Last year, capital investment flowed into cannabis at record speed, but that didn’t stop the screws from tightening on retailers and cultivators who are still trying to eke out a profit.
Viridian Cannabis Tracker registered $1.23 billion in cannabis investments during the first 5 weeks of 2018 -- nearly matching the entire amount for 2016 (which totaled $1.29 billion). And while more than half of that 2018 investment money went toward the retail and cultivation sector, 75 percent of it also went to public companies.
This means that smaller players are going to need measurable advantages if they are going to attract and secure capital in 2019.
Pressure on cannabis enterprise comes from several angles -- most of it in the form of state and local regulation. Navigating this quagmire can be expensive and time consuming, but that’s something investors don’t want to hear. Investors are looking for profitable and scalable businesses.
Smaller players are going to need measurable advantages if they are going to attract and secure capital in 2019.
A lack of cannabis banking solutions is one of the biggest obstacles to growth for dispensaries. Operating in a cash-only economy obscures visibility to profits and cash flows, which makes securing funding extremely difficult for cannabis enterprises, if not impossible.
But cannabis sellers have an opportunity to be on the leading edge of global commerce. By leveraging distributed ledger technology, the cannabis industry can displace non-compliant and costly traditional payment systems.
Canna-businesses can process and confirm transactions in real-time using Alt Thirty Six’s digital payments platform. Through this digital payments platform, dispensaries’ transactions are processed and stored on a distributed ledger, providing a clear and immutable view of their income which can be provided to investors, regulators, accountants and tax authorities.
Because it displaces the cash-only model, this digital payments platform can also support another key to attracting capital: scalability. By reducing costs and complexities associated with managing inventories of physical cash, companies have the ability to grow in triple digit percentages.
And by adopting disruptive technology, companies can set themselves apart from other players in the industry and charge ahead in a market that will only get more competitive in months to come.
Learn more about how Alt Thirty Six can help your business.
