10 Pitches From Leading Cannabis Companies On Their Vision, Brands

Investors, executives and thought leaders converged at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach resort to network and exchange visions for the cannabis industry at the Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference this week.

Here are 10 companies that made waves at Tuesday’s presentations.

urban-gro

urban-gro, Inc. UGRO is an engineering design services firm that provides complex solutions to increase the efficiency of indoor cultivation facilities.

The growth-stage company innovates through the use of unique software tools, said Brad Nattrass, urban-gro’s CEO.

“We’ve developed a proprietary app: we enter all the information and it helps us design the most efficient facilities.”

The firm aims to raise new funds and execute its vision of delivering differentiated solutions to integrated cultivation design.

Columbia Care

Columbia Care Inc., CCHWF is a "high-touch," patient-centered alternative medicine operator whose cultivation and manufacturing facilities are based out of the United States.

The firm aims to differentiate via a product innovation focus, said Gary Santo, the company's vice president of investor relations. 

“We have to start small, understand [the] customer and use data to our advantage,” he said during a discussion regarding affordability and new products, such as fast-acting medical tablets and payment solutions.

Columbia, to increase accessibility, has developed a cannabis-friendly credit card, Santo said. 

“It’s the first legal credit card for cannabis purchases operating in Arizona, California, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland [and] New York.”

Medicine Man Technologies

Medicine Man Technologies Inc. MDCL is a vertically integrated cannabis company based out of Colorado.

CEO and Chairman Justin Dye spoke to the conference about the importance of solid financials.

“We’re about fundamentals; we’re generating free cash flow … and building a business that is sustainable,” he said in reference to managing risk and using extra cash to jump on new opportunities.

Tickets to the next Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference in Detroit, Michigan April 1 are available now.

iAnthus

iAnthus Capital Holdings Inc. ITHUF has a mission to create a line of cannabis brands as well as efficient operations and distribution capabilities.

The firm aims to leverage near-term regulatory evolution and balanced financials to expand into new markets, said Beth Stavola, CSO and director at iAnthus.

“Our finance team has a 4 p.m.m meeting about cash management [every day]” she said in a response to the firm’s success in attaining the positive cash flow that iAnthus is using to rapidly expand cultivation and penetrate new delivery channels, such as national retailer Hallmark Cards, Inc.

Avicanna

Avicanna Inc. AVCNF is a cannabis cultivation and manufacturing company with a mission of delivering natural cannabinoid solutions through an evidence-based biopharmaceutical approach.

CEO Aras Azadian spoke to the conference about the lack of separation between the medical and adult-use industries.

“[There’s] limited product offerings; our approach is very long-term and global," he said. 

"A significant amount of research has gone into producing varied products,” Azadian said of Avicanna moving its grow operations to Colombia. 

"Santa Marta [provides] a consistent environment to further scale and lower costs."

Vanguard Scientific

Vanguard is a provider of equipment and systems to enhance botanical extraction. The firm’s mission is to deliver to customers the capability to manufacture quality oils and extracts at low cost.

The company is currently in the process of improving global cannabis manufacturing and supply chains, said founder and CEO Matthew Anderson.

"We work on the design side; [we] moved to one leading profile as our scope has continued to widen. Our 2020 brand proposition is building value alongside partners."

4Front

4Front Ventures Corp. FFNTF is an alternative medicine production, investment and management firm in the U.S.

In a discussion regarding the firm’s transition into a multistate retail and hospitality enterprise, Chief Investment Officer Andrew Thut told the Benzinga conference that he expects 4Front to take an outsized percentage of market share, as production costs near 75 cents per gram.

“Our production facilities manufacture over 20 brands, and 2020 is setting up to be a good year,” he said in a reference to competing in an environment in which commodity costs have sunk.

“We give customers a great product at a great price and we focus most on training staff” to differentiate, Thut said. 

Cannafornia

Cannafornia is the largest vertically integrated cannabis producer in California.

Paul King, founder and CEO, told the Benzinga conference that his firm has become a top-five brand due to its emphasis on specialization and follow-through.

“We only focused on California first because we knew how hard it was to [scale],” he said.

Cannafornia runs its grow operation out of Salinas, California, capitalizing on the sunny and fertile environment to reduce costs. Now that the firm has scaled revenues, King said he's capitalizing on regulatory evolution to bring his product to Florida.

We’re going to be “applying our quality of standard in Florida," King said. 

Trulieve

Trulieve Cannabis Corp. TCNNF is the largest marijuana provider in Florida, netting almost 2 million face-to-face interactions per year.

CEO Kim Rivers spoke at the Benzinga conference about competition, vertical versus horizontal integration and customer needs.

“We’ve always been about the customer,” Rivers said. 

“We have over 50% market share and we think, because of our footprint, we’re uniquely positioned.”

Expansion into new categories of product is simple now that Trulieve has has locations across the state, balanced financials and a scalable supply chain, the cannabis CEO said. 

NewLake Capital

NewLake is a real estate-focused company servicing the cannabis industry.

CEO Anthony Coniglio is a finance veteran with management experience at JPMorgan and numerous investment banking businesses. Coniglio spoke to conference attendees regarding the importance of real estate and centers of excellence in the cannabis industry.

His main takeaway was the proven financial benefits of owning tangible assets; “We are focused on the cannabis industry [and] we like investing in real estate,” he said. “You have the downside protection of owning a hard asset.”

Image courtesy of Cannafornia.