Willow Industries Archives - Green Market Report

Video StaffMay 18, 2022

1min00

On April 28, 2022, the Green Market Report hosted its first Women’s Summit in New York City. This panel was titled “Women Creating Cannabis Brands.” These savvy and accomplished women have created truly unique and original products and companies. Their products are unlike others in their categories. This panel explores what it takes to create a company and product that stands out in a sea of sameness. Panelists included Jill Ellsworth – Founder CEO Willow Industries, Brett Heyman – Founder Edie Parker, Jodi Scott CEO Green Goo & Good Goo, and moderated by Tori Chamberlain – WHDH News Producer Thank you for watching the Green Market Report! Be sure to subscribe to our channel and our newsletters.


StaffJuly 10, 2019
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6min00

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.

 

 


William SumnerJune 12, 2019
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6min00

It’s time for your Daily Hit of cannabis financial news for June 12, 2019.

On the Site

Oregon House Passes Cannabis “Export” Bill

In a bi-partisan vote of 42-17 on Tuesday, the Oregon House passed a historic measure that will allow Oregon’s Governor to enter into agreements with other consenting states to allow for the legal export of cannabis between state markets.  Governor Brown is expected to sign the bill.

MJ Freeway

Seed-to-sale cannabis software company MJ Freeway and MTech Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: MTEC) agreed to issue and sell an additional 215,475 shares of Class A common stock at $10.21 per share as part of its previously announced private placement in a deal valued at $2.2 million. The company is expected to go public within months.

Coda Signature

Luxury cannabis brand Coda Signature California closed on a $24.4 million round of Series A funding. Altum Investments is the parent company of The Grow Foundry California, which goes by the name of Coda. The company said that the funds will be used to accelerate expansion into emerging North American markets for Coda Signature-branded premium cannabis-infused edibles, topicals and concentrates. In addition to that, the money will also be used for strategic additions to the management team.

In Other News

Willow Industries

Willow Industries announced that it has raised $2 million in venture funding. The fund raise was co-led by AFI Capital Partners and Welcan Capital and were joined by Halley Venture Partners and Flatiron Venture Partners. Willow Industries is a technology company that specializes in hemp and cannabis decontamination without compromising the integrity of the flower. “The support we received in this financing round from our investors substantiates the value that Willow provides to cannabis cultivators around the country,” said Jill Ellsworth, Willow’s Founder and CEO. “This investment allows us to maintain our position as the leader in what we’re passionate about: consumer safety and helping cultivators across the country sell high-quality, clean, safe cannabis.”

Neptune Wellness Solutions

Neptune Wellness Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: NEPT) (TSX: NEPT) announced the release of its financial results for the quarter and fiscal year ending on March 31, 2019. Year-over-year evenue for the quarter declined from $7 million to $5.8 million. Net loss for the quarter increased from a loss of $4.8 million to a net loss of $12.4 million. The net loss for the fiscal year was $23.2 million, down considerably from a net income of $20 million in the previous year. Despite the loss, management remains positive in the company’s outlook for the coming fiscal year. “With the largest extraction facility in Canada, with a licence, and a transaction pending for a second facility in the United States, multiple supply partnerships now in hand, and solid and growing relationships with new clients, we are on our way to realizing our objective to become the global leader in cannabis extraction,” said Jim Hamilton, CEO of Neptune.

MediaJel

The cannabis advertising and marketing firm MediaJel announced that it has acquired Potnt Agency, a hemp and cannabis-focused public relations agency. Under the agreement, Potnt CEO Jennifer Price will stay on as MediaJel’s Vice President of Communications. “Public relations is one of the most relevant communications disciplines for the feverishly evolving cannabis industry. The old narrative needs to be changed. Today’s market is fully different, and successful communications embracing this market is, to say the least, quite complicated at the local level,” said Thomas Harrison, Chairman of the Board, MediaJel.

 


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