VIVO Cannabis (VIVO.C) is literally doubling down on its commitment to expanding retail networks with two new partnerships.
Firstly, the company has pledged to invest $5 million in National Access Cannabis (META.V) to assist in its goal of establishing 200 dispensaries nationwide.
Barry Fishman, CEO of VIVO Cannabis, said his company “sees great benefit in investing in and establishing strong relationships with leading recreational retail players in Canada.”
National Access Cannabis has two ‘brands’ of dispensaries in its portfolio, META and NewLeaf. National Access Cannabis closed its acquisition of its now wholly-owned subsidiary, NewLeaf, in September.
We trust that as an investor in NAC, VIVO will impart some of the strategy, creativity and expertise that they put into their consumer brands to enable enhanced market potential for our retail store brands, META Cannabis Supply Co. and NewLeaf Cannabis.
-Mark Goliger, CEO of National Access Cannabis
NewLeaf has submitted 25 dispensary retail license applications in Alberta. 20 of those licenses have been given government approval and 17 of those locations are currently under construction as of September.
Meta, National Access Cannabis’ second dispensary-chain, was launched in May of this year. The company currently has one location in Winnipeg to-date.
The locations will be built around a model of “customer education, immersive retail environments, technology and quality cannabis and cannabis-related product offerings,” according to National Access Cannabis.
National Access Cannabis also secured a $35 million loan with the Opaskwayak Cree Nation in July to fund the build-out of up to 70 META retail outlets across Western Canada.
In addition to the aforementioned recreational retail spaces, National Access Cannabis announced it had signed pharmacy cannabis program agreements with 70 additional pharmacies yesterday. The company has partnerships with 111 pharmacies in total.
National Access Cannabis currently trades at $0.83, has a market cap of $137 million and is down 5.8 percent at the time of this writing.
Harvest Medicine + Think Research
Secondly, VIVO Cannabis wholly owned subsidiary, Harvest Medicine, announced the signing of its own agreement with digital healthcare platform provider today, Think Research.
Think Research is a software developer which provides health care professionals the programs they need to organize patient data and provide acute treatment in a timely manner.
ProgressNotes, one such product, paints a detailed picture of an individual’s recovery by tracking changes in condition and compiling documents on their medical history in a way which easily informs their physician.
The partnership was made with the aim of merging innovative healthcare solutions with the therapeutic potential of medical cannabis.
“Leveraging Think Research’s innovative digital healthcare solutions is a key part of our expansion strategy in Ontario. This will dramatically improve our ability to partner with the medical community and seamlessly coordinate care,” the CEO of Harvest Medicine, Shekhar Parmar, said.
What the partnership will develop
The innovative solution, delivered by Think Research, combines several technologies which allow for enhanced communication and connections between family physicians, medical cannabis specialists, and patients. Further, a Clinical Decision Support Tool for use at the point of care will facilitate individualized patient screenings to help standardize clinical decisions based on the best evidence for appropriate care.
VIVO Cannabis’ continued commitment to medical cannabis is unsurprising: An industry insider who recenetly spoke to Equity Guru said profit margins on medical cannabis could be twice those earned through selling to a Provincial liquor board.
With its acquisition of a clinic network owned by Organigram (OGI.V) earlier this month, Harvest Medicine has six physical locations in four provinces and gained four thousand patients.
Additionally, the company announced the upcoming launch of a free online telemedicine platform which will allow for patients to connect with healthcare professionals online.
With VIVO Cannabis growing and selling quality product, building out greenhouses, signing partnerships and rapidly expanding its patient list, it’s hard not to see why we are all so excited.
Full disclosure: VIVO Cannabis is an Equity Guru marketing client.