Cheddar's Cannabiz explores the latest trends, and businesses looking to capitalize on the growing cannabis market. Cheddar's Baker Machado and Brad Smith speak with investors, business leaders, and legislators in this episode. In the last few days several officials have announced efforts to reverse marijuana-related convictions. San Francisco's District Attorney George Gascón announced the dismisscal of more than 3,000 marijuana convictions dating back to 1975. Cheddar's Baker Machado spoke to Gascón about that decision, and the reaction he is receiving from other cities. Recreational marijuana has been legal in California since January 1 and since then cannabis stores like MedMen in West Hollywood have been a significant bump in sales and foot traffic. Alyssa Julya Smith visited the MedMen location in West Hollywood one month after the store first started selling recreational marijuana. Yi explains that month-to-month MedMen has been triple the amount of foot traffic and revenue in January as they had from December. He explains that more people than ever before are buying edibles and trying different forms of cannabis. Private equity firm Privateer Holdings is looking to pioneer the future of the legal cannabis industry. The company closed a $100 Million funding round in January to further its investment in cannabis start-ups. Privateer Holdings CEO Brendan Kennedy describes how the company is planning to use this new surge in funding. "A lot of the opportunities that we are looking at right now are outside of the United States," says Kennedy. "We'll deploy more than half of this round outside of the U.S. where we see Canada this year legalizing Cannabis for adult use." Agricultural technology company VividGro announced Tuesday it has acquired a home grow marijuana app. The company's President David Friedman explains how this acquisition is helping VividGro expand its footprint in the horticulture industry especially for weed. "This gives us access to the home grow market, which is a quicker and more rapid penetration point," says Friedman. "Eventually we will grow into the commercial side of the market."
