India’s Byju’s raises $150 million to expand globally
Byju’s, India’s most valuable edtech startup, has received new $150 million as it races to expand the reach of its learning app in the country and some international markets.
Byju’s, India’s most valuable edtech startup, has received new $150
million as it races to expand the reach of its learning app in the
country and some international markets.
The unnamed financing round was led by Qatar Investment Authority
(QIA), the sovereign wealth fund of the State of Qatar, and included
participation from Owl Ventures, a leading investor in education tech
startups. This is Owl Venture’s first investment in an Indian startup. A
person familiar with the matter said the new round valued Byju’s at
$5.75 billion, up from nearly $4 billion last year.
The startup, which has raised about $925 million to date, said it
would use the fresh capital to aggressively explore and expand in
international markets. The startup has previously said it plans to enter
the U.S. and UK, Australia, and New Zealand.
Byju’s helps all school-going children understand complex subjects
through its app where tutors use real life objects such as pizza and
cake. It also prepares students who are pursuing under graduate and
graduate level courses. Over the years, Byju’s has invested in tweaking
the English accents in its app and adapted to different education
systems. It has amassed more than 35 million registered users, about 2.4
million of which are paid customers.
“Investment from prominent sovereign and pension funds validates our
strong business fundamentals. Indian ed-tech firms attracting interest
from eminent investors demonstrates that India is pioneering the digital
learning space globally,†Byju Raveendran, founder and CEO of Byju’s,
said in a statement.
In India, Byju’s competes with a handful of players, including
Bangalore-based Unacademy, which is aimed at students who are preparing
for graduation-level courses. It raised $50 million last month.
India has the largest population in the world in the age bracket of 5
to 24 years. A report by KPMG and Google in 2017 estimated that the
country’s online education market would grow to $1.96 billion of sales
by 2021.
Byju’s generated around $205 million in revenue in the fiscal year
that ended in March. It plans to increase that figure to over $430
million this year. Raveendran has stated that the startup intends to go
public in the next two to three years.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 10:22 AM on Wednesday, July 10th, 2019
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————-
Is Blockchain the New Technology of Trust?
Blockchain continues to be a hot topic across the global start-up ecosystem.
And more entrepreneurs are placing huge bets on this technology. Y
Nidhi Singh Former Correspondent, Entrepreneur Asia-Pacific
Blockchain continues to be a hot topic across the global start-up
ecosystem. And more entrepreneurs are placing huge bets on this
technology. Yet the adoption remains sluggish despite the growing
investment by start-ups and potential investors. Main reasons for this
are fears over security and regulatory uncertainty. Will mass
implementation of blockchain technology remain a distant fantasy?
US-based
rating agency Moody’s Investor Service warns about the risks associated
with the technology. “New risks with blockchain technology in
securitizations may emerge as well as the reinforcement of some already
existing ones. Risks include counterparty concentration, IT and
operational risks, inappropriate blockchain governance and legal and
regulatory issues,†its report says. Another study by auditing firm
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) states that trust is one of the biggest
blockers to the blockchain’s adoption. Concern about trust among
respondents in the survey was highest in Singapore (37 per cent) after
Hong Kong (35 per cent).
Riding the Wave
Despite issues, companies, especially those in Asia Pacific, are not
shying away from the technology. Singapore-based LALA World Chief
ExecutiveOfficer and Founder Sankal Shangari believes blockchain
technology is not only bringing in a difference at the consumer level
but also posing a threat to the established system of governance, which
is obtrusive of financial freedom.
“A lot of myths are floating around the technology. It was dubbed as a
dubious technology, which may look promising, but was porous and could
be compromised. The reality is far from it, the technology is secure and
reliable than any of the other techniques available. But at the same
time, it is complex and in a nascent stage just like the web was in the
early 1990s and that is what helps the naysayers in spreading heresy
about it. The need is to understand its applicability to a particular
problem and the impact it has in solving it,†says Shangari.
LALA ID, a product of LALA World, is a comprehensive solution that
protects the personal information of users through the immutable
blockchain technology. Additionally, the start-up offers features like
crypto payments through its application. “The world is going gung-ho
about the possibilities of the said technology, which is gradually
growing as an infrastructural pillar of economic functionalities,
receiving the attention it deserves,†stresses Shangari.
Varied Uses
Mike Davie’s Quadrant Protocol leverages blockchain and smart
contracts to track the data’s journey along the data chain—from the
originating device to the data scientists that add value to the data—and
provide automatic compensation every time the data is purchased. This
helps create a more sustainable data economy. The start-up serves as the
blueprint that provides an organized system for the utilization of
decentralized data.
“Data quality is vital to the success of artificial intelligence.
Algorithms will believe whatever the data tells them to believe, so
using poor quality data can result in unintended consequences. Data
consumers, therefore, need to know where the data is coming from and be
able to trust the source. At the same time, the original providers of
the data are rarely compensated fairly. Data consumers like data
scientists or AI practitioners can be assured of the quality and
provenance of the data being purchased, while providers are compensated
fairly. All compensation is paid in Quadrant Protocol tokens, which are
recorded on the blockchain,†says Davie.
The company’s primary focus is on location data, which is an
essential tool in understanding the behaviour of potential customers.
The platform processes over 50 billion records a month, enabling
organisations in every industry to obtain data they can use to make
business and policy decisions. It is powered by a protocol that uses
blockchain technology to authenticate and map this data.
Insurtech company Hearti is serving insurers with their proprietary
artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain platform. Keith Lim, Chief
Executive Officer, Hearti, believes blockchain’s immutable nature can
foster trust in the insurance agreements between consumers, insurers and
partners.
“Smart contracts are executed based on events that trigger conditions
within the agreement (for eg. to pay out claims in the event of a
flight delay). When claims data is shared securely on the blockchain,
duplicate claims and fraud can be tracked and detected. Such uses of
blockchain create huge value for our company’s proposition and put it at
the forefront of the industry,†says Lim.
Founded in June 2015, Hearti Lab was born out of the realization that
there was a void in the corporate and personal insurance sector: the
lack of a low-cost, full-featured AI platform for insurance management.
To achieve its vision of developing an integrated insurance platform,
the start-up has developed two complementary platforms: BENEFIT.X and
SURETY.AI.
In Tech We Trust
For Joseph Lee, Chief Technology Officer, BridgeX Network, blockchain
is the “new technology of trustâ€. BridgeX Network is a financial
ecosystem framework, built on a proprietary technology core that bridges
the worlds of cryptocurrencies and fiat.
“We are using blockchain technologies to create a platform to allow
lenders and borrowers to transact directly in a secure environment. The
terms are specified in the blockchain and will be executed automatically
without bias. The costs saved from eliminating intermediaries are
passed to participants on the platform,†says Lee. “Perhaps due to the
newness of the technology, there may still be a trust deficit with the
public. But we strongly believe in it.â€
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 12:35 PM on Tuesday, July 9th, 2019
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—————
Consumer Entry into the Cannabis Market Spikes Post Legalization
Global marijuana market was valued at USD 42.20 Billion in 2016. By 2025, the market is expected to reach USD 466.81 Billion while registering a CAGR of 35.3% from 2018 to 2025.
NEW YORK, July 9, 2019 — Within the first quarter of legalization, 5.3 million or 18% of Canadian ages 15 years and older reported using cannabis, according to Statistics Canada. Following legalization, a large number of new users were willing to try cannabis solely because it was legalized and readily accessible. However, a year prior to legalization, only around 14% of Canadians reported using the plant. During the quarter, approximately 646,000 of the users reported trying cannabis for the first time, rising dramatically when compared to 327,000 users a year prior. Overall, the rise year-over-year is largely due to the abundance of male users between the ages of 45 to 64.
Generally, within that age group, adults tend to use cannabis for
medical purposes, largely due to medical conditions associated with
aging. For instance, cases such as chronic pain, Alzheimer’s, and
Parkinson’s are typically associated with the older generation. And
through extensive studies, researchers have discovered that cannabis can
be used to treat these and several other medical conditions.
Furthermore, based on gender, a more significant amount of males used
cannabis when compared to females and it was estimated that 22.3% of
Canadian males used cannabis compared to only 12.7% of females.
Now, while the large increase in users is largely attributable to the
older generation, cannabis is also much more prevalent among the
younger generation. Statistics Canada reported that 29.5% of Canadians
ages 15 to 24 years old used cannabis in the first quarter. Similarly,
approximately 28.7% of Canadians ages 25 to 34-year-olds also used
cannabis during the quarter.
While the adoption of cannabis grew among Canadians, it is important
to remember that the market is still maturing. And despite its
legalization, there are still many legal barriers imposed on the market,
restricting the growth of businesses. Nonetheless, the market is
projected to continually grow throughout the shortcoming years,
developing into a global industry leader. And according to data compiled
by Verified Market Research, the global marijuana market was valued at
USD 42.20 Billion in 2016. By 2025, the market is expected to reach USD
466.81 Billion while registering a CAGR of 35.3% from 2018 to 2025.
Tags: Cannabis, CBD, CSE, Hemp, Marijuana, stocks, tsx, tsx-v, weed Posted in North Bud Farms Inc | Comments Off on North Bud Farms Inc. $NBUD.ca – Consumer Entry into the #Cannabis Market Spikes Post Legalization $WEED.ca $CGC $ACB $APH $CRON.ca $HEXO.ca $TRST.ca $OGI.ca
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 12:00 PM on Tuesday, July 9th, 2019
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————-
Major Improvements Are Coming To Blockchain In 2020
Everyone in the enterprise world already has a blockchain strategy.
If they don’t have one now, they risk the chance of staying behind or simply missing an opportunity.
Everyone in the enterprise world already has a blockchain strategy.
If they don’t have one now, they risk the chance of staying behind or
simply missing an opportunity. For the last few years, the benefits and
correlated risks of fully adopting blockchain technology have been
estimated, analyzed, and discussed at large. One thing is clear –
despite the potential for a big upside, embracing a newly developed
technology presents numerous risks that shouldn’t be underestimated.
Blindly introducing new technology stack into an already working
production environment means exposing that environment to potentially
dangerous security breaches, hacks and data loss.
So, where we are now? Most blockchain protocols claim some level or
maturity … but are they, in fact, sufficiently mature? Are they ready
for full on-premise deployment in large-scale enterprises? Will CIOs and
other business executives enjoy the same comfort as that of the tooling
they already have? Let’s review what it takes to move a blockchain
protocol from open source to enterprise.
It’s no surprise that the largest cloud providers are also the largest drivers of the Blockchain as a Service (BaaS) model. Let’s call them Tier 1 BaaS
providers. They have already established themselves as market leaders
with large customer bases. Offering various cloud services and expanding
to blockchain seemed to be a logical and evolutional step.
Microsoft Azure
Microsoft is one of the largest players in the BaaS space. So far, it
has focused primarily on Ethereum but also offers services for running
R3’s Corda and Hyperledger Fabric networks. It has dedicated many
resources to building the Azure Blockchain Workbench and Azure Blockchain Service. Microsoft’s team is also a key founder and an active participant in the Ethereum Enterprise Alliance
(EEA) and Token Taxonomy Initiative (TTI). In addition, it has recently
joined the Hyperledger family, for which it will contribute to the code
and promise be an active member.
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
AWS and Microsoft Azure have almost equally split control of the
managed blockchain space, though your niche will determine which of
these services you use. If you are into financial services, you would
probably use Azure, but if you are into healthcare, insurance, or other
verticals, your choice is probably AWS. Recently, AWS has made publicly
available its Managed Blockchain
offering. It supports only Hyperledger Fabric for now but there are
plans to integrate Ethereum too. AWS has also invested in the
development of Amazon Quantum Ledger Database (QLDB), which is an append-only database with a cryptographically verifiable transaction log.
IBM Cloud
IBM is one of the primary maintainers of Hyperledger Fabric’s source
code and, thus, is heavily involved in providing cloud services and
product updates for it. Lately, IBM has opened its IBM Blockchain 2.0 to
be multi-cloud, which means you can run your Fabric network across
various cloud providers.
Oracle Blockchain
The Oracle blockchain platform
has based its solution only on Hyperledger Fabric, which is not ideal
but offers some neat services like enhance node provisioning, blockchain
explorer and improved security.
VMWare
VMWare clearly saw the issues that affect the current blockchain infrastructure. It is working to resolve these issues with Concord, a highly scalable and energy-efficient distributed trust infrastructure for consensus and smart contract execution.
VMWare Blockchain
VMWare
Apart from the major cloud providers, in 2018 we saw the birth of
Blockchain as a Service companies that base their products on top of
existing cloud computing platforms; let’s call them Tier 2 BaaS.
They are usually smaller, more agile startups that can push new
offerings almost every month. This makes them very good choices for a
faster go-to-market strategy. Their solutions are wide and colorful, and
they usually cover different blockchain protocols. They remain unable
to address most enterprise needs yet, but they will stay on the right
track and be an attractive option as long as the establishment doesn’t
disrupt them. The names that stand out in this category are Kaleido and Blockdaemon.
What are the enterprise needs from a blockchain perspective? Where do
we want to see improvements so that we can fully use the benefits of
decentralized ledger technology? Let’s separate the main requirements
into four categories: platform; interfaces; infrastructure and network;
and security and analytics.
Platform
Operational resilience – ability to maintain uptime and connectivity
even when some components fail, including several layers of protection
and failover strategy against data loss and corruption.
Pluggable consensus – ability to switch the consensus mechanism
depending on the requirements without rebuilding the whole network.
Broader off-chain data storage capabilities – support for encrypted data storage.
Adaptors to allow for SQL-based ledger queries, which will make the
broader developer community more comfortable working with blockchain.
Interfaces
Enterprise integrations – pre-built modules and onramps for existing enterprise systems.
Robust Oracles – ability to get real-time external data into smart contracts.Watch out for Chainlink.
Integration with GraphQL, a
Facebook-developed language that provides a powerful API to get only the
dataset you need in a single request, seamlessly combining data
sources.
Identity federation – ability to authenticate with existing identity
providers, which will facilitate faster adoption on the consortium
level.
Built-in privacy and permissioning features – for transactions, accounts, wallets, smart contracts and network participants.
Infrastructure and Network
Ability to maintain peak performance at the network level – managing
and operating hundreds of thousands of nodes while maintaining low
latency and facilitating hundreds of thousands of transactions with
guaranteed finality.
Ability to scale and reduce network size on demand – auto-scale a network by adding/removing more validators or orderers.
DevOps tools to make integration with existing IT systems easier and to make CI/CD build processes faster and seamless.
Support for cross-network interoperability and cross-blockchain atomic swaps.
Governance framework with an established and pre-determined
transparent structure, rules of participation, a funding model, and
financial incentives.
Enhanced Security and Analytics
Detailed privacy controls over data, smart contract execution, and transaction visibility.
Improved network monitoring with enhanced contextual meaning of the transactions, ability to troubleshoot on-chain events.
SLA monitoring with backward compatibility of upgrades.
Warehousing transaction history data, combining them with other
off-chain data sources and making them available for BI reporting tools
and other interactive dashboards.
As discussed, the blockchain technology stack has a long way to go
before it will be mature enough for mainstream enterprise adoption. This
is a completely normal process, as software developers and business
leaders transition their mindsets from the currently siloed and
centralized infrastructure to the distributed ledger networks. Luckily,
we are at the forefront of this technological revolution and have the
chance to contribute to what, one day, will be the norm.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 4:00 PM on Monday, July 8th, 2019
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This NFL giant just got into esports, and here’s what the tipping point was
On Tuesday, Activision Blizzard revealed that the Wilf family’s WISE Ventures investment fund, founded by Vikings owners Mark and Zygi Wilf, will become part of its upcoming Call of Duty league by fielding a Minnesota-based team.
It’s just the first step in getting in on the “next evolution of entertainment.â€
That’s how Jonathan Wilf describes his family’s, and subsequently the Minnesota Vikings’, first esports play. On Tuesday, Activision Blizzard
revealed that the Wilf family’s WISE Ventures investment fund, founded
by Vikings owners Mark and Zygi Wilf, will become part of its upcoming
Call of Duty league by fielding a Minnesota-based team.
And while the Vikings owners have had their eye on the esports
industry for awhile, it was Activision Blizzard’s approach to building
the space that led them to finally get in on the hype. Just like their
Overwatch League, the gaming giant intends to run another city-based
franchise with Call of Duty as inspired by traditional sports leagues.
“Having watched closely as the ecosystem evolved and matured with the
first few years of franchised leagues, we are confident in the
long-term potential of what Activision Blizzard is building and in the
esports industry as a whole,†Wilf told CNBC.
This makes the Vikings the latest traditional sports entity to charge
into the esports industry, which research firm Newzoo projects will
generate over one billion dollars in revenue this year. That’s a
year-on-year growth of 27% with the North American market accounting for
over a third of that $1.1 billion revenue.
But the Vikings are also entering a field where a good number of
traditional sports giants have already snapped up slots in various
leagues or started their own esports branches. Take-Two’s
NBA 2K League, for example, features 21 teams that are each owned by
their respective city franchises. Activision Blizzard’s Overwatch
League, which features city-based franchise teams, also boasts a few
traditional sports entities including the owners of the New England
Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams.
These same traditional sports entities have also been wheeling and
dealing in the space. In 2017, the Houston Rockets paid $13 million for a
slot in Riot Games’ League of Legends North American league. This past
April, the Rockets sold their League of Legends team, known as Clutch
Gaming, to Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, the parent company
of the Philadelphia 76ers, the New Jersey Devils and esports team
Dignitas, for a reported $20 million.
But despite their later entry into esports, Wilf emphasizes that the
Vikings owners were waiting for what they perceived as a strong
investment that would give them a solid foothold in the space.
“For us, investing in esports was never about being first, it was
about finding the right opportunity at the right time,†said Wilf. “The
proven staying power of Call of Duty as a franchise certainly factored
into our thinking.â€
Wilf also revealed that WISE Ventures is looking to expand into other
games, and that they are exploring the possibility of building an
esports-dedicated arena in Eagan, Minnesota on the Vikings Lakes campus.
The Call of Duty league is set to launch in 2020, and its addition of
the Wilf family brings the total number of announced teams to seven.
Back in March, ESPN reported that franchise spots for the new esports
league were being sold at $25 million per slot, though Activision
Blizzard has never confirmed that number.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 1:36 PM on Monday, July 8th, 2019
Announced that it has acquired ownership and control of an aggregate of 1,853,059 common shares of GoldSpot Discoveries Corp
Immediately following the transactions noted above, the Acquirer held an aggregate of 12,736,823 common shares of the Company or approximately 13.5% of all issued and outstanding common shares of the Company as at July 5, 2019. Â
TORONTO, July 08, 2019 — ThreeD Capital Inc. (“ThreeD†or “the Acquirerâ€) (CSE:IDK), a Canadian-based venture capital firm focused on investments in promising, early stage companies and ICOs with disruptive capabilities, is pleased to announce that it has acquired ownership and control of an aggregate of 1,853,059 common shares (the “Subject Sharesâ€) of GoldSpot Discoveries Corp. (the “Companyâ€), through a series of purchases through the TSX Venture Exchange ending on July 5, 2019. The Subject Shares represented approximately 2.0% of all issued and outstanding common shares of the Company as of July 5, 2019. Â
Immediately before the transaction described above, the Acquirer held
an aggregate of 10,883,764 common shares of the Company, representing
approximately 11.5% of the issued and outstanding common shares of the
Company.
Immediately following the transactions noted above, the Acquirer held
an aggregate of 12,736,823 common shares of the Company or
approximately 13.5% of all issued and outstanding common shares of the
Company as at July 5, 2019.
The holdings of securities of the Company by ThreeD are managed for
investment purposes, and ThreeD could increase or decrease its
investments in the Company at any time, or continue to maintain its
current investment position, depending on market conditions or any other
relevant factor.
The trade was effected in reliance upon the exemption contained in
Section 2.3 of National Instrument 45-106 on the basis that ThreeD is an
“accredited investor†as defined herein. A copy of the applicable
securities report filed in connection with the matters set forth above
may be obtained by contacting the Company at 69 Yonge St., Suite 1010,
Toronto, ON, M5E 1K3, Attention: Denis Laviolette, President and CEO
(tel: 641-992-9837).
About ThreeD Capital Inc.
ThreeD is a publicly-traded Canadian-based venture capital firm
focused on opportunistic investments in companies in the Junior
Resources, Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain sectors. ThreeD seeks
to invest in early stage, promising companies and ICOs where it may be
the lead investor and can additionally provide investees with advisory
services, mentoring and access to the Company’s ecosystem.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 11:27 AM on Monday, July 8th, 2019
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BOG:CSE —————————————
Canada’s cannabis supply issues are real, despite feds’ denial, says business professor
A Canadian business professor says Bill Blair, Minister of Border Security and Organized Crime Reduction, was simply wrong when he said Canada’s cannabis supply shortage was “non-existent.â€
A Canadian business professor says Bill Blair, Minister of Border Security and Organized Crime Reduction, was simply wrong when he said Canada’s cannabis supply shortage was “non-existent.â€
On Wednesday, Rod Phillips, Ontario’s minister of finance, and Doug
Downey, Ontario’s attorney general, criticized a federal cannabis supply
shortage when announcing Ontario will be licensing 50 new cannabis retail locations across Ontario.
Blair shot back, saying Ontario was “making excuses†and using a
“non-existent supply shortage,†for their slow success in subverting the
illegal cannabis market in the province.
Blair pointed to Health Canada data that showed in April alone, Canada’s overall cannabis inventory was 24 times more than total sales that month.
But Michael Armstrong, a professor at the Goodman School of Business
at Brock University, said the federal government is using seemingly
impressive data to skirt around the fact that there are still
significant supply issues in Canada.
“They are wildly incorrect to say there’s no cannabis shortage and
that there’s enough legal cannabis for those who want it,†Armstrong
said in an email.
Canada’s cannabis supply
Armstrong says the majority of Canada’s cannabis inventory, more than
85 per cent of it, is unfinished — that means raw cannabis product that
has not been processed, packaged and made ready to sell.
Health Canada data shows that the majority of Canada’s cannabis supply is not ready to sell.
Health Canada
Some of that inventory may also never be ready to sell.
“Some of it, unfortunately, may not be sellable, whether that’s
contamination or microbial risk or pesticides or anything of that
nature,†said John Fowler, president of Supreme Cannabis and vice-chair of the Cannabis Council of Canada,
a cannabis business association. “The law does not allow licensed
producers to sell that product but it also doesn’t require them to
immediately destroy it.â€
Armstrong also criticized Blair and Health Canada for equating sales of legal cannabis with national demand.
“Sales isn’t the relevant measure of demand here, because legal sales
satisfy just a fraction of total consumption; most is met by black
markets,†Armstrong says.
Legal marijuana retailers are competing with illegal dealers,
Armstrong says, so to use legal sales as a benchmark for demand in
Canada is wrong.
“No one really knows how big the black market is and how much total consumption there is,†Armstrong said.
Nevertheless, he has estimated, using Health Canada data from a
report they commissioned on estimated cannabis use in the fall, overall
demand of dried cannabis, including illegal and medical sales, would
land somewhere around 56,000 kilograms a month.
Health Canada has been tracking cannabis sales since legalization on
their website. Numbers for April show dried cannabis sales reached just
below 9,000 kilograms, leaving just over 13,000 kilograms inventory
available to sell.
WATCH: Industry experts: Education on cannabis edibles needed
If Armstrong’s numbers are correct, this would leave a 43,000 kilogram gap that may have been filled by illegal sales.
“They’re looking at sales as their consumption. Businesses often do
that — they look at ‘are we keeping up with sales,’ but they’re doing
that when they have a healthy industry where sales is almost equal to
demand,†Armstrong said.
Blair’s team said Health Canada is holding up their end of the bargain when it comes to licensing producers.
As of March 31, 2019, Health Canada says federally licensed
cultivators are reporting nearly 700,000 square metres of land under
active cultivation, which can produce 1 million kilograms of cannabis
per year.
“This is roughly equivalent to estimates of the total quantity of
cannabis (legal and illegal) consumed in Canada, made by independent
market analysts, the Parliamentary Budget Officer and federal government
departments,†said Marie-Emmanuelle Cadieux, senior communications
advisor for Blair.
But Armstrong maintains that the numbers show the industry is continuing to have trouble meeting demand.
Getting cannabis on the shelves
In the past, Health Canada has acknowledged that Canada’s supply
issues don’t lie with the creation of the product, but rather with the
production process itself.
What exactly is wrong with production is a bit of a mystery,
Armstrong said. Whether it’s that producers are not growing high enough
volumes of quality cannabis that can turn into dry cannabis, or they
don’t have production facilities, or there are still issues with
shipping, Armstrong said he can only speculate.
“Big inventories are not translating into shipments going out the door,†Armstrong said.
Armstrong said that issues with federally mandated labelling could
have also slowed things down. He also guessed that certain producers
focused on getting greenhouses ready for marketing purpose rather than
setting up a production line that could handle orders coming in from
huge markets like the Ontario Cannabis Store.
John Fowler, is chalking production issues up to growing pains of a new market.
“I think, overall, things have been working pretty well,†said
Fowler. “Perhaps there was a lack of understanding of the complexity,
not just regulatory complexity of license approvals, but just building
the businesses and the supply chains to go from a market that literally
didn’t exist on October 17th.â€
Fowler said at this point, every part of the industry is being
stretched. It’s taking time to get licenses for smaller growers, as well
as licenses to expand growing spaces, and packaging and equipment
manufacturers are also being weighed down by a huge surge in demand.
“It’s one of those things it’s not one issue that’s holding the industry back from meeting its growth objectives.â€
When it comes to whether it’s a smart strategy to limit the amount of
cannabis stores in Ontario because of a production issue, Armstrong
says Ontario may be shooting themselves in the foot, considering
provinces like Alberta and British Columbia will have booming markets
with retailers ready to receive the inventory when it’s ready to sell.
But he says, they aren’t wrong in their reasoning for doing so.
“When they say that there’s not enough supply and there’s massive shortages, absolutely, that is correct.â€
In the end, Fowler doesn’t believe these delays, whether to overall
supply or to Ontario’s cannabis stores, will mean much to an industry
that’s meant to last.
“I think cannabis stores hopefully are going to be here for the next
100 years in this province. So a little bit of a six-month delay in
launch to be better for the next ninety-nine-and-a-half years. You know,
I don’t think it is a bad decision.â€
The Minister of Finance did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 10:24 AM on Monday, July 8th, 2019
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Automakers to trading houses from North America to Europe are
becoming more concerned about future supply shortages of key materials
needed for electric vehicle batteries as spending on new production
soars, according to the developer of a $1.5 billion project in
Australia.
More than a dozen parties have now expressed interest in taking up as much as a 50% stake in Clean TeQ Holdings Ltd.’s
Sunrise nickel-cobalt-scandium project, Chief Executive Officer Sam
Riggall said Monday in an interview. They include companies in regions
that until recently had shown less impetus to tie up raw material
supplies.
“It’s dawning on North America and Europe that there’s a raw
materials issue that needs to be addressed here,†Riggall said by phone.
“For the previous two years, I’ve been wearing out a lot of shoe
leather and banging on a lot of doors trying to get interest in Europe
and North America with very little success. In the last six months
things have changed quite dramatically.â€
Volkswagen AG in May picked Sweden’s Northvolt AB as a partner to start production
of battery cells for electric cars, while the German and French
governments have pledged funding and political support for efforts to
spur a European battery manufacturing industry. In the U.S., the number
of battery electric models available to consumers is forecast to double
by the end of 2021, according to BloombergNEF.
Melbourne-based Clean TeQ, which said last month
it had appointed Macquarie Group Ltd. to run a process to identify a
partner, is seeking final offers for a stake in the Sunrise project by
the end of September, and will aim to complete any sale by the end of
the year, according to Riggall.
China’s grip on lithium-ion battery cell manufacturing is forecast to
loosen through 2025, as new capacity is added close to demand centers
in the U.S. and Europe, BNEF said in a May report.
Battery Shift
New plants will boost lithium-ion battery cell manufacturing in Europe
Source: BloombergNEF
The scale of planned investments in electric lineups means both
automakers and related industries in Europe and North America are
focusing on how to secure future supplies of battery-grade nickel — and
also on ensuring there’s sufficient cobalt after the market tightens
from about 2021 to 2022, Riggall said. “Their minds are being forced to
turn to raw materials,†he said. “They are seeing significant risks on
that side of the business.â€
There’s a looming shortage of nickel sulfate, the material used for
battery products, with demand forecast to outstrip planned new capacity,
BNEF said in a July 2 report. Cobalt demand may also top global supply
from about 2025, according to the note.
Cobalt prices have tumbled since early 2018 on new supply from
incumbent producers in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and as some
battery makers seek to reduce the amount of the metal in their packs.
Nickel has declined about 11% on the London Metal Exchange in the past
year.
Clean TeQ is targeting commerical production at the Sunrise project,
with a forecast mine life of more than 40 years, from 2022, Riggall
said.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 10:07 AM on Monday, July 8th, 2019
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New ECB Boss is “Extremely†Pro-Crypto; What Could This Mean for Bitcoin?
Christine Lagarde, who is replacing Mario Draghi as the next head of the ECB on November 1st of this year, has long shown interest in Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, and has even advocated for state-backed digital currencies that could increase the efficiency of those state’s economies.
Investors and proponents of Bitcoin and the aggregated crypto markets
have long believed that the ultimate pinnacle of adoption would be
found when governments and central banks began growing friendly towards
the nascent technologies.
Now, the nominee who is replacing the outgoing European Central Bank
(ECB) head is pro-crypto herself and has shown tremendous interest in
how the nascent tech can help shape the future’s global economy.
ECB Boss is Pro-Crypto, Will This Help Spark Adoption?
Christine Lagarde, who is replacing Mario Draghi as the next head of
the ECB on November 1st of this year, has long shown interest in Bitcoin
and cryptocurrencies, and has even advocated for state-backed digital
currencies that could increase the efficiency of those state’s
economies.
This past April, Lagarde spoke to CNBC and bullishly noted that crypto and blockchain is currently “shaking the system.â€
“I think the role of the disruptors and anything that is using
distributed ledger technology, whether you call it crypto, assets,
currencies, or whatever … that is clearly shaking the system,†she
noted, tempering this sentiment by adding that “We don’t want to shake
the system so much that we would lose the stability that is needed.â€
Although there is no way to deny that Bitcoin and crypto
are shaking up the current system – or at the very least have the
potential to do so – many critics will write off their utility, so
Lagarde’s openness to the technology is a powerful endorsement.
Will Lagarde Embrace Bitcoin, Or Focus on More Centralized Options?
Although the incoming ECB boss is certainly more open to crypto than
previous ones, it is important to note that her interest seems to be
more in centralized crypto options than in decentralized ones, like
Bitcoin.
Mati Greenspan, the senior market analyst at eToro, explained in an
email that her interest currently seems to be in JPM Coin and XRP.
“Not bitcoin, of course, but she has advocated already for
state-backed cryptocurrencies as well as settlement tokens like XRP and
JPM coin. In this video, we can see her taking notes while listening to Ripple’s CEO Brad Garlinghouse,†Greenspan explained.
Furthermore, Greenspan also explained that crypto certainly won’t be
her main focus as the head of the ECB, as her biggest challenge will be
to “bring unity and prosperity to the various EU States and QE will
probably take precedence over the digital landscape.â€
Regardless of whether or not crypto, Bitcoin, or blockchain are one
of her main focuses, her interest and openness to the technology is
certainly positive for the industry as a whole and may help incubate further adoption.
