companies that have problems accessing capital and expertise. In an oversubscribed non-brokered pre-IPO private placement financing Australis raised $17 million at $0.20 a share. On Friday September 21st, Australis opened at $3.90 before closing at $3.16.
The next story should be filed under the 60s rubric of Better Living Through Chemistry. Cronos Group (TSX:CRON), one of the top Canadian vertically integrated marijuana producers, has announced a partnership with Boston-based Ginkgo Bioworks, a biotech startup. Under the partnership Cronos will fund research designed to produce synthetic CBDs and THC. Cronos is targeting a production price point of a thousand dollars a kilogram. The process will involve using fermentation to produce the cannabinoids.
Ginkgo Bioworks has had success producing expensive ingredients, perfume and flavours using synthetic DNA. The end product could be used in a variety of ways: including medical therapies, vaporizer cartridges and edibles. Cronos will invest up to $22 million in Ginkgo to fund research and development and in return for milestones give Ginkgo up to 14.7 million shares. In exchange Cronos will have the right to use and commercialize the resulting intellectual property.
Cronos is not the only marijuana LP looking into the future. On September 19th The Gazette reported that LP Organigram’s parent company, Organigram Holdings (TSXV:OGI), has invested $10 million in and formed an alliance with Hyasynth Biologicals, to develop synthetic phytocannabinoids, using the same techniques as Ginkgo, biofermentation. Hysaynth will be using its proprietary technique to produce the synthetic cannabinoids. As with Ginkgo, the process uses genetically engineered strains of yeast.
Finally, on September 19th the Financial Post reported that the Toronto-Dominion Bank had predicted that after legalization the marijuana industry will add up to $8 billion to the country’s real GDP. Canada’s measure of real gross domestic product will get a boost after the legalization of marijuana adds as much as $8 billion to the country’s economy, according to the bank. After legalization. Statistics Canada will face the daunting task of including both legal and illegal marijuana industry economic statistics in its forecasts.
Just how Statscan will assemble the black market statistics remains to be seen. Given that the illegal marijuana trade isn’t big on keeping records a lot of by guess and by golly will probably be used.
- Published in Blog
Diagnos Five Years Ahead of Google in Diabtetic Retinopathy Screening Says Harvard Professor
Diabetic Retinopathy Market Predicted to Hit US$10.11 Billion by 2022
Diagnos Launches Hypertension Screening Application
AI Healthcare Applications Expected to Grow at 52% CAGR Between 2017-2022, Hitting US$7.98 Billion
Momentum Public Relations
Blog: September 24, 2018
On September 14th, 2018 Diagnos (TSXV: ADK) held an investor presentation at a downtown Montreal bistro for retail and institutional investors. Diagnos’ flagship product is CARA, computer aided retinal analysis, a cost efficient diabetic retinopathy screening application running on the company’s artificial intelligence platform Flaire. The company has been going from triumph to triumph this year. One indication of that was the presence of Chinese investment fund representatives.
During the presentation, recently appointed Diagnos Board member Dr. Reed Maclellan described the company’s technology as being “light years ahead of the competition. I was at a recent conference and nobody, not even Google can do what Cara can. Cara can detect macular degeneration. This is the only technology in the world that can do it. Diagnos is five years ahead of Google.”
Maclellan is an adjunct professor at both Harvard and the Boston Children’s Hospital where he teaches surgery. A microcirculation specialist, Dr. Maclellan also lectures internationally and frequently speaks at conferences of the American College of Surgeons, the Plastic Surgeons Research Council and the International Society of Vascular Anomalies.
Diagnos develops screening tools that help health care providers cut costs and make early diagnoses. Cara is designed to detect diabetic retinopathy and has the potential to prevent 85-90% of diabetes induced vision loss through early detection. At last count Cara has screened 222,034 patients, in 16 countries, using 131 screening sites. If untreated diabetic retinopathy leads to blindness.
The company is currently conducting its first Canadian pilot project in Montreal at CHUM, the Centre hospitalier de l’Universite de Montreal. If the pilot project is a success, Larente expects to be setting up Cara screening centres in hospitals and clinics across Quebec. CHUM has 35,000 diabetics, 80% of whom have never had a retina screening. Once you are a diabetic you face a 50% chance of going blind.
“Our job,” Larente, Diagnos’ president said in an earlier interview, “is to screen those 35,000 diabetics and send the ones that are critical right to the ophthalmology department and mange the other ones. Manage means you come every year and you get your test done.”
Once the pilot project is completed Larente expects to see Cara screening facilities in Quebec hospitals and just as a successful pilot project in Mexico led to a government contract, he expects the CHUM pilot project to result in a contract with the Quebec Ministry of Health.
“This will actually reduce the cost to the government because now you are going to manage the diabetic population. When you start to have retinopathy you can treat the patient. There is diet, there are vitamins. There are small inexpensive treatments to make sure it doesn’t go to the critical stage. There is a very effective laser treatment for bleeding.”
The diabetic retinopathy market is growing at 6.8% CAGR and according to a news release issued by Million Insights will grow from US$5.9 billion in 2014, to US$10.11 billion in 2022.
During the presentation, Diagnos president Andre Larente, announced that while the company intended to keep on marketing to government health agencies it also intended to beef up its approach to targets like hospitals and health care providers.
Drawing on his own experience, Maclellan described why AI powered medical devices had an initial slow adoption rates. “People were afraid it would take their jobs.” That has now changed. “Once one hospital starts using it, Cara adoption will snowball.”
To show just how much AI driven platforms are gaining traction in medicine at the beginning of 2018 Research House Frost & Sullivan predicted that by 2025, 85% of surgical procedures are likely to be done by robots.
According to Market and Markets, the market for artificial intelligence applications in healthcare will grow from US$667.1 million in 2016 to US$ 7.98 billion in 2022, growing at a CAGR of 52.68% during the forecast period.
Diagnos’ product line is expanding. In July the company launched the first application in its Cardio product line, Cara HTA. The application uses the same fundus camera used for diabetic retinopathy to screen for hypertensive retinopathy. Cara HTA also monitors the efficacy of blood pressure treatments which will allow doctors to monitor and adjust treatment as necessary.
From a revenue standpoint, Cara HTA offers the same form of recurring revenues that screening for diabetic retinopathy does. Once the screening has been initially performed patients will require additional screenings on an annual or as needed basis.
The hypertension market is huge. Almost one in two adult Americans, for example, suffer from high blood pressure, a precursor to strokes and heart attacks.
Diagnos also has a third product in development, Cara Cardio which will screen for cardiovascular disease and debut during 2019. In September Diagnos signed two agreements. The first was with another Montreal-based company Optina Diagnostics, to provide a telemedicine platform based on Cara for a period of three years. Optina will use Diagnos Cloud Services to upload images generated by Optina’s hyperspectral camera for the early detection of Alzheimer’s.
The company believes that the agreement will attract other biotech companies that need a telemedicine platform. Cara includes a telemedicine platform that allows all the medical professionals involved to see the same picture. Additionally the company has already successfully incorporated blockchain technology to maintain patient confidentiality.
In September the company also signed a three year agreement with American company 20/20NOW to provide diabetic retinopathy screening services. 20/20NOW is a pioneer in ocular telehealth.
September has been a good month for Diagnos, the future should be even better.
- Published in Blog, Diagnos, Life Sciences, News Home, Technology, Uncategorized
Moody’s Predicts Battery Metal Shortage
Walmart, Pepsi, UPS, Annheuser-Busch and Loblaw are all buying Tesla Electric Semis with a Two Year Payback
California Going Carbon Neutral
Momentum Public Relations
Blog: September 18 2018
Early September featured a couple of announcements that bode well for Mother Nature, energy efficiency, battery metals and battery metals investors.
First there was an announcement by Walmart Canada that it had ordered 30 Tesla 18 wheelers for its delivery fleet. This joins an earlier order for ten all electric 18 wheelers for a total of 40 and joins orders from Fortigo Transport and Loblaws.
The Canadian Press story by Ross Marowits appeared on September 6th and quoted Walmart as saying that the electric transportation trucks would cost less than diesel to run.
Walmart intends to electrify 20% of its transportation fleet by 2022 and the entire fleet by 2028. Half of the fleet will be used in Mississauga while the other half will go to Walmart’s Surrey distribution center which is under construction with a 2022 move-in date. The Surrey operation will be Walmart’s first completely electric distribution facility.
According to Tesla the trucks will be able to go from 0-100km/h in 20 seconds, fully loaded. Tesla also maintains that the trucks will be the safest trucks on the market because of enhanced autopilot, and blind spot cameras. The driver’s seat will be in the middle of the cab offering the driver an improved ability to see everything on the road. The top of the line model will have an 800 km range.
Tesla also claims that because there are fewer automotive systems to maintain and because electricity cost less than half the price of diesel that the Tesla Semi will provide $200,000 in energy savings and a scant two year payback period.
In April, Business Insider stated that Pepsi had ordered 100 trucks, Anheuser-Busch 40 and UPS 125. The story also said that Loblaws had ordered 25 of the trucks and intended to be 100% electric by 2030.
The good news for battery metals investors is that despite Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris climate accord major American industry is moving away carbon and towards fleet electrification.
Further good news for battery metals investors and producers came when Jerry Brown, Governor of California announced that the state would be carbon neutral by 2045. In a story published in the Guardian on September 11, 2018 Oliver Millman reported that not only was California going carbon neutral, with all of its electricity generated by renewable resources but that Brown had also signed an executive order that the state eliminate all net emissions across its economy including transportation and agriculture by the same date.
The story goes on to note that Brown had successfully reduced greenhouse gases from the state back to 1990 levels and done so during a time of strong economic growth. By doing so Brown proved false the claims that promoting energy efficiency and reducing emissions strangled the economy.
A May 5, 2018 story in Fortune stated that California, with an economy valued at US$2.7 trillion and a population of 39.5 million had a larger economy than the entire UK with a population of 65.6 million. In terms of global economies California ranks fifth after the USA, China, Japan and Germany.
A May 1, 2018 story in mining.com by Cecilia Jasmasmie should provide those who have already bought into battery metals confidence in their investments. According to the story, credit rating and investors research house Moody’s has predicted a slowing in electric vehicle uptake because of a looming shortage of battery metals. Nothing drives price like demand.
Moody’s analysts posited that declining copper ore values and a lack of investment in new copper mines would hobble EV production. Moody’s has also predicted that the amount of copper used in EV production could multiply by a factor of six.
The company also predicts that cobalt, lithium and nickel will be in short supply.
All of the above argues a robust future for the right kind of battery metal mine. The wiley investor might be delighted by the thought that because electric cars and their batteries are the future that it might be more than a good idea to invest in a battery metal miner that could also be described as having found a way to bring mining technology into the future.
Canada Cobalt Works, (TSXV: CCW) fits that description. The company’s flagship property is the Castle Mine Silver/Cobalt Project located on a 128 square km land package in Cobalt, Ontario. Cobalt has been primarily seen as silver camp and the Castle Mine was a big silver producer until it was shut down because of low silver prices.
Now it is rising again thanks to the vision and ability of CEO and President Frank Basa. Basa understands the mineralization at Castle because he worked there during the 1980s when silver production was in full bloom. Castle was one of the highest grade silver producers in the camp with head grades of 15+ ounces of silver per ton.
Cobalt is usually found in small percentages mixed in with other ores. In Cobalt the cobalt was found mixed in with silver, nickel and at Castle recent bulk sampling has shown some gold. In general 0.05% cobalt is considered a good grade.
Recent bulk sampling at Castle showed 1.05% to 5.2% cobalt, averaging out to 2.3%. In the world of cobalt this is high grade ore. Canada Cobalt Works has a host of advantages going for it and management that means to wring value out of every penny spent. There are 11 different levels at Castle which means that mine infrastructure doesn’t need to be built.
The company started bulk sampling in June. Thanks to Basa, who has invented a proprietary green technology processing method, Re-20X the company doesn’t have to build a smelter because Re-20X produces 99% recoveries for cobalt and 81% for nickel. This is a value added proposition because it will also allow the company to produce cobalt sulphate, the very building block of lithium-ion rechargeable batteries.
As well the company plans to process the waste rock from the time that cobalt was simply thrown away and use Re-20X to recover the battery metals from computers and cell phones. All in all, CCW has the ability to produce, cobalt, silver, manganese and nickel. An added plus is that they have also recently found gold showings. If you believe in the future you should take a look at Canada Cobalt Works.
This blog has been written for information purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice.
- Published in Blog, Canada Cobalt Works, Mining, News Home
Coca-Cola Planning to Have Drinks With Aurora Cannabis?
Momentum Public Relations
Blog: September 18 2018
Coca-Cola Planning to Have Drinks With Aurora Cannabis
Global Soft Drink Market Pegged at US$605.6 Billion by 2025
Marijuana Industry Acquisitions Continue
Acquisitions, partnerships, branding and product development have all been on the increase in the legal marijuana industry this year as recreational marijuana legalization comes closer to becoming reality.
You can now begin to see a consumer product rollout that is remarkable in many ways. A new industry that cuts a broad swath in consumer goods is being developed and that Canadian industry is doing its best to reach out and conquer world markets. As well as medical and recreational marijuana CBD infused cosmetic and wellness products are being developed, as well as hemp clothing and THC infused beer.
On Monday September 17, 2018 the news broke that Coca-Cola (KO-NYSE) and Aurora Cannabis (ACB-TSX) were in talks about developing a non-psychoactive cannabis infused soft drink. CNBC reported that pot stocks jumped on the news with Aurora gaining more than 15% as of mid-day. Speculation exists that Coke wants to develop a CBD infused beverage in Canada so that it can launch it in America when marijuana laws there are relaxed.
Earlier in the summer Molson-Coors announced a deal with Hydropothecary (HEXO-TSX) to develop a THC infused beer. Marijuana is going mainstream faster than imagined and industry players are scrambling to gain a piece of what may be one of the last and biggest market rollouts.
Coca-Cola is the largest beverage company in the world and if the Molson-Coors (TAP-NYSE) Hydropothecary beer agreement didn’t give the industry legitimate credibility then the forthcoming agreement with Coca-Cola should. Based on information from an anonymous source the story said that if consummated the partnership would develop health-focused beverages or recovery drinks designed to alleviate inflammation, pain and cramping.
In a statement Aurora issued to CNBC the company described the infused-beverage space as having “incredible potential.” In a statement that Coca-Cola sent to CNBC Coke said: “Along with others in the beverage industry, we are closely watching the growth of non-psychoactive CBD as an ingredient in functional wellness beverages around the world. The space is evolving quickly. No decisions have been made at this time.” The anonymous source described the discussions as “serious.”
Grand View Research has predicted that the global soft drink market will hit US$605.6 billion by 2025.
Crop Infrastructure (CROP-CSE) announced on September 13, 2018 in a press release that it too was entering the soft drink market with a cannabis-infused beverage, Canna Drink, that would have zero calories, be non-GMO, ketogenic-friendly and be available in both tea and coffee versions. Crop Infrastucture Director and CEO Michael Yorke said in the release that: “We see it as a tremendous opportunity for Crop Infrastructure’s branding & IP portfolio and as an auxiliary opportunity for each of our cultivation tenants globally.”
“Functional beverages are a new class of products that offer beyond basic nutritional ingredients, including vitamins, minerals, herbs, amino acids and probiotics. We believe that cannabis’s medically known benefits will enhance our own formulations, so we are bang on target with our CANNA DRINK line.”
Crop Infrastructures is a sophisticated company that has modelled its business plan on REITs, creating a real estate type marijuana investment trust. It owns properties in jurisdictions where recreational marijuana is legal and offers tenants infrastructure, branding and expertise. The company has recently expanded to Jamaica . Crop has also announced that by the end of the year it will open two retail locations in Northern Italy to sell the Urban Juve product line of hemp oil infused wellness, cosmetic and therapeutic products.
While the secondary market, products infused with CBDs, is roaring into life, acquisitions and agreements are still being made as legalization approaches.
Aurora Cannabis’ $290-million all share deal to buy ICC Labs is the latest acquisition to fuel rising share prices. Aurora has already bought up to 10 companies in the last two years. The deal is a reminder that Canada is not the only marijuana playing field and that industry leaders are busily paving the way for international expansion when more countries legalize recreational consumption.
In a telephone interview with The GrowthOp, Postmedia’s marijuana news website, Aurora’s chief corporate officer Cam Battley said: “We feel a significant sense of urgency to rapidly establish a powerful global footprint. We see ICC as the jewel of the South American market. This is going to be our anchor in South America and we have very big plans for that continent.”
The jewel that prompted Aurora’s purchase was the fact that ICC has 70% or more of the Uruguayan market. Uruguay legalized marijuana in 2013, becoming the first country in the world to do so. As well as having majority market share in Uruguay, ICC Labs also comes with Columbian licenses to grow medical marijuana and an agreement to sell CBD products to Mexico.
In the meantime, Aphria (APH-TSX) has more or less cleared the decks by selling its interest in Liberty Health Sciences for almost $60 million. According to a Canadian Press article published on September 6, 2018 in the Financial Post Aphria has sold the shares to several investors and the deal contains an option to repurchase the shares within five years.
Aphria now has money in its war chest to finance further acquisitions and opportunities. TSX regulations forced the company to sell its shares in Liberty because marijuana is illegal under federal American legislation and Aurora was threatened with delisting if it did not comply. The company intends to return to the American market when regulations change, hence the buyback option.
Canada’s largest marijuana producer, Canopy Growth(WEED-TSX), appears to just keep getting bigger. On September 5, 2018 it announced that it had acquired Hiku Brands in exchange for Canopy Growth shares. The deal improves Canopy’s retail and branding position.
Hiku is an attractive acquisition for Canopy. It has a subsidiary, DOJA Cannabis, a licensed ACMPR producer with two British Colombia based production facilities in the Okanogan Valley. Another subsidiary, TS Brandco Holdings has one of four master retail licenses in Manitoba. The company also has a chain of retail outlets branded as Tokyo Smoke in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario.
All of this only goes to show that the Canadian marijuana industry is a global leader and that as countries begin to decriminalize possession, Canadian companies will be able to significantly grow their operations because of their existing footprint. All the major Canadian marijuana producers have foreign operations.
This blog was written for information purposes only and should not be mistaken for investment advice. In the interests of transparency Crop Infrastructure is a Momentum client.
World Marijuana Market Predicted to Enjoy a 47% CAGR for the Next Nine Years
Europe May Become the World’s Largest Medical Marijuana Market
It has been compared to both the Tech Bubble and the South Sea Bubble but marijuana stocks have a habit of rebounding and with good reason. When shortsellers were causing a blip earlier this summer, the Constellation Brands deal with Canopy Growth restored the market.
With a global sales value of US$57 billion predicted by 2027 the international marijuana market is going to gain in value as savvy operators move to take the nascent industry into the international mainstream.
A report by Arcview Market Research and BDS Analytics in February 2018 predicts an explosive growth in medical marijuana consumption across the globe and recreational marijuana in the United States and in Canada. The report, Roadmap to a US$57 Billion Worldwide Market, forecasts that by 2027 global legal marijuana consumption will reach US$57 billion.
According to the roadmap, recreational use will dominate the sales figures at US$38 billion followed by medical marijuana at US$19.1 billion. North American consumption is pegged to lead global markets rising from US$9.2 billion in 2017 to US$47.3billion in 2027.
Globally, Arcview and BDS see the market going from US$52 million in 2017 to US$2.5 billion in 2027 providing ROW markets with a CAGR of 47%. The report points out that Europe, with a population of 739 million and US$1.5 trillion in healthcare spending stands to become the largest medical cannabis market in the world.
Canadian companies have already leveraged their first starter status to move into the international space. Industry leader Canopy Growth (TSX: WEED) has just had its target price upgraded to $74.00 from $56.00 by Cowen and Company analyst Vivien Azer. One of her reasons for raising the target price was that Canopy had the “Ability to establish an early lead in the adult use cannabis market as well as the domestic and international medical marijuana market.”
Through a variety of strategic alliances, investments and ownership, Canopy Growth has operations in Columbia, Brazil, Chile, Germany, Jamaica, Denmark, Germany and Australia. Canopy has never shied away from saying that its corporate agenda is to become the number player in the international medical and recreational marijuana company.
Aurora Cannabis (TSX: ACB) has operations in 14 countries spread across five continents. It recently the creation of a spinoff, Australis, a company designed to make investments in US cannabis and real estate. Aurora raised $17 million in a private placement to finance the investments.
Aprhria, (TSX: APH,) announced in March 2018 that it had purchased Nuuvera a grower and distributer with strong Maritime connections. Aphria paid $525 million to acquire Nuuvera but it was looking far beyond the Maritimes. Some European countries are or will be demanding that medical marijuana be grown in their own countries. Nuuvera has five different country licenses and applications to the table. The company now called Aphria International is a front runner for a German cultivation license.
While many of the Canadian marijuana companies listed on the TSXV and CSE have upgraded and joined the TSX as they prospered, opportunities are still to be had in the small cap sector.
Crop Infrastructure, (CSE: CROP) recently received a positive rating in Forbes in The Three Most Overlooked Marijuana Markets. It earned those kudos on the strength of its Jamaican operation. CROP just announced that Greg Douglas, the former CEO of the Jamaican Cannabis Licensing Authority had joined CROP as a member of the executive advisory board with a special focus on Jamaica.
CROP Infrastructure Corp. loans capital to purchase real estate and build greenhouse infrastructure which is leased to the licensed producers. It also offers management and branding expertise. The company receives a 60% preferential payback via lease and management fees on greenhouse infrastructure related equipment, until its deployed capital is returned in full. Once its investment is repaid in full, CROP’s 30% interest in the real estate and infrastructure will receive dividends indefinitely. The company also has several minority positions in its tenants. CROP is structured like a REIT. It has operations in Nevada, Washington State, California, Jamaica and Italy. Its long-term strategic goal is to operate in every jurisdiction where marijuana or medical marijuana is legal.
CROP operations have started harvesting in Italy and Washington State and this should provide the share price with momentum. Arcview Market Research has pegged Italy as being Europe’s second largest medical marijuana market after Germany. As well CROP has a joint venture in two California dispensary locations, San Bernardino and West Hollywood.
American regulations have also led to American producers listing on Canadian exchanges. The Next Green Wave is to be listed shortly on the CSE after the company successfully raised $21 million in Canadian financing. The company operates in California where recreational marijuana was legalized at the beginning of the year. The California market is expected to be one of the largest in the world.
It has four California licenses that just about cover everything from seeds to cultivation to producing oil and cannabinoids for medical marijuana to distribution. It falls under today’s rubric of European market opportunities because the company is in discussions with European growers about seeds.
Along with its licences NGW has an ace up its sleeve because CEO Mike Jennings has won the High Times Cannabis Cup six times and been inducted into the High Times Seedbank Hall of Fame. High Times is the marijuana growers’ and consumers’ bible. Next Green Wave has a sponsorship agreement with High Times.
Canada legalized medical marijuana in 2001, which eventually led to the legalization of recreational marijuana in 2018. As well, 29 American states have legalized medical and recreational marijuana. Just as the legalization of medical marijuana led to the legalization of recreational marijuana in North America, the industry believes that recreational marijuana will eventually become legalized around the world as more and more jurisdictions legalize medical marijuana.
How soon that will happen is anyone’s guess. Arcview Market Research’s editor in chief Tom Adams believes that will only happen after the American government ends its marijuana prohibition. Only then, he believes, will the United Nations remove marijuana from the United Nations Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs.
The above should not be construed as investment advice. It has been written for education purposes only. Every investor should and must perform their own due diligence.
- Published in Blog, Business, Medical Marijuana, News Home