Cheddar's "CannaBiz" program is dedicated to the business of marijuana. In each episode we explore the growing market, landscape for regulation, and ways people and businesses are capitalizing on the space. During this episode Cheddar Anchors Hope King and Brad Smith explore pending legislation in Vermont, and a company expanding deeper into the medical marijuana market.
According to a new report by New Frontier Data, Cannabis could create more than $130 billion dollars in federal tax revenue by 2025. That's if the federal government legalizes the drug. It could also ad 1.1 million jobs by 2025.
Vermont could be the next state to change it's current marijuana laws. Vermont Governor Phil Scott planning to sign a bill to legalize marijuana for those 21 years or older. This will make Vermont the first state to do so through legislation. Montpelier, Vermont Mayor John Hollar explains how this could impact the growing market.
"People generally think its an inevitability in our state that we will have a legalization," says Hollar. "I think people understand and recognize that its going to happen."
Now that cannabis is legal in California, many people are wondering how to add it to their recipes in the kitchen. Cheddar's Alyssa Julya Smith joined Jeff the 420 Chef in the kitchen to talk about his specific technique to clean cannabis and make sure you are taking out all the smells and flavors to seamlessly add to your food.
Namaste Technologies is rolling out a telemedicine portal to connect doctors to medical marijuana patients virtually. The company's co-founder and CEO Sean Dollinger explains how they are bringing this technology to the Canadian market.
"NamasteMD is the first application allowed by the app store for telemedicine in Canada ever for cannabis," said Dollinger. He explains his hope for Namaste Technologies to become a global leader in cannabis by leveraging its technology for partners in the market.
The largest car search platform in India, Cardekho, recently raised $250 million in what the company calls a pre-IPO round led by leapfrog investments. The funding bumps CarDekho above unicorn status with a $1.2 billion valuation. The company currently has a catalogue of more than 3,000 pre-owned cars for online purchases and hopes to expand with the new funding. Partner and co-head of South Asian investment for LeapFrog Stewart Langdon joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
E-scooter company Bird made its public debut on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday. CFO Yibo Ling joined Cheddar to discuss what made the company launch a SPAC IPO now. Ling noted one of the deciding factors was the need to scale the business to help take "gas-guzzling cars off the road" by growing into more locations. "A large portion of our proceeds will go to fund expansion into these new geographies," he said.
Thuc Vu, CEO and co-founder of Ohmnilabs, joins 'Cheddar Innovates' to discuss how robots are playing a role in the return to the office, and what's in store for the future of the robotics industry.
Joan E. Solsman, a senior reporter at CNET, joined Cheddar's "Opening Bell" to talk about Netflix moving to offer mobile video games for Android users as part of their subscription. She said this is likely one "baby step" for the streaming giant as it moves into the space. "You can see what Netflix wants to do eventually down the line is have these great ambitions to make their service be more than just passive TV, movies," she said. "They're moving more into merchandising, that they're moving more into in-person experiences. They're trying to broaden a way, which is a great thing to do when everyone keeps talking about metaverses."
