The cannabis culture has experienced growth for the past few years. The tech sector of the CBD industry has continued to light up new inventions and innovations. These technological advancements continue playing a crucial role in the cultivation, distribution, and consumption of legal cannabis globally. More countries are experiencing a shift in cannabis legislation, cultivation, and trading of medical cannabis. It has, in turn, urged entrepreneurs and investors to tap into the new legal marijuana market. Combined with the booming e-Commerce sector, many cannabis startups have emerged to gain a new market. Home delivery options are available for many CBD enthusiasts thanks to the ever-growing cannabis e-Commerce sector.
Below is a list of the top 5 most promising cannabis tech startups in the world. The startups are diverse, covering the different cannabis market sectors from cultivation to distribution and product consumption. There are other startups, which also focus on research and marketing of cannabis-related products.
Eaze Technologies Inc
Eaze is an American cannabis startup company. It's an online platform that operates as a market and a technology platform. It provides cannabis enthusiasts with a safe and convenient system of delivering cannabis-related products. The company was founded on Jul 29, 2014, by Keith McCarty and Roie Edery. Eaze has continued and expanded its operations in various states by partnering with local cannabis entrepreneurs. The company has raised $202.2M from its nine rounds of funding; the most recent funding took place on Feb 25, 2020. Eaze currently has 16 investors and has made a total of 7 investments in the market. According to BuiltWith, Eaze is currently using 70 technologies on its online platform, including SPF, Viewport Meta, and iPhone / Mobile Compatible.
Baker Technologies
Famously known as the top CRM startup in the cannabis industry, Baker has been in operations since 2014. Baker was founded by Roger Obando, David Champion, and Joel Milton. The company is currently serving more than 800 cannabis dispensaries in Canada and the United States of America. In just ten weeks, Baker clients experienced a 40% order boost and full ROI. The company helps cannabis dispensaries in generating more income and building a long-lasting relationship with their clients. Baker technologies offer the following products to its clients: customer analytics, customer messaging, customer loyalty, and online ordering & tracking. Due to its success, Baker has turned out to be one of the most funded cannabis tech startups with more than $11.5 million as invested capital.
Leaflink
Leaflink has $299M, one of the highest funding in the cannabis industry for startups. The company has a total of 14 investors and was founded in 2015. Leaflink operates as a wholesale online management platform for the CBD industry. The company offers an online platform where cannabis enthusiasts can interact and transact. Operating in Canada and the USA, the company has over 3,500 retailers across the two countries selling over 1,200 brands. Leaflink offers retailers and brands a more streamlined ordering system, simplified communication, and a centralized sales engine. The centralized sales engine helps retailers achieve effective management and growth of their businesses. Leaflink also offers customer order management tools, a CRM system, and a robust online marketplace.
New Frontier
New Frontier operates as a data collection firm reporting on all the trends and information affecting the cannabis industry. The company offers data, customized, actionable intelligence, and market insights to various stakeholders in the CBD industry. Rick Gilchrist founded New Frontier. The company collects data from the government, strategic partners, operators, and trading associations. The main goal of New Frontier is to empower its subscribers with timely and focused intelligence, which will help them increase their revenue in the CBD industry. The data collected is aggregated and reported to improve the cannabis industry's standards, increase transparency, and come up with a data repository system that is centralized and reliable.
Tokken
Cannabis startup Tokken offers the CBD industry with banking services, which ensures marijuana-based businesses operate smoothly. The company is based in Denver, Colorado, and mainly acts as a legally compliant intermediary. Lamine Zarrad founded it. The company offers cannabis growers and sellers a crucial financial structure to facilitate their daily financial transactions. The company has received praise in the CBD industry for addressing the banking and payment problems in the cannabis industry. Even though Token has a financial technology that can be used by any business in the world, the system has a special functionality, which makes it more useful in the cannabis industry. Purchases are made using the Token system, which records the payment via a distributed, indelible ledger. Businesses can also use Token to pay their bills and convert their balances to the US dollar.
Conclusion
Despite a rocky 2020 in the global cannabis market thanks to the COVID-19 global pandemic, investors are hopeful that the coming 2020s will be more CBD friendly. Money flowing into the CBD startups industry faced several changes like public markets slump, delayed legislations, and vape-related illnesses. It caused several economic layoffs in the industry. However, this has not discouraged CBD tech startups from excelling in the market.