Fish-Waste Fueled Cannabis Company Looks to IPO, Says Green Relief CEO
*By Chloe Aiello*
Warren Bravo thinks investors will get behind his fish waste-based cannabis concept when his company, Canadian marijuana producer Green Relief, heads to the public market this year.
"We are going out, we'll say, sometime this year into the IPO space," Bravo, Green Relief CEO and co-founder, told Cheddar on Wednesday, adding that he's not committed to a specific time frame.
"We want to make sure the market conditions are right, because we only have one chance to do that successfully and we want to make sure Green Relief tells the story investors want to hear."
The story that Bravo is talking about concerns cannabis and fish ー or, more specifically, fish excrement.
Green Relief has developed a system in which filtered fish waste is used to fertilize cannabis plants, which in turn, clean the water for the fish. It's a closed loop, recirculating ecosystem that enables pesticide-free farming.
"It's the same ecosystem as any freshwater lake," Bravo said. "Any vegetation that grows in water is fertilized by the fish that live in that body of water. So we've commercialized an ecosystem, and made it scale-able and growing our cannabis plants in a very natural, clean, and organic way."
Once the fish are no longer of use to the cannabis plants, Green Relief donates them to charity ー Bravo said the company has managed to provide as many as 50,000 meals to homeless shelters in the Toronto area. In the future, Bravo said Green Relief may consider monetizing the aquaculture portion of its business, and experimenting with using more valuable fish, like Asian sea bass, fresh water prawn, or koi to clean the water. But for now, Green Relief is sticking to tilapia.
"Right now tilapia is what we do, because it's tried, proven and works really well in a farmed environment. So, as they say, 'if it ain't broke don't fix it,' and that's what we are using now," Bravo said.
Bravo added that the company is "on the path to profitability," as it considers a public listing, and is currently working with lawyers to finalize its prospectus.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/cannabis-and-tilapia-make-for-unlikely-but-sustainable-pairing).
Coming off of the latest NFL season, Draftkings has plans for growth and new bettors to join its platform following what it saw as a record year of state legalization of sports betting and Super Bowl action. CEO Jason Robins joined Cheddar News to talk about what in store for the company in 2022, including labor issues leading to the postponement of the MLB's spring training games and the NCAA's March Madness. "There's a lot of really exciting stuff that happens in the first couple of rounds all the way through to the championship game. So typically we've seen incredible activity during March Madness on the betting side," Robins said.
PlayersTV is bringing sports viewers Athletes On Demand, a subscription platform to provide fans with thousands of hours of sports content from their favorite athletes. CEO Angela Bundrant joined Cheddar News to discuss the new rollout. "People can expect to receive content or buy into content on demand that comes from their favorite athletes," said Bundrant, listing star partners like the Phoenix Suns' Chris Paul and New Orleans Pelicans' C.J. McCollum.
The New York Stock Exchange has applied for trademark licenses to launch metaverse-, NFT-, and cryptocurrency-related goods, but denies that it has any immediate plans to launch these virtual products. Adam Hollander, the founder of Hungry Wolves NFT, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he noted such a plan would be "game-changing."
Walmart beat earnings estimates for the fourth quarter, and despite losses stemming from supply chain costs and COVID-19 employee sick leave, the big box chain was still able to fight inflation as costs rose across the board. What's next for Walmart and other retail giants as inflation continues to run hot?
Arun Sundaram, Senior Equity Analyst at CFRA Research, joins Closing Bell to discuss.
Bamboo-based toilet paper company Cloud Paper raised $5 million in a recent funding round. Its product is a bamboo-based alternative to traditional toilet paper made from trees, and its mission is to end the deforestation caused by traditional paper products. Cloud Paper says the raise will allow it to make significant investments in its supply chain, product development, and hiring. Ryan Fritsch, a co-founder of Cloud Paper, joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Space tourism company World View plans to launch its first commercial flights in early 2024, with voyages to take off from iconic locations around the world like the Grand Canyon — but seemingly at a flexible price point. Dale Hipsh, president of tourism and exploration at World View, joined Cheddar to discuss what a trip to the stratosphere would look like with his company and its much less expensive take on space travel. "Our technology allows us to be more democratic, to offer more opportunities for people to experience near space, and that overview effect," he said. "So we're really thrilled to be bringing it to market."
