StaffJanuary 3, 2023
Cann offers “social tonics” in trendy flavors with only 2 milligrams-5 milligrams per can. It was hot on the trend of microdosing cannabis when it hit California shelves in 2019.
However, the brand has been able to gain more awareness in less saturated markets it’s entered – such as Illinois – than in its home-state’s market.
Source: Brightfield Group, U.S. Cannabis Product Brand Health, Q3 2022
Adam JacksonSeptember 28, 2022
Cann plans to create a non-CBD format of Sweet Reason after seeing demand for its THC-less drink.
Debra BorchardtFebruary 15, 2022
Infused beverage company and celebrity favorite Cann announced a $27 million Series A funding round coming from fresh institutional capital as well as existing investors like Imaginary Ventures who added to its original investment. Cann was launched in 2019 and raised $5 million in a seed round in 2020.
Cann added its newest celebrity investors Nina Dobrev, Julianne Hough, Sara Foster, Paul Scheer, and Adam Devine. They join current investors, Gwyneth Paltrow, Baron Davis, Rebel Wilson, Kate Hudson, Rosario Dawson, Darren Criss, Casey Niestat, Tove Lo, and Bre-Z.
In addition to this milestone funding round, Cann is also announcing its first international expansion with the brand’s launch in Canada. Cann’s Canadian expansion and Series A funding comes on the heels of an explosive year of growth that included 300% sales increase and expansion into four new U.S. states: Illinois, Massachusetts and Arizona.
Cann is known for its microdosed THC beverages that aim to change consumers’ relationship with alcohol. For now consumers in Ontario can purchase Cann’s THC social tonics, with British Columbia, Alberta and additional provinces launching in the coming months. To produce its award-winning beverages, Cann is partnering with Truss Beverage Co., a joint venture between MolsonCoors Canada (NYSE: TAP) and HEXO Corp. (OTC: HEXO) and a leader in the development of non-alcoholic, cannabis-beverages for the Canadian market. To bring its products to retailers across Canada, Cann is working with Kindred Partners, a premier specialty cannabis brokerage serving the Canadian adult recreational-use market.
“Over three years ago, we were told that consumers didn’t want cannabis in beverages and that they were, at best, a novelty, but this fundraise indicates that microdosed beverages are here to stay,” said Jake Bullock, Co-Founder of Cann. “Cann drinkers are desperate for an alternative to alcohol that actually delivers a social buzz and puts flavor first full stop.”
“Despite it being as difficult to sell Cann to Retailers as it would be to sell meat in a vegan grocery store, at the end of the day the consumer votes on the company’s success with their dollar,” said Luke Anderson, Co-Founder of Cann. “And as they keep showing up, the channel is finally starting to understand that they have more crowded stores when Cann owns the fridge.”
Each of Cann’s core products include 2mg of THC and 4mg of CBD and are designed to deliver a light, uplifting social buzz. Unlike most cannabis edibles and beverages, which typically offer higher doses of THC, Cann provides an approachable microdose that gives consumers full control over their experience. The products are vegan, gluten-free, with only 35 calories and each Cann has five all-natural ingredients with a strength that is similar to a beer or glass of wine. There are no artificial sweeteners or flavors, sugar substitutes, or cannabis taste.
“Cann is a company that prioritizes diversity and inclusion, even when it doesn’t immediately appear to impact their business performance,” said Rosario Dawson, actress and Cann board member. “And in doing so, earns unique distribution opportunities and achieves outsized growth. There are very few other cannabis companies that continue to nearly triple in size annually.”
Julie AitchesonNovember 2, 2020
With over 2 million cans sold, Cann THC-infused beverages are the fastest-selling in the category to date, with more than a few celebrities putting their endorsement and investment power behind these wildly popular products. Billed as “cannabis-infused social tonics”, Cann beverages are alcohol-free and microdosed with THC, offering better-for-you alternatives to alcohol and other intoxicants. These tonics are also free of artificial sweeteners, flavors, or sugar substitutes and contain only 35 calories per serving.
Cann sees their recruitment of celebrity investors as a way to serve the larger mission of normalizing cannabis consumption and breaking down stigmas within the industry. Cann’s celebrity investor line-up includes luminaries such as Gwyneth Paltrow, whose wellness and lifestyle brand goop has been monitoring the “sober curious” and “cannabis curious” movements for some time. Paltrow advocates for a more even playing field when it comes to alcohol and cannabis-infused beverage access, stating that “there’s no reason why alcohol should be so much easier purchase than Cann.”
Rebel Wilson, famous for her turn as “Fat Amy” in the Pitch Perfect franchise and Ruby Rose of Orange Is The New Black fame has also rallied behind Cann products. “Cann is perfect when you’re having a dinner party or a few friends over and you want to serve an adult drink that is also healthy and has natural ingredients,” enthuses Wilson, who has recently made headlines with her “Year of Health” weight loss makeover. “Call me ‘Fit Amy’” she recently captioned alongside a slimmed-down selfie on Instagram. Her sleeker photos often come with insights into how she is managing her weight loss through diet, exercise, and substituting bubble baths for nightly desserts. Her financial backing of the Cann brand would suggest that Cann beverages have become yet another healthy substitute in her “Year of Health” bag of tricks.
THC-infused beverages promise all of the buzz of alcoholic beverages with none of the buzzkill day-after hangovers, but the allure of a healthy high isn’t the only thing that drew actress/model/DJ/VJ Ruby Rose to invest. While she praises Cann’s products, packaging, and personnel, Rose highlights the fact that “this company is queer-founded and diverse” as an incentive to get involved. “They are building a team currently made up of 50%+ women and 33%+ people of color. So for me, it was an easy decision to invest.”
Paltrow, Wilson, and Rose along with Daren Criss, Baron Davis, Tove Lo, and more are what Cann co-founder Luke Anderson refers to as “taste-making celebrities who don’t have a ‘stoner’ identity attached to their personal brands”. Co-founder Jake Bullock adds “culturally-relevant” to the list of superlatives, and shares Anderson’s hope that their deep bench of star backers will “help us spread this message to a mass consumer base.”
StaffApril 16, 2020
Today a new trade organization, the Cannabis Beverage Association (CBA), announced its formation along with the founding board members that operate at the highest levels within the industry.
To advance the interests of cannabis beverage producers and their consumers through advocacy and education, it is the mission of the CBA to help the burgeoning cannabis beverage sector reach its potential; a potential beyond a robust market cap, but that can offset society’s dangerous affliction with alcohol consumption with products that are enjoyable, session-able, and offer the healthful benefits offered by cannabis consumption.
“The rules governing cannabis manufacturers were developed without much regard for beverages and some of those rules are onerous and deserve a second look to ensure the nascent cannabis beverage segment is allowed to grow to its potential,” expressed Macai Polansky, co-founder of Spacestation, a cannabis beverage manufacturer, and founder of the CBA.
The CBA seeks to educate policymakers and consumers, establish standards for operators and testers to uphold, and advocate for common-sense policies so we can ensure that the cannabis beverage industry delivers safe, high-quality, reliable products to the consumers who enjoy them.
“In an industry that’s littered with misinformation, membership in the CBA gives us a compelling and necessary platform through which to educate our legislators about the benefits of infused beverages and the challenges we face as an industry in bringing those benefits to the end consumer.,” said Tracey Mason, co-founder & CEO of the House of Saka.
Some of the immediate goals that this organization will be addressing during this legislative session include advocating for more realistic packaging requirements, less restrictive requirements for child-resistant resealable closures for multi-dose products, loosen the restrictions on use of alcohol-related terminology (i.e. rose’, IPA, etc.), increase the tolerance for variance from the labeled amount in microdose products, and to simplify the process for obtaining finished product beverages to use as samples. These are some of the issues that are keeping infused beverages from reaching its potential and the CBA hopes to help alleviate these harsh and unnecessary restrictions through strategic and thoughtful lobbying efforts.
Founding Board Members Include:
Macai Polansky – Spacestation – Founder and President/Chairman
Austin Stevenson – Vertosa – Founding Member and Treasurer
Aaron Silverstein – BevZero – Founding Member and Secretary
Ben Larson – Vertosa – Founding Member
Amy Ludlum – California Dream’ – Founding Member
Peter Bishop – California Dream’ – Founding Member
Cynthia Salarizadeh – House of Saka – Founding Member / PR & Messaging
Tracey Mason – House of Saka – Founding Member / PR & Messaging
Sebastian Smuts – Cann – PR & Messaging
Ishan Kapoor – Cann
Brands Involved:
Spacestation
Vertosa
House of Saka
Cann
BevZero
California Dreamin’
KZen Beverages
Venice of America
Fiorello
Calexo
AxisWireApril 16, 2020
Sacramento, CA – April 16, 2020 /AxisWire/ Today a new trade organization, the Cannabis Beverage Association (CBA), announced its formation with founding board members that operate at the highest levels within the industry. To educate policymakers and consumers, establish standards for operators and testers to uphold, and advocate for common-sense policies so we can ensure that the cannabis beverage industry delivers safe, high-quality, reliable products to the consumers who enjoy them.
“Having been a founding member of the California Cannabis Couriers Association (CCCA) and seeing the progress that can be made with a passionate group of industry stakeholders, I founded the Cannabis Beverage Association. The rules governing cannabis manufacturers were developed without much regard for beverages and some of those rules are onerous and asinine and deserve a second look to ensure the nascent cannabis beverage segment is allowed to grow to its potential.” Macai Polansky, co-founder of Spacestation, a cannabis beverage manufacturer, and founder of the CBA.
Some of the immediate goals that this organization will be addressing during this legislative session include advocating for more realistic packaging requirements, less restrictive requirements for child-resistant resealable closures for multi-dose products, loosen the restrictions on use of alcohol-related terminology (i.e. rose’, IPA, etc.), increase the tolerance for variance from the labeled amount in microdose products, and to simplify the process for obtaining finished product beverages to use as samples. These are some of the issues that are keeping infused beverages from reaching its potential and the CBA hopes to help alleviate these harsh and unnecessary restrictions through strategic and thoughtful lobbying efforts.
Founding Board Members Include:
Macai Polansky – Spacestation – Founder and President/Chairman
Austin Stevenson – Vertosa – Founding Member and Treasurer
Aaron Silverstein – BevZero – Founding Member and Secretary
Ben Larson – Vertosa – Founding Member
Amy Ludlum – California Dream’ – Founding Member
Peter Bishop – California Dream’ – Founding Member
Cynthia Salarizadeh – House of Saka – Founding Member / PR & Messaging
Tracey Mason – House of Saka – Founding Member / PR & Messaging
Sebastian Smuts – Cann – PR & Messaging
Ishan Kapoor – Cann
Brands Involved:
Spacestation
Vertosa
House of Saka
Cann
BevZero
California Dreamin
KZen Beverages
Venice of America
Fiorello
Calexo
Organization Mission Statement:
To advance the interests of cannabis beverage producers and their consumers through advocacy and education. It is our mission to help the burgeoning cannabis beverage sector reach its potential; a potential beyond a robust market cap, but that can offset society’s dangerous affliction with alcohol consumption with products that are enjoyable, session-able, and offer the healthful benefits offered by cannabis consumption.
About Cannabis Beverage Association:
Founded in 2019 and headquartered in Sacramento, CA, the Cannabis Beverage Association (CBA) is a trade association established to represent and advocate on behalf of the producers and consumers of cannabis beverages. By educating policymakers and consumers, establishing standards for operators to uphold, and advocating for common-sense policies, we can ensure that the cannabis beverage industry delivers safe, high-quality, and reliable products to the consumers who enjoy them. For more information, please visit cannabisbeverageassociation.com or find us on social media @CBAstandard.
Media Contact:
Cynthia Salarizadeh
Cannabis Beverage Association
cynthia@salarmediagroup.com
Unpack the industry with the daily cannabis newsletter for business leaders.
Unpack the industry with the daily cannabis newsletter for business leaders.
