Spacestation Archives - Green Market Report

StaffApril 20, 2021
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3min4500

Matt McGinn is the co-founder of Spacestation, a cannabis-infused beverage co-packing company, Fly Beverage Co., and Apollo Distribution as well as Chief Strategy Officer of Hardcar. 

In 2013, McGinn founded Blackeye Roasting Co., which quickly expanded across several Midwestern States in major convenience store locations.

Along with his team, McGinn oversaw the design and buildout of the company’s 30,000 square foot co-packing and cold brew coffee production facility, a coffee roastery, and two cafes in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 

In 2017, McGinn left Blackeye and joined with Macai Polansky to co-found Spacestation.  Serving as COO, McGinn was instrumental in bringing Spacestation’s first clients to market, as well as helping create Fly Beverage Co. the brand house for Spacestation. 

Pivoting to expand Fly Beverage Co.’s brands, McGinn helped oversee the launch of Nectr, Matts High Soda, and Uncle Arnie’s Iced Tea Lemonade. Nectr and Uncle Arnie’s Iced Tea Lemonade are sold in over 140 Licensed California Dispensaries, with additional plans to launch product lines in Oregon, Maine, Colorado, Massachusetts, and the country of Israel.

 

 GMR Executive Spotlight Interview Q & A:

 

Full birth name: Matthew McGinn

Title: Co-Founder, Chief Strategy Officer and Product Formulator

Company: Fly Beverage

Years at current company: 14 Months

Most successful professional accomplishment before cannabis: Built a regional CPG coffee Roasting Company, 30k sqft contract manufacturing facility in Saint Paul, MN for beverage retort manufacturing and scaled a CPG business in 18 months into over 3500 accounts before taking an acquisition in 2019.

Company Mission: Simply put, our mission is to make more cannabis beverages (like our Uncle Arnie’s, Matt’s High Soda and Nectr.  https://mattshighsoda.com/) as well as cannabis edibles, more affordable to the daily consumer. We intend to give the traditional market a run for its money!

Company’s most successful achievement: Number 1 fastest selling Cannabis infused Beverage. 152 Retail, licensed Dispensary account pickups in 6 months, with a bootstrap budget.

Has the company raised any capital (yes or no):  700,000 from friends and family

Any plans on raising capital in the future? Aggressively raising 2-4 Mil more

Most important company 5 year goal: Product will be sold in all 50 states, and internationally. This will happen.


StaffApril 16, 2020
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5min2400

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
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5min2100

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

 


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