The Cannabis Company That Won't Mix Work With Pleasure
A limited supply of cannabis in the U.S. means those resources have to be divvied up carefully.
For Cronos Group, that means keeping its medical and recreational marijuana operations in completely different verticals, CEO Michael Gorenstein told Cheddar. That ensures patients’ needs are prioritized over those of recreational users.
“If you think about building a town, and you have a limited amount of building supplies, we want to make sure that we’re building a hospital before we’re building the bar,” he said.
Canada-based Cronos Group started trading on the NASDAQ on Tuesday, making it the first marijuana company to list on a major U.S. market.
“It’s a big milestone not just for us but for the entire industry,” said Gorenstein. “[It] just continues to show the acceptance that the cannabis industry is getting.”
And the industry does seem to be growing at break-neck speed. Arcview, a leading researcher of the cannabis market, stated in a [recent report](https://arcviewgroup.com/product/5th-edition/) that the industry brought in $9.7 billion in sales in 2017, and that number could grow to over $25 billion by 2021.
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/inside-the-first-cannabis-company-to-list-on-nasdaq).
A.I.-based entertainment company, Deedub, recently raised
$20 million in a Series A round, led by Insight Partners. Deepdub uses A.I. technology to automate the dubbing process for foreign-language movies or TV shows, while using actors' original voices. The company says it can take just two to three minutes of data from an actor's voice and transform the voice into a different language. The funding comes as foreign-language films and shows like Netflix's 'Squid Game' have recently become more popular with audiences in the U.S. and around the world. Oz Krakowski, Chief Revenue Officer at Deepdub, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Energy Vault, the company developing sustainable, grid-scale energy storage solutions, is now trading on the New York Stock Exchange following the completion of its business combination with Novus Capital Corporation II. Energy Vault develops sustainable, grid-scale energy storage solutions designed to advance the transition to a carbon free, resilient power grid. Robert Piconi, co-founder and CEO of Energy Vault, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to disucss.
A new mobile app has launched just in time for Valentine's Day. Our.Love bills itself as an A.I.-powered, gamified, relationship wellness app for couples. The app is set in what the company calls the Coupleverse, a virtual world where each couple can build a virtual relationship home as they also build their real-world relationship. Founder and CEO Tal Zlotnitsky joined Cheddar to discuss how the app works. "The concept behind Our.Love is to give people the opportunity to understand where they stand in their relationship through very simple metrics that we provide within the app that will help them in real-time, see where they stand, see where their partner is, and be able to get closer together," he said.
Alyson Wilson, VP of Brand Innovation at Alo Yoga, joins Cheddar News to discuss the yoga apparel company entering the metaverse and teaming up with Spring Studios for New York Fashion Week.
The 21st Annual Food Network and Cooking Channel South Beach Wine & Food Festival (SOBEWFF), is returning to Miami on February 24 with proceeds to benefit the future leaders of the hospitality industry. Lee Schrager, the founder and director of the festival, and Food Network star Jeff Mauro joined Cheddar News to discuss what ticket holders can expect, how the festival benefits students, and how Mauro will be paying tribute to fellow food celebrity, Guy Fieri, by hosting a charity auction dinner. "I mean there's nobody bigger, nobody more magnetic right now in the food space than Guy," Maura said. "I mean the guy had a Super Bowl commercial on last night. That's a dream of mine, so I'm one step closer there just by doing a tight 20 minutes at his tribute dinner."
