Niel Marotta, CEO, INDIVA Limited (NDVA), joined Eric Loree, Team Manager, Listed Issuer Services, TSX Venture Exchange, to open the market. INDIVA is a Canadian supplier of medical grade cannabis. INDIVAs wholly owned subsidiary is a Licensed Producer under Canadas Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulation (ACMPR) with its first indoor cannabis production facility located in London, Ontario. INDIVA Limited commenced trading on TSX Venture Exchange Exchange on December 19, 2017. (CNW Group/TMX Group Limited)
There has never been a more exciting time to witness the birth of a multibillion dollar industry. As cannabis continues its expansion in Canada and permeates to other parts of the globe, big trading deals are becoming the norm.
Case-in-point, we have London Ontario’s own Indiva Limited. The company has just come off the heels of a successful financing round that brought in a cool $23 million, its expanding to house a 20,000 sf grow facility, and even started trading on the TSXV Dec. 19.
Then on Jan. 23, Indiva announced a “bought deal” offering with Canadian investment firm Eight Capital, to the tune of $13 million. The deal has Eight Capital purchasing 12,381,000 shares at a unit price of $1.05. As well, the investment firm has an option to purchase an additional 15 percent of units at the same offering price.
Because of the massive amounts of cash in deals like these that are being invested in the cannabis industry, companies such as Indiva have the resources to carve out valuable market niches and at the same time develop a unique corporate personality. Theirs, for example, is the “cool kid on the block” with legendary cannabis activist and master cultivator Pete Young.
The dichotomy of these two worlds coming together, “hippie” activist meets the corporate boardroom, may seem unconventional but proves to be extremely effective. By making Young the heart of the operation, Indiva connects itself with the turbulent history that cannabis has emerged from.
Many corporations would simply want to sweep the prohibition years under the rug and move on, but by embracing them, Indiva is poised to retain a deep-rooted consciousness which can equal quality of product over volume. This, in turn, develops a dedicated customer-base which can only prove positive for the London Ontario cultivator.
The rapid expansion of the cannabis industry also comes with a fabulous butterfly effect through the creation of needed jobs in a brand new sector and prominent Universities are offering up courses in how to get into the legal pot business. Indiva happens to reside in the same town as Western University, a well-respected institution, so perhaps it is only a matter of time before we see a cannabis course study appear in the school curriculum.
Last but certainly not least, we have the benefits of export and trade with other countries who have also ended the prohibition of marijuana. Canada is set to become the world’s first G7 country in history to legalize pot and this comes with global potential. Right now, the Great White North is the largest weed dealer on Earth and with the continued struggles playing out for cannabis in the United States, there is no end in sight to Canada’s dominance in this sector.
As the upcoming legalization of recreational cannabis in July gets ever-closer, investment and interest for Canada’s licensed producers will most certainly grow, and that growth will come alongside vast facilities filled with cannabis. What an exciting and unusual time we live in.