MMJ Business Daily

Marijuana Startup Tradiv Closes $1M Funding Round

Tradiv, which runs an online platform that facilitates wholesale transactions in the cannabis industry, has cemented a $1 million round of funding to help fuel its growth.

The firm formally launched on Oct. 1 after finishing a business accelerator program with CanopyBoulder in June. It was able to raise the $1 million through connections with the ArcView Group, Poseidon Asset Management, TL Partners and Anslinger Capital.

Tradiv aims to connect buyers and sellers (retailers, growers and infused products makers) of wholesales cannabis products via an online marketplace.

CEO Aeron Sullivan said Tradiv, which was founded last year in San

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Marijuana Startup Tradiv Closes $1M Funding Round is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

BioTrackTHC Sued By its Former Attorney

One of the leading software firms serving the cannabis industry has been hit with a lawsuit by one of its former attorneys over alleged violations of an employment contract.

The lawsuit – filed in a Broward County, Florida, circuit court – alleges that BioTrackTHC has not granted or paid the value of stock options due to attorney Barry Gainsburg, who was employed by the company from August 2014 until early this month. Gainsburg filed the suit himself.

The suit asks a Florida judge to award Gainsburg’s firm at least $630,000 plus attorney’s fees and costs, claiming that BioTrackTHC “has failed and

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BioTrackTHC Sued By its Former Attorney is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

MMJ Vaporizer Firm Lands $1.65M From Dutch Province

A provincial council in the Netherlands will invest about $1.65 million in a company that is working on a vaporization system involving cannabis-impregnated pads.

The company, Spirocan, hopes to complete development next year and then begin clinical trials on patients, company spokesman Pieter Andre de la Porte told the Financieele Dagblad.

The product is expected to hit the market in about five years, and the company hopes to register marijuana as a medicine against chronic pain.

Spirocan said it needs a total investment of about $11 million to develop the vaporizer.

The company is partly owned by Bedrocan, which has

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MMJ Vaporizer Firm Lands $1.65M From Dutch Province is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

LA Council Looks to Crack Down on Illegal Dispensaries

The Los Angeles City Council voted this week to bar officials from giving business tax certificates to new medical marijuana dispensaries, all of which are technically illegal under an ordinance voters passed two years ago.

Council members also want to force existing dispensaries renewing their registrations to attest under penalty of perjury that they meet the requirements of that ordinance (Proposition D), which only allows older MMJ businesses to operate, the Los Angeles Times reported.

City finance officials who hand out the tax certificates have asserted they aren’t authorized to investigate the legality of a business, and instead they take companies

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LA Council Looks to Crack Down on Illegal Dispensaries is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

G FarmaLabs Names New CEO

One of the most visible edibles brands in California announced on Wednesday that its founder and longtime CEO, Ata Gonzalez, is moving into a consulting role and will step down as head of the company.

The new CEO, Dr. Cristina Gonzalez, is a licensed pharmacist in two states and will oversee the company’s continued expansion. She’s also Ata’s ex-wife, and a statement from the company maintained that the “family run and operated culture within our headquarters will only intensify.”

The move comes as the firm launches a new holding company, G FarmaBrands, that will act as an umbrella company. The

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G FarmaLabs Names New CEO is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Week in Review: Line in the Sand on Banking, MMJ Acceptance in Chicago & Legalization Unity in Maine

By John Schroyer and Omar Sacirbey

The Federal Reserve gives marijuana businesses the cold shoulder, Chicago signals that it is embracing medical cannabis, and political unity emerges behind a legalization push in Maine.

Here’s a closer look at several notable developments in the marijuana industry over the past week.

The Federal…Reverse?

Banking institutions that work with cannabis companies likely sat up and took note late last week when the Federal Reserve indicated in a legal filing that it won’t accept one penny from marijuana businesses.

That seems to conflict with banking guidance released by the government early last

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Week in Review: Line in the Sand on Banking, MMJ Acceptance in Chicago & Legalization Unity in Maine is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Mexican Supreme Court Delays Cannabis Hearing

Mexico’s Supreme Court has postponed a landmark hearing on marijuana that could eventually help pave the way for cannabis legalization in the country.

The court was scheduled to begin discussions this week on a recommendation from a judge to allow members of a particular group – the Mexican Society for Tolerant and Responsible Personal Use – to grow and use cannabis for their own consumption.

Judges decided to push back the discussion to as early as next week, though it could be later, according to Agence France-Presse.

A vote in favor of the recommendation would have few immediate business implications. But it would advance

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Mexican Supreme Court Delays Cannabis Hearing is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

South Dakota Tribe’s Marijuana Plans in Spotlight

A South Dakota Native American tribe that’s planning a recreational marijuana resort may wind up causing more ripples in the water than it had intended.

The state legislature reportedly may take a look at tweaking state laws to deal with the situation, but exactly how is unclear, according to the Associated Press.

The Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe is behind the push for a marijuana resort, which is scheduled to open on New Year’s Eve. Spokesmen for the tribe emphasized they want to cooperate with authorities, but that doing so shouldn’t hamper their plans.

They suggested the legislature

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South Dakota Tribe’s Marijuana Plans in Spotlight is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

Ohio Legends Hit Airwaves to Promote Cannabis Measure

Well-known prosecutor Joe Deters, basketball legend Oscar Robertson and singer Nick Lachey feature in three recent television commercials urging Ohioans to vote in favor of a marijuana legalization measure when they go to the polls on Nov. 3.

The ads have become an important part of the legalization push in what would be a major cannabis market.

A handful of 30-second spots airing throughout Ohio were placed by Midwest Communications Media in Columbus, the state’s capital. The Deters and Robertson ads premiered Oct. 27, while Lachey’s spot first aired Oct, 22.

Midwest Communications also aired pro-legalization ads

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Ohio Legends Hit Airwaves to Promote Cannabis Measure is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs

CBD Cafe to Open in England

The United Kingdom is about to get its first “cannabis cafe” – sans THC.

The shop, which is planned for Manchester, will feature only CBD products manufactured in Germany from hemp.

“We have people filling it into bottles, branding it and bringing it over,” owner Colin Davies told the Manchester Evening News.

Davies isn’t marketing it as medicinal marijuana per se, and he’s very insistent that consumers won’t be able to get high from what he’s selling. The products do benefit those with epilepsy, cancer and Crohn’s disease, he maintained.

But Davies, a colorful and long-time activist in the

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CBD Cafe to Open in England is a post from: Marijuana Business Daily: Financial, Legal & Cannabusiness news for cannabis entrepreneurs