🎫 Illinois Plans Extra Cannabis Lottery
Cresco Labs Closes Acquisition of Cultivate (MA). Harborside Completes Acquisition of DHS Dispensary (CA). SLANG Worldwide partners with Trulieve for MA. Ex-Weedmaps COO joins Pax Labs as COO.
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🌿Industry
Illinois Plans Extra Cannabis Lottery to Give Applicants Fair Shot. Illinois will hold an extra lottery to give six applicants an opportunity to operate Cannabis dispensaries after they were wrongly denied fair chances to win earlier. The additional licenses are authorized by Illinois legislation that permits up to 500 new licenses, the Chicago Tribune reported. The six applicants won’t be assured of selection in the extra lottery, but the digitized system would recreate what should have been their odds of winning originally. The awarding process has run into a host of obstacles, including a flurry of lawsuits from applicants. Unsuccessful applicants claimed the process of scoring their bids — one of the steps before the lotteries — was flawed. They noted that identical exhibits were sometimes scored differently.
💵Deals
SLANG Worldwide — Enters Massachusetts Through Strategic Partnership with Trulieve. SLANG has a strategic partnership with Trulieve to supply branded products to this market. SLANG will also provide sales consulting services and will receive royalty payments for each branded product sold in the state. This is the second market in which SLANG and Trulieve will partner, building on the success that both companies have enjoyed in the Florida market. Massachusetts will mark the first time that both companies will partner on wholesale initiatives, which is a SLANG core competency. Initial product offerings in Massachusetts include O.pen Daily Strains, a selection of popular strains designed to offer consistent and repeatable effects with elevated THC potencies, which are now available in Trulieve's Northampton and Worcester, MA locations. It will be followed by District Edibles, which offers cannabis-infused sweet and sour gummies that are individually sealed and in a convenient, no melt container. Priced as one of the more affordable options on the market, sweet flavors include Cherry Cola, Tropical Punch, Strawberry, Orange, Blue Raspberry, and Watermelon and sour flavors include Apple, Lime, and Peach.
Cresco Labs — Closes Acquisition of Cultivate, Strengthens Position in Massachusetts.
Transaction Highlights:
Approximately 42,000 square feet of active flowering canopy, bringing combined canopy in-state to approximately 64,000 square feet. The Transaction also includes space available to further expand cultivation capacity
Three operational dispensaries located in Leicester, Framingham, and Worcester, bringing combined retail storefronts in-state to four. Concurrent with closing, the Company’s Fall River retail location has transitioned to medical sales only
Greater operating platform to pursue market share growth in the largest adult use cannabis market in the northeast. The Massachusetts’ market structure offers a unique opportunity to wholesalers given limited cultivation licenses, robust pricing, and abundant retail stores throughout the state
Harborside — Completes Acquisition of its Desert Hot Springs Retail Location. Prior to closing of the Acquisition, Harborside had been operating the dispensary since December 2019 under a management services agreement. In December 2019, Harborside announced that it opened DHS, the Company's first retail location outside of the Bay Area. Located at 66205 Paul Road, Desert Hot Springs, CA, the 4,800 square foot facility is strategically located on Interstate 10 between Los Angeles and Coachella and serves both medical and adult-use customers with a wide selection of cannabis products, including Harborside's own KEY branded line of cannabis flower. In addition to the brick and mortar store, DHS functions as one of only two state licensed drive-through dispensaries in all of California. Upon the closing of the Acquisition, Harborside paid the aggregate Purchase Price comprised of: (a) ~$1.5 million in 15,793.40 shares based on the 30 day VWAP, and $784,646 in cash consideration for the transfer of the equity interest of Accucanna LLC to the Company; and (b) $2.6 million in cash for the Property. Harborside expects to finance all or a portion of the Purchase Price owed for the Property after closing of the Acquisition.
AUDACIOUS and Professional Bull Riders — CBD Product Partnership. These products include pain relief and recovery products, which feature proven pain relief ingredients such as menthol and lidocaine as well as a generous 500 mgs of CBD, available in roll-on, gel and spray formats. AUDACIOUS will be launching its new CBD product line under the brand Wreck Relief. The products will debut on-line and at the 2021 PBR World Finals, Nov. 3 – 7 in Las Vegas, marking one of the first times a major professional sports organization has licensed a CBD product. These products will also be available for large retail chains in 2022.
Flora Growth — Launches Global Cannabis Distribution Strategy, Implements Pharmaceutical Standards For Its Supply Chain. Flora Growth has signed agreements with TruTrace Technologies to launch a complete and differentiated global cannabis product validation and authentication platform for consumers, distributors, and government regulators. The technology integration and build-out is well underway, with management anticipating its use for customers in the recently announced agreements to export cannabis products internationally to South Africa and Australia. Flora will use TruTrace’s blockchain-based SaaS software to track inventory and product quality testing, including molecular tagging through Applied DNA’s CertainT platform to track the cannabis flower and derivatives originating from its Cosechemos cultivation and extraction facility. The implementation of these technologies will ensure the products exported out of Colombia and delivered to global customers are derived directly from Flora’s operations, substantially reducing any concerns over counterfeit or illicit market products. Flora anticipates using this technology will further differentiate its low-cost, organically produced cannabis flower and derivatives from competitors as they can rest assured regarding the immutable journey these products traversed.
📄Company Updates / Earnings
Red White & Bloom Brands — Receives Final Approval in Michigan to Move Forward with full Business Plan in the State. Adult Use license award marks final major regulatory hurdle to complete the Company’s long-awaited Michigan acquisition consisting of significant retail, cultivation and real estate assets having 2020 revenue of $69 million (excluded from RWB 2020 financial statements). Operating assets to be brought onto RWB’s income statement and balance sheet include: 18 Michigan dispensaries (8 operating; 2 historically operating; 8 ready-to-open); 4 cultivation facilities (2 indoor; 1 outdoor; 1 retrofit-ready indoor); significant company-owned real estate holdings.
Acreage — Damages to its Sewell, NJ Facility. Hurricane Ida caused extensive damage to its cultivation center located in Sewell, New Jersey, which was nearing the completion of its construction. The damage will significantly delay the opening, which was expected in Q1 2022.
Ayr Wellness — Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Owner of Levia Cannabis Infused Seltzers. “Since we first announced our intention to acquire Levia a few weeks ago, we have been thrilled with the feedback we’ve received from customers, friends, investors and industry colleagues about how much they’ve enjoyed the cannabis experience Levia brings. It is a truly unique product that we believe will be game changing to the mainstreaming of cannabis in the U.S. With a formula that provides consistently great flavor and zero calories in an infused beverage experience, we believe Levia has enormous potential as an alcohol alternative. As we finalize our updated national brand portfolio to address all segments and form factors, Levia will, following closing, play a marquee role in each market where we operate, joining our other national brands, Kynd premium flower and Origyn extracts.” —Jonathan Sandelman, CEO of Ayr Wellness.
🏬Retail
Destination Dispensary: Wonderbrett Wows With Its First Storefront In Hollywood.
In 2019, Wonderbrett was among the thousands of businesses to apply for a coveted social equity retail license from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cannabis Regulation and was ultimately selected in 2020. Today, Wonderbrett is among the 19 special recipients to officially open the doors for inclusive cannabis retail in Los Angeles.
🌱Product
SweetWater Brewing Company (Tilray) — Launches Plant-based, Non-Dairy Almond Milk Stout. By incorporating almond milk, SweetWater’s non-dairy brand adds a lightly sweetened tang to its stout, along with rich aromas of roasted coffee, milk and dark chocolates. The beer is expertly blended to achieve a light-bodied taste. The new brew echoes the SweetWater motto of Don’t Float the Mainstream!,as its smooth profile and easy drinkability captures the adventurous 420 lifestyle the craft brewery famously embraces, but with a twist. With an ABV of 5.4%, SweetWater’s new stout delivers on the high-quality and flavor of SweetWater’s full line of inventive beers.
🧔People | 💻Hiring
PAX Labs — Former Weedmaps COO joins as COO. Steven Jung was President & COO at Weedmaps for four years after stints at LendUp (Business Operations), Twitter (Sales), and Encore Capital Group (Corporate Development & Strategy).
Next Green Wave — Resignation of Director. Benjamin Kovacs has resigned from his position as Director, effective September 6, 2021.
K-Zen — Brand Ambassador (Sacramento).
🎙️Interviews
Cannabis Investing Network — Creating Value by Going Deep in Key States (Abner Kurtin, CEO of Ascend Wellness)
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