Adam JacksonOctober 6, 2023
The company is actively trying to stem growing losses.
Colombia Archives - Green Market Report
Adam JacksonOctober 6, 2023Adam JacksonAugust 29, 2023
The company cut expenses by 25% and shaved down most of its employees since last year.
Adam JacksonMarch 31, 2023
Company plans to exclusively cultivate and produce its cannabinoid products in Colombia.
StaffJanuary 5, 2023
The Daily Hit is a recap of cannabis business news for Jan. 5, 2023.
ON THE SITE
Cannabis Legalization Bills Introduced in Minnesota, South Carolina
At least two more states this year will consider legalizing cannabis in some form. In Minnesota, Democratic lawmakers on Thursday introduced HF 100, which would legalize recreational cannabis. In South Carolina late last month, Republican lawmakers pre-filed two bills, both of which would legalize marijuana for medical uses. Read more here.
Colombia Leans Further Into Cannabis
The country of Colombia may have a reputation as the home for cocaine cartels, but it is leaning further into cannabis these days. According to government claims, the country has received $250 million in international funding in support of the cannabis sector. Read more here.
Pontiac, Michigan, May Finally Get Adult Use Cannabis
Pontiac City Council plans to finalize a city ordinance on Jan. 10 to allow adult-use recreational marijuana businesses to operate in Oakland County’s sixth-largest city. Voters approved a proposal in 2018 that called for 20 adult-use marijuana retailers with no license limits for grow operations, processors, or transportation firms. Read more here.
Untapped Southern Markets Face Uphill Battle
The South may be the last frontier for state cannabis legalization, but the region could be a boon for the industry once the floodgates open. A report from cannabis consulting firm Global Go posits that these four states could provide value for entrepreneurs sitting on the sidelines of Florida’s limited vertical model. Read more here.
IN OTHER NEWS
Unrivaled Brands
Unrivaled Brands, Inc. (OTCQB: UNRV), a cannabis company with operations in California, enters into binding Letters of Intent with two Cookies-branded retail stores in that state: Cookies Redding and Cookies Oakland. Read more here.
The Parent Co.
TPCO Holding Corp. (NEO: GRAM.U) (OTCQX: GRAMF), a leading consumer-focused California cannabis company also known as The Parent Co., entered into modification agreements to restructure its relationship with Roc Nation LLC and SC Branding LLC.
As part of the arrangement, Shawn ‘JAY-Z’ Carter and affiliates and Roc Nation will return approximately 7.1 million common shares of The Parent Company, enabling TPCO to save roughly $33.5 million in top-line costs over eight years. Roc Nation and JAY-Z affiliates are expected to remain substantial shareholders and to continue working with The Parent Company across innovation, brand strategy and social justice fair equity opportunities. Read more here.
John SchroyerNovember 30, 2022
A change in the Colombian government interrupted insurance payments for medical cannabis.
Adam JacksonOctober 31, 2022Sales drop dramatically from the second quarter.
Adam JacksonOctober 5, 2022
One World Products (OTCQB: OWPC), a fully-licensed hemp and cannabis producer in Colombia — owned by former Detroit Pistons point guard Isiah Thomas — is one step closer to commercialization.
The company received its second round of funds from its recent $10 million financing deal to help scale industrial hemp operations and work its way into the capital markets by 2023. Thomas has previously said that he wants the auto industry to trade plastic for hemp.
“We are delighted that our newest institutional investor clearly values the vision and tremendous growth potential that we see for OWP,” said Thomas, OWP’s chairman and CEO. “Furthermore, one of our original investors in OWP has increased his investment enabling us to restructure our debt with much more favorable terms.”
Upon filing an S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission as part of its recent common stock purchase agreement and registration rights agreement, an institutional investor made its second fixed-price follow-on equity investment of $150,000.
The fixed-price equity investments were priced at $0.15 per share.
Thomas noted that the second equity investment provides additional capital that will be used to continue to scale company operations in Colombia, enhance industrial sales of hemp products to customers and expand its carbon credits program.
“Of tremendous importance to us has been the faith and enthusiasm this institutional investor has demonstrated, evidenced by their $300,000 investment that is priced approximately 50% higher than our recent share price,” he said.
“Even more supportive long term, they are allowing us control over the timing and amounts of future equity capital, which allows us to take advantage of sudden increases in our stock price.”
OWP is the largest Black-controlled hemp and cannabis producer with offices in Las Vegas, Nevada, as well as offices and operations in Bogota and Popayan, Colombia. The company planted its first crop of cannabis in 2018 at its cultivation site in Popayan, Colombia, and began harvesting commercially in the first quarter of 2020.
“What I see in Colombia is the opportunity to become the green capital of carbon capture by working with the indigenous farmers, growers and the Afro-Colombian community,” Thomas said in a May interview with Radio W Colombia, “…because this is a unique opportunity in a unique time where the environment is calling for us to change our behavior. And not only change our behavior, but make sure that we continue to reduce our carbon footprint.”
Great meeting with business partners today in Colombia 🇨🇴 – @IsiahThomas CEO and Chairman, One World Products #colombia #hempisthefuture pic.twitter.com/2PioF8ow8E
— One World Products (@OneWrldProducts) April 27, 2022
Thomas’ international holding company, Isiah International, as well as OWP and the remaining business consortium controls approximately 1.2 million acres of land in Colombia focused on the licensed production of industrial hemp for integration into sustainable, carbon-reducing products.
OWP expects to supply its global clients with industrial and commercial applications for cannabis, hemp, and hemp products — including derivatives in crude oil, distillate, and isolate forms — with industrial-scale production to serve global cannabis and hemp demand. Its products will be produced and tested according to GAP, GMP, and ISO standards.
“I would also like to highlight that I am personally investing an additional $500,000 at $0.15 per share in $100,000 increments over the next five months,” said Thomas. “As an ascendant international hemp and cannabis company focused on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards, we believe that these latest rounds of investment and refinancing position us well to elevate the company to the next level.”
Cover Photo: Rey Del Rio/Getty Images
Debra BorchardtJuly 2, 2019
International expansion is the words of the day as several companies announced plans to reach beyond the borders of Canada and the U.S. It seems Colombia is where all the action is.
MJ Freeway
MJ Freeway, a subsidiary of Akerna Corp. (NASDAQ: KERN) said it is expanding further into Europe by serving clients in two additional countries, Italy and Macedonia. The company also recently opened a Medellín, Colombia office to serve its growing footprint in South America. MJ Freeway client, Clever Leaves, is the first Colombian company authorized to export cannabis into Canada.
“We believe it is imperative for countries with emerging cannabis businesses such as Italy and Macedonia to have access to our compliance technology,” says Jessica Billingsley, CEO of Akerna and MJ Freeway. “By giving governments, businesses, and consumers the tools needed to productively manage regulatory demands, we are able to execute our plan to connect data points across the global cannabis supply chain.”
The company stated that Macedonia is one of the few countries in the world to approve medical cannabis for cultivation and export. Italy has significantly increased its hemp production to serve its growing domestic market for industrial products and infusing in cosmetics and other consumer goods. As a result of the expansion into Italy and Macedonia, MJ Freeway has increased its footprint to five European countries including Spain, Switzerland and Denmark.
MYM Nutraceuticals Inc.
MYM Nutraceuticals Inc.(CSE: MYM) (OTCBB: MYMMF) announced that its subsidiary in Colombia, Colombia Organica S.A.S signed agreements in principle to cultivate both THC and CBD-rich cannabis with independent farmers for an initial five acres. The company said in a statement that cannabis will be cultivated by farmers who will be licensees under the existing Colombia Organica cannabis cultivation licenses. The first crops cultivated on the initial five acres will function as test crops with the intention to add subsequent acreage.
“Our team in Colombia has begun to execute on our plan to cultivate both THC and CBD-rich cannabis in South America,” said Howard Steinberg, CEO of MYM. “The strategy of extending our licenses to neighboring farmers to cultivate cannabis will serve to increase our biomass supply that we intend on processing and exporting to the global market.”
The farmers will be responsible for all costs associated with cultivation from seed to sale. Colombia Organica agrees to purchase the harvested biomass at a price to be determined at the time of delivery based on the average market price at that time.
Aleafia Health
Aleafia Health Inc. (TSX: ALEF)(OTC: ALEAF) said it received multiple Export Permits from Health Canada, which allow the Company to begin its first international cannabis product shipment. Aleafia said it expects to ship its branded medical cannabis oils in the next month, which will be distributed by Australian Licensed Producer CannaPacific Pty. Limited. Aleafia Health owns a 10 % equity stake in CannaPacific.
“The receipt of Health Canada Export Permits enables Aleafia Health to sell high-margin, value-added cannabis products across international borders for the first time, representing a major milestone as we augment our global distribution platform,” said Aleafia Health Chairman Julian Fantino. “We continue to prove the international viability of our highly differentiated cannabis health and wellness ecosystem with products, clinic operations, education and distribution. With among the largest cultivation and extraction footprints in Canada coming online, we will continue to look to new international markets.”
“This is such a tremendous milestone for CannaPacific. Our relationship with Aleafia Health continues to accelerate our strategic vision of leadership in the Australasian medical cannabis market,” said CannaPacific CEO Joshua Dennis. “We have the facility, the proven management team, and now the product portfolio to continue executing towards our goal.”
Debra BorchardtApril 10, 2019
U.S. based investment fund Northern Swan Holdings has completed $58 million in Series D financing, bringing the total amount of capital raised to date to $96 million. The company will be using the funds to expand its existing Latin American operations including Clever Leaves, a leading vertically integrated licensed producer of medical cannabis in Colombia.
“The closing of our Series D round validates our investment thesis, providing the capital necessary to fund rapid expansion and to capitalize on our key competitive advantages as a first-mover in the global medical cannabis market. Federally compliant in all jurisdictions in which we operate, Northern Swan is well-positioned to expand and diversify our cultivation assets as well as accelerate our mission to revolutionize the trade flows in the global medical cannabis industry,” noted Kyle Detwiler, CEO of Northern Swan.
The company will use some of the funds to invest in new low-cost, large-scale cannabis cultivation and processing centers and to build out distribution channels and brands in Europe, Latin America and North America such as Cansativa GmbH, a German cannabis distribution and Lift & Co., a Canadian marketing and data company.
Northern Swan was the financial sponsor that helped secure the import permit with Health Canada for Clever Leaves, to become the first Colombian company authorized to export cannabis into Canada. and the company just completed an investment of approximately $8 million in Cansativa GmbH in order to further accelerate the growth in their integration into the wider European market.
It is still early days for the Colombian market, but Detweiler said that the population of Colombia is 49 million people compared to just 36 million in Canada, so the outright volumes could eventually be higher, though likely with a lower price point. He also noted that while other cannabis companies are developing in-country strategies for Colombia, North Swan seems to be the leader of the export-oriented strategy.
“I believe both will be successful strategies,” said Detweiler. “There may be more risk and regulatory work which goes into an export strategy, but the reward is naturally substantially higher (e.g. grow at low-cost, sell at a high price). So, we’re pursuing the export path and obtaining the first ever import permit for shipping Colombian product to Canada illustrates we are advancing quickly. Additionally, by investing in a German importation business (the only such link between a Colombian operation and German operation I’m aware of), we are also helping expand our global distribution to Europe as well.”
Detweiler said that Germany, the UK, Switzerland, Portugal, South Africa, Australia, Chile, and Mexico are all promising export destinations for the company..
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