Cannabis Investor Webcast Recap: Cannabis Companies to Watch

Investor Webcast held its monthly Cannabis Investor Webcast last Thursday, and it included presentations from both private and publicly traded cannabis companies, as well as research consultants that cover the space. Participants gave a presentation and then answered audience questions.
The full webcast, which ran from 9:00 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. EST, will be made available on the company’s YouTube channel in about a week’s time. For those that can’t wait to find out more about the featured companies, here’s a recap of those included in the webcast and what analysts had to say about the industry. The Investing News Network also had the chance to speak to Derwin Wallace, founder of Investor Webcast, about why he started the company and the various other webcasts it has.
“I thought, why doesn’t somebody create something using technology so CEOs don’t have to travel around and take time off work to meet with investors. That’s when I came up with the idea for Investor Webcast, to make it easier for CEOs and CFOs to connect with investors,” Wallace explained. “We do it in all industries — we started off with cannabis, but we have metals and mining, energy, small cap, micro cap. We are going to spread it out to 20 industries and four market caps.”
Here is a rundown of some of the entities that presented at July’s Cannabis Investor Webcast.
NEMUS Bioscience (OTCMKTS:NMUS)
The first presenter on the roster was Nemus Bioscience, a biopharmaceutical company that’s partnered up with the University of Mississippi for the development and commercialization of drugs derived from cannabis extracts and cannabinoids. The partnership is unique in that the university is the only US entity authorized to cultivate cannabis on behalf of the federal government.
The company’s most recent focus is on the medical utility of cannabinoids as anti-infective therapeutics. “While the company remains focused on bringing forward our leading candidate molecule, a pro-drug of THC, for the management of glaucoma, the anti-infective potential of botanicals, especially the cannabinoids, should not be ignored,” Nemus CEO John Hollister said in a press release. “We are launching these initial studies to assess our target molecule portfolio against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).”
Affinor Growers (CSE:AFI)
The second presenter was a company focused on helping solve the world’s food-security problems using its patented vertical farming technology. According to the company, a vertical farm the size of one square block that is 30 stories high could produce the same amount of food as a farm that is 24,000 acres in size.
Affinor’s flagship greenhouse, which is located in Quebec, will be used to grow strawberries and other crops once constructed. The company also owns 49 percent of a medical marijuana dispensary and grower in Washington as well as 49 percent of Herbal Analytics, a full-service analytical and consulting laboratory for natural product drug development, also located in Washington.
Chardan Capital Markets
Chardan is an investment banking firm that focuses on micro-, small- and mid-cap markets and offers a variety of services, such as M&A advisory, strategic advisory and equity research. Considering the controversy that remains around the medical marijuana industry, finding banking firms that venture into that territory hasn’t been an easy task. However, Chardan recognizes the value of the growing industry, which increased by 74 percent in 2014 from the previous year and is expected to be worth $11 billion as soon as 2019, as per The Huffington Post.
AmeriCann
This Colorado-based company doesn’t produce or distribute cannabis, but instead aims to provide cannabis entrepreneurs and investors with the knowledge, expertise and capital to explore the emerging industry. AmeriCann is also developing the Denver Cannabis Center in Colorado, a facility that will include greenhouse and indoor cultivation areas, a dispensary, a research facility and an infused product production facility. The company plans to build similar facilities elsewhere once more states allow for and regulate cannabis.
Kaya Holdings (OTCMKTS:KAYS)
Kaya produces, distributes and sells cannabis products, including baked goods, at its KAYA Shack™ MMD dispensaries. According to its website, the company is “the first fully reporting US public company to own and operate a vertically integrated seed-to-sale legal marijuana enterprise in the United States.” Its first KAYA Shack was opened in Portland in July 2014.
Just last month, Kaya received marijuana license approval for its second KAYA Shack location, which will also be located in Oregon.
Naturally Splendid Enterprises (TSXV:NSP,OTCMKTS:NSPDF)
Naturally Splendid is slightly different in that it uses Cannabis sativa, industrial hemp, and cannabinoids to create a variety of natural healthcare products. The company is currently focused on its three product lines: HempOmega®, NATERA™ and PAWSITIVE FX™. The first of the three is a dry powder supplement made from hemp oil that offers a vegetarian source of Omega 3 and 6. Then there is NATERA, which comes in seed and powder form and naturally contains vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Finally, PAWSITIVE FX™ is the company’s pet-care line; it uses hemp seed oil and other organic ingredients in its products.
Technical420
Technical420, the second research and analysis company featured on the Cannabis Investor Webcast, is solely focused on cannabis stocks, providing independent, unbiased recommendations to clients through newsletters, reports and tailored watch lists. The company’s founder, Michael Berger, is a former analyst at Raymond James who ventured out to focus on the cannabis industry in 2012. He said that at the moment he is very bullish on how cannabis as it relates to the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors “because there is so much that can be done on that end. It’s amazing what you can do with cannabis and the diseases that it can treat. So that is one of the sectors I am very bullish on at the moment.”
One company in particular on his radar is Zynerba Pharmaceuticals, a private specialty pharmaceutical company that has just registered with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed initial public offering. If the offering goes through it will be just the third cannabis-related company to trade on the NASDAQ.
 
Securities Disclosure: I, Kristen Moran, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.