With the recent vote in Oklahoma in late June, 30 states have now legalized the use of medical marijuana; and nine states, plus the District of Columbia, have green-lighted adult recreational use of weed. With residents in Utah and Michigan also set to vote on respective measures to legalize medical and recreational use in November, 2018 is proving to be another momentum-fueling year for the legal cannabis industry in the U.S. Add to this fact that in June Canada became the first industrialized nation on the planet to legalize recreational use with the passing of the Cannabis Act. Without question, explosive growth opportunities for enterprising cannabis entrepreneurs and industry innovators seemingly abound.
As a private equity investor who is actively focused on putting my money to work in emerging, high growth industries, Cannabis has become a sector demanding my attention. However, given my penchant for all things technology, I’ve been specifically concentrating on unearthing investment opportunities in the field of Cannatech – that being businesses bringing technological innovation to bear on the worldwide Cannabis industry, which is forecasted to reach $146.4 billion by the end of 2025.
With so many startups stampeding the marketplace in the prevailing Cannabis land grab, which ones have the “right” technology, can build a defensible market position and have a business plan with a team in place capable of successfully executing it?
Here is an example of one Cannatech company that checked every box on my due-diligence checklist. Widely known as the “Groupon of Marijuana,” CannaSaver is the creator of the world’s first online and mobile cannabis coupon platform.
On the Internet, CannaSaver has achieved No. 1 organic rankings on Google for over 350 relevant searches and was the first company to beat out its key competitors, Weed Maps and Westword, for top organic search spots relating to the cannabis coupons and deals sector. Currently, over 20,000 web users go directly to CannaSaver.com every month to begin their product searches and discover savings from local merchants and dispensaries in Denver.
Since its founding in 2013, this innovative company has seen its revenues double year-over-year; and appears to be on pace to quadruple its 2018 revenues when compared to last year. What’s remarkable (and telling) about this is the fact that CannaSaver is currently serving Cannabis-related dispensaries and retailers in the Denver metro market only – a market with a population of just under three million people.
Presuming that CannaSaver’s business is replicable in other states/markets where recreational and/or medical marijuana is legalized – and from My Vantage Point, I firmly believe that it is – CannaSaver’s long-term value could grow 10-fold, 100-fold, or even substantially higher.
This is just one Cannatech company that is successfully capitalizing on growing market acceptance of medical and recreational marijuana. What cannabis-related opportunities have captured your attention?
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Full Disclosure Statement: Lyle Hauser and his firm are currently significant beneficial stockholders of CannaSaver Corp.
