Private Archives - Green Market Report

StaffJuly 16, 2019

With one of the largest cannabis technology fundraises completed to date, Jane Technologies, Inc., a retail software company that created the first and largest online cannabis marketplace, has announced it has secured $21 million in Series B funding.

The I “Heart” Jane team is the company behind the first cannabis e-commerce marketplace expands to keep up with global demand for retail cannabis products sold online.

This latest round of funding, led by new and returning investors, will allow Jane to expand its online marketplace to international vendors, bolster its data analytics platform, and deliver data to other industries. The funds will also enable Jane to continue to advance its e-commerce platform of more than 150,000 products with real-time integration into point-of-sale systems.

In October 2018 Jane announced $6 million in Series A funding, which enabled the tech company to grow its technological advances and data analytics while providing consumers an optimized shopping experience. The company is currently in partnership with more than 700 stores across 21 states.

As the cannabis industry continues to rapidly expand, Jane’s internal data has demonstrated people spend double on online purchases than in-person. Today people who purchase CBD spend 50% more than those who do not. Research also shows the online cannabis shopper will spend an average of $206 a month compared to the offline shopper who spends only $122 a month.

“We’ve seen Jane effectively support some of the largest retail clients in the country and are pleased to partner with the software innovator so they can grow exponentially,” said lead investor Nick Deans of Pakala Jane Partners. “The online retail marketplace allows Jane to promote local businesses and increase sales with larger shopping cart purchases while keeping transaction costs down.”

Ian Dominguez of Delta Emerald Ventures sees significant value creation opportunity in Jane’s consumer-centric data. “Jane’s purpose-built platform will continue to drive operational improvement for the cannabis industry. In addition, the Jane platform translates across many industries, making Jane as a whole, the future of omnichannel data.”

“Within the rapidly evolving cannabis space, Jane’s insights as the largest facilitator of e-commerce in the industry are invaluable to its partners, particularly for brands seeking to establish and position themselves within an increasingly crowded marketplace,” said Jason Adler, Managing Partner of Gotham Green Partners. “This investment provides resources for building additional infrastructure and proprietary interfaces to help cannabis businesses worldwide to maximize their potential.”

Jane Technologies Founder & CEO, as well as U.S. veteran, Socrates Rosenfeld stated that “in a world dominated by major multi-national online retailers, we’re bringing together innovative technology to support local businesses, and connecting customers to wellness benefits in their region.” He also explained that “expanding to global markets is key for Jane as we continue to pioneer the industry and grow an industry-leading team. By helping cannabis companies in the U.S. and overseas, we are localizing the online sales process by bringing together dispensaries, brands and consumers through automation.”

StaffJuly 11, 2019

Antonio Frazier is the Director of Operations at CannaSafe, the first ISO licensed cannabis lab in the world and the leading marketshare holder in California.

Het met CannaSafe President, Aaron Riley, while playing football together at Furman University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree; he also holds a B.S. in Materials Engineering from Clemson.

Frazier began his career as a Nuclear Quality Engineer for the Tennessee Valley Authority, certifying and verifying final construction of nuclear components. He then moved to aerospace engineering, performing quality assurance for the foundry, testing lab, heat treat, and special finishing departments for SKF USA (Baltimore).

Antonio enjoys using his industrial, public safety focused skillset to forge the standards of a burgeoning industry; cannabis is just a huge bonus. He’s an English Premiere League fanatic (Chelsea), married with two sons, and resides in Los Angeles, California.

GMR Executive Spotlight Q&A –

Full birth name: Antonio Frazier

Title: Director of Operations

Company: CannaSafe (https://csalabs.com/)

Years at current company: 2 years

Education profile: Antonio played football at Furman University with Aaron Riley, current president of CannaSafe. He wanted a degree in engineering, but Furman didn’t have an engineering program, so he ended up driving between both schools for two years and received 2 B.S. degrees – one from Furman University and the other from Clemson University in Materials Engineering.

https://www.furmanpaladins.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/091009aaa.html

Most successful professional accomplishment before cannabis: Reducing foundry scrap by over 25%, and therefore saved SKF USA over $100,000 per month on material waste. This lead me to win the 2015 SKF Excellence Award, a global recognition within the company. This was done by implementing new SOPs and six sigma practices, which lead to much better on delivery time of final parts and helped increase moral throughout the company.

Company Mission: To set the standard in cannabis science and ensure patients have safe access to medicine.

Company’s most successful achievement: Becoming the first ISO 17025 certified cannabis lab in the world. CannaSafe is now currently the market share leader for California compliance testing.

Has the company raised any capital (yes or no): Yes, but not publicly.

If so, how much?: N/A

Any plans on raising capital in the future? Our team has not decided on this as of yet.

Most important company 5 year goal: To have multiple locations across the country, and to help establish Federal industrial hemp (CBD) testing requirements.

StaffJuly 10, 2019

Jill Ellsworth is founder and CEO of Willow Industries, Inc., which provides state-of-the-art, ozone-based technology for post-harvest microbial decontamination. Upon launching Willow Industries in 2015, Jill’s aim was—and remains—to protect consumers and patients by helping producers put clean, safe product on the market.

Willow’s technology has proven to reduce yeast, mold, bacteria, mildew, E.Coli, and other dangerous pathogens, all while protecting the medicinal properties of the plant. The introduction of the WillowPureSM system to the market has provided growers a solution to passing newly set state regulation standards.

Fueled by her passion for innovation and dedication to healthier living, Jill is a vocal advocate for the cannabis industry’s adoption of FDA-like standards and proactive promotion of safety measures.

Jill serves on the Cannabis Health and Safety Advisory Committee for the City of Denver and is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) with a Master’s of Science in Nutrition, Dietetics, and Food Science.

Prior to launching Willow Industries in 2015, Jill founded Vibrant Earth Juices (VEJ), a cold-pressed organic juice company, in 2010 and later parlayed VEJ into a beverage distribution company.

In 2013, Jill was named Female Entrepreneur of the Year in Emerging Business by the Santa Barbara Women’s Economic Ventures group. Most recently, Jill was selected by Marijuana Business Daily as one of their 2019 Women to Watch in Cannabis. She has also been honored by cannabis lifestyle magazine, GreenDorphin, as one of the 20 Most Influential Women in Cannabis and Industry Leaders Magazine as one of the Influential Businesswomen in the Cannabis Industry.

GMR Executive Spotlight Q&A –

Full birth name: Jill Lynn Ellsworth (Maiden: Latham)

Title: Founder / CEO

Company: Willow Industries, Inc. (https://willowindustries.com/)

Years at current company: 3.5 years

Education profile:

BS Communications – California State University, Northridge

MS Nutrition, Dietetics & Food Science – California State University, Northridge

Dietetic Internship : Registered Dietitian – Cal Poly San Louis Obispo

Most successful professional accomplishment before cannabis: I am most proud of the cold-pressed, organic juice business, Vibrant Earth Juices, I founded and launched in Santa Barbara, CA in 2011 and Denver, CO in 2013. Vibrant Earth was one of the first fresh juice companies in Santa Barbara and Denver and quickly became very successful. From this, I was named Female Entrepreneur of the Year – Emerging Business in 2013. This was the start of my vision to develop innovative products and/or solutions for consumers.

Company Mission: Willow Industries strives to be the cannabis industry’s most reliable and innovative solution for producing clean, safe cannabis that consumers can trust.

Company’s most successful achievement: Willow’s most successful achievement was innovating a solution to a huge problem in the industry – microbial contamination. While we were very ahead of our time when we first launched Willow, we remained focused and patient, knowing the industry needed to catch up to our vision and what was important to the future of the industry. Staying the course and not giving up before the industry understood our value is our most successful achievement. Now with many cultivators adopting our tech, we continue to focus on our vision and goals.

Has the company raised any capital (yes or no): Yes

If so, how much?: We have raised $2 million.

Any plans on raising capital in the future? Certainly. We have very aggressive and aspirational goals that will lead us to the need for more financing. Right now, we are focused on executing our plans for the most recent funding round.

Most important company 5 year goal: We look for Willow to become a standard for consumer safety in the cannabis industry (modeling safety standards from the food & beverage industries) and for cultivators to see Willow as the solution for clean cannabis. We are focusing our efforts on cannabis compliance and helping to educate the regulatory sector of the industry as well. We will continue to push the boundaries for clean cannabis innovations, while keeping consumer safety at the focal point of our goals.

StaffJuly 9, 2019

Erin Gore is founder and CEO of Garden Society, a California-based, cannabis-focused benefit corporation serving women in search of new, more holistic ways to rejuvenate from the rigors of their daily lives. Garden Society creates artisanal confections and sun-grown pre-rolls that connects biodynamic farming, sustainable ingredients and strain-specific cannabis in a variety of products.

Garden Society stems from Erin’s personal journey of striving to find balance in her life, as both a mom and entrepreneur, and being surrounded by women feeling the same pressures. Alongside her business partner, Karli Warner, the company is built on their shared passion to encourage women to explore non-traditional ways of managing pain, anxiety and stress relief, as well as relaxation and joy via cannabis– all a means of providing a better quality of life.

Three years since founding, Garden Society is now a flourishing, well-rounded cannabis wellness brand poised to reach and help women across the state of California enrich their lives with safe and clean cannabis.

Erin is an active member of the Northern California cannabis community, and frequently speaks on the topics of cannabis and entrepreneurship. She’s a fearless advocate for women-owned cannabis businesses, and equally dedicated to breaking the stigma and rewriting the script around the plant. With a degree in Chemical and Biological Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Erin is also fluent in the science-based talk of cannabis and production.

Prior to Garden Society, Erin worked with her husband Tom on their joint venture with Constellation Brands on Tom Gore Vineyards, an award-winning farmer’s wine. Before the wine business, she had a decade-long corporate career at Henkel, where she managed a global adhesive business valued at nearly $100 million. Her time at Henkel provided a solid foundation in leadership, development, and achieving exceptional financial results.

GMR Executive Spotlight Q&A –

Full birth name: Erin Kay Gore

Title: Founder/ CEO

Company: Garden Society

Years at current company: 3

Education profile: BS in Chemical and Biological Engineering

Most successful professional accomplishment before cannabis:

My most successful accomplishment at my previous company was having the career path I did, on my terms, with the colmenation winning Business of the Year. I was faced with a lot of challenges and adversity throughout my career being one of the few women in my division within the technical and business units of a chemical CPG company. I worked hard to build excellent EQ to overcome these challenges, and create opportunities for myself by intentionally managing up and being a good team player.. I excelled at every opportunity I earned through listening, creativity, being coachable, hard work and grittiness to get the job done. Right before I resigned, I won Business of the Year with my team. I thought back to the first position I had at the company, and was so proud of how intentional I had been using every difficult situation to help me grow as a leader and employee, and also to demonstrate how diversity of age and gender can be an asset to every team.

Company Mission: Garden Society is a benefit corporation creating a sisterhood of women in search of new, more holistic ways to rejuvenate from the rigors of our daily lives.

Founded in Sonoma County by Erin Gore and Karli Warner in 2016, Garden Society offers high quality cannabis-infused confections and sun-grown flower pre-rolls that connect biodynamic farming, sustainable ingredients and strain-specific cannabis in a variety of products. Garden Society edibles and pre-rolls are intended to be enjoyed responsibly to relieve pain, alleviate stress, and enable each of us to live our lives more fully. Our goal is to help everyone find a ‘Fresh Perspective’ in the joy that cannabis brings to our everyday lives!

OUR MANIFESTO: We are girlfriends, wives, moms, sisters, bill-payers, breadwinners, caretakers and peacemakers. We are multi-taskers, with a huge passion to pursue all this world offers. We are a sisterhood of like-minded women. We are pioneers, in search of new, more holistic ways to rejuvenate from the rigors of our daily lives. We seek new ways to regain perspective—and constantly look for ways to make the ordinary, extraordinary. We are NOT superwomen, but we ARE amazing. Welcome to Garden Society.

Company’s most successful achievement: To be in a position post July 2018 where we are continuing to build a strong brand presence and scaling so quickly that we have to raise capital to propel our growth to its potential. Also, that we’re really helping people find a better life for themselves. I’m so inspired by how we help people and so proud of what we’ve built.

Has the company raised any capital (yes or no): Yes

If so, how much?: Initial Investment in 2018 of $1.3M.

Any plans on raising capital in the future? Yes, currently fundraising to continue to propel our fast growth.

Most important company 5 year goal: In 5 years, we will continue pushing towards our vision of becoming one of the most positive, powerful and trusted global cannabis brands for women, with quality products that matter to both consumers and partners.

StaffJuly 8, 2019

Born and raised just outside of Philadelphia, Jeffrey D. Welsh began his career on the performance side of the entertainment industry. Following undergraduate studies at The Hartt School of Music in West Hartford, Connecticut, Mr. Welsh moved to Los Angeles to pursue his first love as a professional saxophonist while earning a Masters of Music degree from the University of Southern California. After several years of recording for television and film, as well as touring internationally, Mr. Welsh decided his skill set would be best served on the business side of the entertainment industry, and headed to Pepperdine Law School in Malibu, California in 2010.

It was at Pepperdine where Mr. Welsh met Luke Stanton and began his foray into the legal cannabis community, entrenching himself into California corporate formation and criminal defense in both Los Angeles and Ventura Counties during law school and into his first year of professional practice.

In June of 2014, Jeffrey accepted a position in Corporate Business Affairs at the largest talent agency in the world, William Morris Endeavor, now WME | IMG, while simultaneously continuing to work in the legal cannabis industry part time. In this unique position, Mr. Welsh’s goal was to develop an understanding of the nuanced entertainment industry while concurrently connecting entertainer-advocates with projects and groups actively working in the cannabis space. Mr. Welsh was able to develop relationships with some of the most visible entertainers under WME representation, and is currently facilitating deals for several of those entertainers in the legal cannabis industry.

In an effort to return to his musical roots, Mr. Welsh moved to the Personal Appearance Department at WME in February of 2015. In that same month Mr. Welsh co-founded the Frontera Law Group with Luke Stanton, and joined Frontera full time in July of 2015. Through aggressive networking and an unrelenting desire to be the first mover in the cannabis to entertainment/media space, Mr. Welsh fostered an extensive network with the current and future tastemakers of the entertainment industry to facilitate deal flow between these two industries.

In April of 2017, Mr. Welsh co-founded a full-service creative agency, Composite, with Cody Tesnow, Charles Hayes, Duco Muller, and Luke Stanton. Composite helps guide and grow brands in the legal cannabis industry, and specializes in creative & content production, marketing research & strategy, and product development.

By navigating this unique path, Mr. Welsh is sensitive to specific legal issues involved in entertainment and cannabis coming together, such as intellectual property, endorsements, licensing, criminal and civil liability and other business and legal considerations. Mr. Welsh and Frontera have been recognized as national

thought leaders in the cannabis industry by Entrepreneur Magazine (named as one of the Top 100 Cannabis Leaders in 2018), and by MG Magazine (named as one of the Top 50 companies to work for in the cannabis industry in 2018).

Music has always remained a tremendously positive outlet of creativity for Mr. Welsh, and he continues to utilize that passion for creative expression by performing live saxophone and DJ sets as frequently as possible in the greater Los Angeles area.

GMR Executive Spotlight Q&A –

Full birth name: Jeffrey Dennis Welsh

Title: Co-Founder of Frontera, Co-Founder of Composite

Company: Frontera Law Group, Composite Agency

Years at current company: 5 years at Frontera, 2.5 years at Composite

Education profile:

University of Hartford – Bachelor of Music, Saxophone Performance – Graduated May 2007

University of Southern California – Master of Music – Graduated May 2009

Pepperdine University School of Law – Juris Doctor – Graduated May 2013

Most successful professional accomplishment before cannabis: In college I became the first saxophonist to ever win the Van Rooy Competition, which is the largest monetary undergraduate music competition in the United States. I was fortunate enough to also perform a United States premier of Takashi Yoshimatsu’s Cyber-Bird concerto for saxophone and full orchestra. At USC, I performed with both the Hollywood Bowl and Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestras.

Company Mission: Frontera’s corporate mission is to provide invaluable strategic advice for companies in and around the cannabis industry through an ecosystem of cannabis thought leaders in an effort to expedite and facilitate successful and sustainable cannabis businesses.

Composite’s corporate mission is to elevate brands into a legal and universally respected cannabis industry that contributes to the well-being of society.

Company’s most successful achievement: For Frontera, I am most proud of the fact that we are the largest cannabis focused law firm in the State of California, both in terms of number of clients represented (over 300) and in size of our staff.

Frontera have been recognized as national thought leaders in the cannabis industry by Entrepreneur Magazine (named as one of the Top 100 Cannabis Leaders in 2018), and by MG Magazine (named as one of the Top 50 companies to work for in the cannabis industry in 2018).

Has the company raised any capital (yes or no): No

Any plans on raising capital in the future? For Composite yes, for Frontera as a law firm we are unable to take on growth capital.

Most important company 5 year goal:

For Frontera – to continue organically expanding our bandwidth, and our ecosystem of partners in an effort to maintain preeminence in California.

For Composite – to have at least 2 brands that we created in-house be acquired!

StaffJuly 5, 2019

Matthew (Matt) Karnes has over 25 years of diverse finance and accounting experience. Prior to founding GreenWave Advisors LLC, Matt worked in equity research focusing on the Radio Broadcasting and Cable Television industries for First Union Securities. Matt also covered Satellite Communication at SG Cowen and in addition, worked with the top ranked Consumer Internet analyst at Bear Stearns & Co – this team was consistently recognized by the Institutional Investor’s “All America Research Team”. As a sellside equity analyst, Matt authored and co-authored numerous emerging industry research reports including such names as Google, Sirius, XM Satellite Radio, DIRECTV and EchoStar Communications.

Matt was also Principal and Senior Equity Analyst at Bull Path Capital Management, a New York City based hedge fund, where he was responsible for investment strategies of emerging technologies primarily within the Technology, Media and Telecom sectors. Prior to his career on Wall Street, Matt held various finance and accounting positions at PriceWaterhouse Coopers and Deloitte as well as at Texaco Inc. where he worked throughout the U.S., Europe, The Caribbean and Asia. Additionally at Chase, Matt was responsible for implementing the bank’s corporate accounting policies on commodity, interest rate and foreign currency derivative products. Matt graduated from Fordham University with an MBA in finance and earned a B.S. Business Administration with a double major in accounting and finance from Miami University (OH). Matt is also a Certified Public Accountant.

GMR Executive Spotlight Q&A-

Full birth name: Matthew Alan Karnes

Title: Founder

Company: GreenWave Advisors (founded in 2014)

Years at current company: 5

Education profile:

Miami University – Oxford, OH: B.S. Majors, Accounting and Finance

Fordham University – NewYork, NY: MBA International Finance

Certified Public Accountant – New York State

Most successful professional accomplishment before cannabis: There is not one single accomplishment that stands out as the “most successful”. I have had the privilege of working with the best and brightest throughout my career with a success story each step of the way. Starting with my tenure as an auditor at a “Big Four” accounting firm to the experience gained as an equity analyst at a Bulge Bracket investment bank, there have been many accomplishments but realized mostly through team work.

Company’s most successful achievement: As the industry gets ready to explode, we have much more to accomplish. Given my background in accounting/auditing, as well buyside and sellside equity research, GreenWave is uniquely positioned to provide unbiased, independent financial research and analysis. In this regard, and with 5 years now under our belt (GreenWave was founded in 2014), we are better able to read between the lines, connect the dots and ask the probing questions. With so many uknowns that loom, we provide a differentiated service offering with our brand established as the “go to” resource for investors.

Has the company raised any capital (yes or no): No

Any plans on raising capital in the future? Not at the present time

Most important company 5 year goal: Stay tuned.

StaffJuly 1, 2019

Vern Keenan is a new market visionary and serial entrepreneur. A graduate of Northwestern University with a degree in Bio-Medical Engineering, Vern established his career as a technical and networking Director at Genentech and Oracle corp, before becoming an entrepreneur. During the Internet boom, Vern made a name for himself as one of the foremost analysts for eCommerce with his firm Keenan Vision. Vern later started Berkeley Logic, a tech services and consultancy focused on the small to medium sized business market. From there, Vern started Telnexus LLC, a VOIP services telecommunication company. Vern developed and implemented the telecom tax calculation engine for Telnexus that was the precursor to the Taxnexus cannabis tax compliance solution.

GMR Executive Spotlight Q&A –

Full birth name: Vernon Keenan, III

Title: CEO

Company: Taxnexus, Inc.

Years at current company: 1

Education profile: Bachelors in Biomedical Engineering (BSc) from Northwestern University

Most successful professional accomplishment before cannabis: Global tech analyst

Company Mission: Make tax compliance easy for all cannabis taxpayers

Company’s most successful achievement: Monetizing the only cannabis tax regulation database in the world!

Has the company raised any capital (yes or no): Not yet

Any plans on raising capital in the future? Currently raising a $1M round on a $5M-pre SAFE suitable for angel investors or seed-stage funds

Most important company 5 year goal: Wow, five years…be the nexus for all things tax!

StaffJune 28, 2019

This week Indiva Advisors LLP, a leading full-service CPA firm that provides high-quality accounting, tax and advisory financial services for cannabis and hemp businesses throughout the West Coast, announced expansion of service capabilities by acquiring Missouri Cannabis CPA, a Saint Joseph, MO-based practice; effective June 24.

“We are beyond excited for this merger,” said Indiva Advisors Managing Partner, Jessica Velazquez. “Expanding into this emerging market and joining forces with Tiffani Higgins opens up incredible opportunities for our firm and our clients. My passion from day one has been to reach businesses of all sizes across the US and this puts us closer to that goal.”

This is a strategic alliance that will drive growth for Indiva Advisors in the developing Midwest marijuana economy.

“I am so excited to partner with Indiva Advisors,” said Tiffani Higgins, CEO of Missouri Cannabis CPA. “We can help new Missouri businesses get started in the cannabis space and provide them with the top-tier support that larger companies already receive.”

Indiva Advisors is the leading CPA firm dedicated to the cannabis and hemp industries, with a team of experts bringing more than 40 years of experience. The company is operated by passionate and devoted CPAs and other financial professionals, all bringing a wide array of skills, specializations and knowledge. Indiva Advisors assists business owners and C-suite executives in achieving their goals by providing guidance on financial, transactional, and general business matters.

Higgins specializes in working with small business owners on tax, accounting, payroll and other financial areas.

StaffJune 28, 2019

Brandon Wiegand brings years of cannabis industry experience to his position as director of operations for The+Source, one of Nevada’s first and most popular dispensaries. Wiegand joined The+Source in June of 2017 and in addition to working closely with every department in the organization, oversees policy development and standard operating procedures. He is also responsible for monitoring the ever-evolving regulatory guidelines set forth by the State of Nevada to ensure The+Source remains a leader in compliance. A strategic leader with a proven track record of continually improving operations and efficiency, Wiegand believes in mentorship and practices hands-on leadership.

He has managed numerous successful company transitions for The+Source, including the transition of sales from medical to retail at the Las Vegas and Henderson dispensaries and the transition to Metrc, a turnkey solution specifically designed for government agencies regulating legalized marijuana.

Prior to joining The+Source, Wiegand oversaw operations of the production team at The Grove Investment Group (TGIG, LLC), a vertically integrated cannabis enterprise with Nevada licenses in dispensary, cultivation and production. While employed by The Grove, Wiegand managed the development and production of concentration products for various cannabis brands. He learned the complexities of responsible product development and distribution, especially in the areas of inventory management, supply chain, vendor relations, packaging, branding, order processing and compliance.

GMR Executive Spotlight Q&A –

Full birth name: Brandon Wiegand

Title: Director of Operations

Company: The+Source, a Green Growth Brands company

Years at current company: 2 years

Education profile: I received my BSBA in Real Estate Finance from the University of Las Vegas, Nevada (UNLV), where I was a member of the Beta Gamma Sigma-International Honor Society. During my time at the university, I was President of the UNLV Real Estate and Business Society (REBS) and a Certified Commercial Investment Member and Bernie Isaacson/ Commercial Marketing Group/Lied Institute CREC Scholarship Recipient.

Most successful professional accomplishment before cannabis: There are a number of accomplishments that I could point to, but I think Build a Greener Block was the one that meant the most to me personally and did the most for my real estate career. Build a Greener Block was a crowdsourced and crowdfunded redevelopment event that took over several vacated buildings in the Arts District in downtown Las Vegas for a weekend and transformed them with pop-up businesses, community events, and a ton of elbow grease. The event served as a catalyst for redevelopment in the immediate area and resulted in several of the pop-up businesses turning into permanent businesses that are still in operation today. The Build a Greener Block project taught me the impact that a single idea can have on a community.

Company Mission: Our mission is to provide a safe, clean, comfortable, respectful and compassionate environment, where our patients and customers can easily and affordably obtain a host of wellness products and services. We are dedicated to helping our patients through the healing process with a variety of wellness programs, education and advocacy, positive encouragement, mutual respect and a safe environment in both Vegas and Henderson. All activities will be conducted in compliance with Nevada law.

Company’s most successful achievement: Our single most successful achievement has been the award of seven additional dispensary licenses in the state of Nevada during the last application period. That was a very clear vote of confidence in our operation and our ability to execute, which is a result of the incredible team we have built.

Has the company raised any capital (yes or no):

If so, how much?: Yes, Green Growth Brands has raised about USD$130 million to date.

Any plans on raising capital in the future? It is really exciting to be a part of the Green Growth Brands team at The+Source, where we are currently focused on growing our operations throughout Nevada with the seven additional retail licenses we were recently awarded. GGB is also quickly scaling cannabis operations throughout Massachusetts and Florida along with opening over 200 CBD shops throughout the country. As the company continues to scale its ambitious strategy, I expect there may be additional need for capital.

Most important company 5 year goal: Our team is our secret sauce – we have done an exceptional job recruiting and developing talent that sets us apart. As we continue to grow and scale, we know it will become more difficult to maintain the culture, but that will be the most important company goal we can focus on. The cannabis industry is dynamic and iterative – it’s difficult to look out 5 years from now and articulate what our exact strategy should be, but I do know that it will be impossible to achieve without the right team and a strong culture of excellence.

StaffJune 27, 2019

Dr. Jared Helfant graduated Cum Laude with dual degrees in health science and business from the University of Florida while simultaneously owning and operating a successful college town nightclub and lounge, called Simon’s, in Gainesville. He has since graduated top of his class from NYU dental school and built the TLC Dental brand that includes 5 successful locations in South Florida.

At Sparx, Dr. Helfant applies his expertise to oversee operations, branding, and marketing. With a proven track record of providing top-tier, customer-facing services and long-term strategic planning, his knowledge helps facilitate budget analysis, marketing strategies, and partner relationships.

GMR Executive Spotlight Q&A –

Full birth name: Dr. Jared Noah Helfant

Title: Co-Founder and President

Company: Sparx Cannabis

Years at current company: 1

Education profile: Dr. Jared Helfant graduated Cum Laude with dual degrees in health science and business from the University of Florida. He has since graduated top of his class from New York University Dental School.

Most successful professional accomplishment before cannabis: Help build the TLC Dental brand that includes five successful locations in South Florida.

Company Mission: Sparx Cannabis is a California-grown, vertically-integrated and family-owned lifestyle brand that fits into the everyday life of cannabis consumers across all demographics and backgrounds.

Sparx wants to remove the stigma and stereotypes that are associated with cannabis by showing how cannabis fits into the motto “Everyone, Everyday.” Sparx Cannabis strives to provide the highest quality, premium product through state-of-the-art technology and innovations that continue to move the industry forward.

Company’s most successful achievement: Raising $10,000,000 in Series A funding to help expand the company’s footprint, hire more hard working employees and give back to the community.

Has the company raised any capital (yes or no): Yes

If so, how much?: $10,000,000 in Series A funding was announced this month (June 2019)

Any plans on raising capital in the future? We do plan to raise additional capital in the future, but right now we are focused on utilizing our most recent Series A funding of $10 million.

Most important company 5 year goal: In five years, Sparx Cannabis hopes to expand our footprint into multiple markets across California and potentially the country depending on how regulations change.

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Private Archives - Green Market Report

Jane Technologies, Inc. Closes One Of The Largest Cannabis Technology Raises At $21 Million

Executive Spotlight: Antonio Frazier, Director of Operations for CannaSafe

Executive Spotlight: Jill Lynn Ellsworth, Founder & CEO of Willow Industries, Inc.

Executive Spotlight: Erin Gore, Founder & CEO of Garden Society

Executive Spotlight: Jeffrey Welsh, Co-Founder of Frontera Law Group & Composite Agency

Executive Spotlight: Matthew Karnes, Founder & CEO of GreenWave Advisors

Executive Spotlight: Vern Keenan, CEO Taxnexus, Inc.

Indiva Advisors Announces Acquisition of Missouri Based CPA

Executive Spotlight: Brandon Wiegand, Director of Operations for The+Source

Executive Spotlight: Dr. Jared Helfant, Co-Founder and President of Sparx Cannabis

Namaste Releases Financial Results After a Scandal-Ridden Quarter

Executive Spotlight: Howard Lee, CEO & Co-founder of SōRSE Technology

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