Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 2:49 PM on Tuesday, July 2nd, 2019
WHY NORTHBUD FARMS?
Canadian regulatory door for CIP (Cannabinoid Infused Products) is opening this year As shown in other legal jurisdictions (Colorado, Washington, Nevada, California)
Infused products sector has become the highest margin segment of the industry
Positioned to be a raw input producer for this space
Currently working with multiple food, beverage and science companies to provide safe standardized cannabinoid infused raw inputs for large scale GMP manufacturing of products
In 2018, Eureka recognized revenue of approximately CAD$11.5 million*
net profit margin of 16%* from its California and Colorado operations
Anticipates further growth in revenue due to anticipated changes to retail regulation of adult cannabis use in California.
Justin Braune, CEO of Eureka Vapor, joins Scott to share the
company’s background and why Eureka was an ideal match for North Bud.
Watch until the end to hear Justin’s predictions on Federal
de-regulation in the US.
FULL DISCLOSURE: NORTHBUD is an advertising client of AGORA Internet Relations Corp.
Govt must help unleash the massive potential of EdTech in India
A fraught public education system in India presents a variety of
opportunities for EdTech market players to enter with the promise of
customisation and efficiency.
Indian Education Technology (EdTech) solutions are being recognised globally
India’s very own EdTech unicorn Byju’s has spent $120m on Osmo — a US play-based learning start-up.
As the global education and training market is expected to be at $10 trillion by 2030, technology will change the way education systems are perceived, accessed, and utilized.
Aditi Bhutoria
Indian Education Technology (EdTech) solutions are being recognised
globally, with four of the nation’s start-ups being selected as a part
of 30 global finalists for the ‘Next Billion EdTech Prize 2019’ awarded
by UK-based Varkey Foundation. India’s very own EdTech unicorn Byju’s
has spent $120m on Osmo — a US play-based learning start-up. As the
global education and training market is expected to be at $10 trillion
by 2030, technology will change the way education systems are perceived,
accessed, and utilised.
With the largest young demography in the world that is getting
increasingly mobile-friendly and technologically connected, the Indian
EdTech market has a huge opportunity at hand. Indian start-ups can be at
the centre of this technological change, driving innovation to help a
young nation reach its demographic potential.
A fraught public education system in India presents a variety of
opportunities for market players to enter with the promise of
customisation and efficiency. Distortions in the schooling systems, such
as weak teacher incentives or outdated pedagogies, undermine student
learning and much of the impact of increasing existing educational
spending.
Here, technology-assisted innovations designed to address these
distortions are making quality teaching accessible for all, raising
learning levels, and increasing test scores, at a low cost. Moreover,
the present EdTech start-ups are striving to make ‘learning fun’ despite
different distractions surrounding students.
The disruptive innovation in this space is to encourage voluntary
self-learning rather than crammed or forced learning that focuses on
rote memorisation. Personalised e-learning solutions including
step-by-step learning methods, animated graphics, or blended teaching
approaches are making hard concepts easier to understand.
Favourable investment regulations support capital flows, with 100 per
cent foreign direct investment permissible in the Indian education
sector, protecting it from the plausible sickness of over-governance.
The EdTech market, thus, functions as an economic system where supply
and demand regulate its dealings. Such a market is characterised by
freedom of choice and free enterprise. Private entrepreneurs are free to
sell teaching-learning goods and services to a target groups of their
choice. Learners (or consumers) are free to buy those goods and services
that best satisfy their wants and needs. However, what drives this
space is competition. Competition ensures greater quality and lower
prices for education courses or products for the learners.
In such a market, China has emerged as a leader with an establishment
of 97 new unicorn companies in 2018 alone. The reasons could be that
Chinese parents are apprised about the importance of education, the
country has a massive population, and there is strong government
support. While India is similar to China in terms of having benefits of
demography and scale, the market conditions and government support
levels in our country are different.
On the supply side, the most nagging barrier to growth in the Indian
EdTech market is that undertaking new ventures or sustaining existing
ones remains costly. There are fixed costs to entry and the returns to
education can be small in the short-run, with benefits only reaped in
the medium- and long-run. For instance, the Indian EdTech industry has
about 3,500 companies operating at present with only around 274 backed
by investors. Of these, only 52 ventures have received cumulated funding
of greater than $1 million. This presents a starkly different business
landscape compared to our Chinese neighbours.
Education has positive externalities, which means that gains from the
education of a child or adult accrues not only to them but also to
other members of their family, society, and nation. Thus, a conducive
policy can focus not just on providing financial impetus to EdTech
ventures but also improving the productivity of educational investment,
through non-pecuniary support such as entrepreneurial training, strong
mentoring, or recognition.
Further, the multi-faceted nature of the Indian EdTech market has to
be studied in detail to differentiate between different types of
products, value created, and impacts of the same. For instance, EdTech
is not just e-learning; e-learning is only a small part of a very
diverse sector.
Overall, the B2B (business-to-business) EdTech market in India is
fragmented with buyers like government, high-budget and
affordable-private schools all functioning under varied regulations.
If the government can leverage on its public-school ecosystem to be
more open towards smart solutions and better integrate
technologically-driven learning opportunities for students, there can be
a shift in how EdTech is perceived by the society and would drastically
improve the existing market opportunities.
Finally, research and evaluation should be planned and used to make
evidence-based decisions on: which EdTech solutions work and which
don’t? As a way ahead, initiatives such as StartUp India can provide
increased emphasis on EdTech start-ups that are solving the most
challenging education problems in a cost-effective manner. Further,
integration of AI with education has already been recognised in the
current government’s vision; but AI solutions in education need to be
constructively expanded and rigorously tested.
Overall, with the stage being set through diverse offerings of
innovative products by the Indian EdTech industry, the government must
take the initiative to sustain these innovations so as to unleash its
massive social and economic potential.
Aditi Bhutoria is assistant professor, Public Policy and
Management Group, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta. Views are
personal.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 10:46 AM on Tuesday, July 2nd, 2019
SPONSOR: ThreeD Capital Inc. (IDK:CSE) Led by
legendary financier, Sheldon Inwentash, ThreeD is a Canadian-based
venture capital firm that only invests in best of breed small-cap
companies which are both defensible and mass scalable. More than just
lip service, Inwentash has financed many of Canada’s biggest small-cap
exits. Click Here For More Information.
Is Google Chasing The 90% Potential Of Blockchain That Facebook Left Out?
Regardless of your viewpoint on Facebook’s Libra program, it’s a significant stepping stone for the adoption of cryptocurrency
Facebook has it is repertoire a bank of over two billion users who will soon be exposed to the world of tokens and cryptocurrency
Regardless of your viewpoint on Facebook’s Libra program,
it’s a significant stepping stone for the adoption of cryptocurrency.
Facebook has it is repertoire a bank of over two billion users who will
soon be exposed to the world of tokens and cryptocurrency.
However, outside of tokenomics, there is a lot more power in the blockchain, especially in regards to smart contracts. Thus, a recent partnership
between Google and Chainlink, a company that provides on ramps and off
ramps for information necessary to run smart contracts, may hint at
Google wanting a bigger slice of the pie.
So far in the blockchain and cryptocurrency space, it has been tokens
that have dominated in terms of usefulness. Bitcoin, as a prime
example, is a blockchain token that has shown the most application, and
garnered the most excitement from individuals.
This tokenized economy opens massive doors in terms of the transfer
of value without the need for intermediaries, or the handbrake that
banking regulations bring in, but it is only one piece of the pie.
In this nascent space, there are tokens, and then there is the
blockchain proper with its smart contract applications offering huge
potential. For enterprises and business, smart contracts offer far more
than tokens can – but tokens are far more attractive for individuals.
Facebook, as a company serving individuals, is looking at
taking tokens forward, but Google may well be looking to the
enterprises. By honing in on smarter smart contracts, Google could well
be tapping into the other 90 percent of blockchain’s potential.
Looking to make smart contracts smarter
Google’s decision to partner with Chainlink allows for Ethereum app
builders using Google software to be able to integrate data from sources
outside the blockchain.
Chainlink offers a service called an oracle
to integrate additional data into on-chain smart contracts. This adds
another layer to the capabilities of these contracts, allowing processes
to be implemented directly on the blockchain.
Essentially, the smart contracts are being made a lot smarter as the
data used to execute can be integrated from more than just within the
blockchain. It is a small step for Google, but it could be hinting at
their general heading in the blockchain space.
Chainlink CEO, Sergey Nazarov, spoke to Forbes about the value of smart contracts in the blockchain space.
“Our space is stuck in two dimensions. One is that we are really
focused on tokens because tokens are the only real functionality
blockchains have, to date,” Nazarov said.
“It is very useful functionality, and from the amount of attention
that one simple piece of functionality has gotten, it says a lot of
really positive things about what other contracts can be viewed as.”
“Tokens are the email of our space, and I think all the other
applications require a certain amount of infrastructure. The idea is
that to build useful applications we need to be able to connect them to
what they need to consume, and what they need to generate.”
“So, for the people at Google, they are looking at the two
directions. One direction is heavy tokens, which is fine, and then the
other direction asks: ‘what else can blockchains do?’ and my sincere
opinion is that tokens are maybe 10 percent of what this stuff can do.”
“I think the difference between Facebook and Google is that Facebook
may have a real interest in payment and crypto stuff, but Google may
have an interest in building these highly useful contracts by building
useful infrastructure to make that possible.”
Google catching up
Google, as one of the world’s leading technology companies, has been
viewed as somewhat behind the eightball in the blockchain space. In
comparison to IBM, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon, and the likes, Google is
playing catch up.
However, Nazarov confirms that there is a growing interest from the internet giant.
“There are people in Google that are very interested in blockchain,”
he added. “The thing with Google is that it is very focused, and they
have their systems and processes that lead them to success in a focused
way. There are people in Google, and official positions, that I know of
that are related to blockchains – and I have seen an increase in that
since a year ago.”
With Google taking a more active role in the blockchain space, their
focus looks to be enterprise-based, and on what blockchain can do
besides offering tokens.
Nazarov goes on to explain that in the world of contracts, only 10 to
20 percent make up an exchange of value. It means that there is a
gaping hole of blockchain potential that needs to be realized.
“Think about how this looks from an enterprise point of view,”
Nazarov said. “Realistically, all the contracts – financial contracts –
in the world, 10 -20 percent is about ownership and transfer. That
covers tokens, which is all very useful in itself, but it also shows
that a reliable method of doing that is extremely valuable.
“Then the question becomes – ‘if all we can do today is ownership’ –
what is the other 80 percent in contracts? And the other 80 percent is
what we are talking about. What we work on is trying to get that other
80 percent to function, and for that, we need to work on more than
application, we need to build an environment for the application to
exist in.”
An efficient blockchain environment
Nazarov uses an example of Uber to express how building this
application environment can make things better for enterprises, and
again hints at why Google is interested in partnering with Chainlink.
In Uber, there is a mapping application which needed to be integrated
for the driver; there is the need for messaging between drivers and
customers; there is a payment application for both customers and to pay
drivers. All of these applications operate within the Uber app, but they
were all not created by Uber.
In other words, the Uber environment houses many applications. And,
in the blockchain space, with smart contracts that have the power to
reach data from sources outside the blockchain, an enterprise
environment is far more natural to build, and a lot more efficient.
A complex heading
Of course, there is no set roadmap from Google indicating that they
are looking to be the leaders in functional, enterprise smart contract
blockchain. However, their heading does seem to be more focused on the
other 90 percent of blockchain potential.
Chainlink is trying to make smart contracts smarter, and more useable
in common sense. If Google is looking to partner with them for their
work, they must have a desire to be a part of that potential.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 8:32 AM on Tuesday, July 2nd, 2019
Announced that the Company’s manufacturing and distribution facility for its Viva Buds cannabis delivery service is expected to be completed and fully functional by August 2019.
Announced in April that it had acquired a 20% ownership interest in Natural Plant Extract of California to establish a joint venture to create Viva Buds Inc., a unique cannabis delivery service based in Los Angeles, California.
ESCONDIDO, Calif., July 02, 2019 –MARIJUANA COMPANY OF AMERICA INC. (“MCOA†or the “Companyâ€) (OTCQB: MCOA), an innovative hemp and cannabis corporation, today announced that the Company’s manufacturing and distribution facility for its Viva Buds cannabis delivery service is expected to be completed and fully functional by August 2019.
MCOA announced in April that it had acquired a 20% ownership interest
in Natural Plant Extract of California (“NPEâ€) to establish a joint
venture to create Viva Buds Inc., a unique cannabis delivery service
based in Los Angeles, California.
“We are making tremendous progress through our partnership with NPE
and the rollout of our licensed cannabis manufacturing facility,†said
Mr. Edward Manolos, Board Member of MCOA. “Our commitment to compliance
will put Viva Buds ahead of the competition in California at a time when
many license holders are still awaiting permits. Such permits are
difficult to attain for manufacturers currently using volatile
extraction methodologies, due to stringent regulations on California’s Manufactured Cannabis Safety.â€
“Our joint venture partnership with NPE will allow us to become more
competitive within the bourgeoning cannabis industry in Southern
California,†said Mr. Don Steinberg, CEO of MCOA. “Once completed and
launched, Viva Buds will offer consumers a line of high-quality products
at low prices along with the ability to build their own personal
cannabis business.â€
The Lynwood, California manufacturing facility is licensed for the
volatile manufacturing, distribution and retail delivery of cannabis
products. NPE’s volatile manufacturing process is an efficient and
cost-effective extraction process that will help distinguish NPE from
others that use extraction.
About Marijuana Company of America, Inc. MCOA is a
corporation that participates in: (1) product research and development
of legal hemp-based consumer products under the brand name “hempSMART™â€,
that targets general health and well-being; (2) an affiliate marketing
program to promote and sell its legal hemp-based consumer products
containing CBD; (3) leasing of real property to separate business
entities engaged in the growth and sale of cannabis in those states and
jurisdictions where cannabis has been legalized and properly regulated
for medicinal and recreational use; and, (4) the expansion of its
business into ancillary areas of the legalized cannabis and hemp
industry, as the legalized markets and opportunities in this segment
mature and develop.
About Natural Plant Extracts of California NPE
is a fully licensed cannabis manufacturing, distribution and non-store
front retail delivery. The Company has secured its licenses with the
state of California and city of Lynwood, CA. For more information about
the Company, please visit its website at https://nldistribution.com
The owners and founders of NPE are marijuana industry veterans with
decades of experience in establishing retail, manufacturing and
distribution of cannabis in California, including obtaining the first
retail dispensary licenses in Los Angeles, CA.
Legal Status of Cannabis While legalized in
California for recreational and medicinal use, cannabis remains a
Schedule 1 drug under the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. § 811)
and illegal under the federal law. Forward Looking Statements This
news release contains “forward-looking statements” which are not purely
historical and may include any statements regarding beliefs, plans,
expectations or intentions regarding the future. Such forward-looking
statements include, among other things, the development, costs and
results of new business opportunities and words such as “anticipate”,
“seek”, “intend”, “believe”, “estimate”, “expect”, “project”, “plan”, or
similar phrases may be deemed “forward-looking statements” within the
meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual
results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking
statements due to numerous factors. Such factors include, among others,
the inherent uncertainties associated with new projects, the future U.S.
and global economies, the impact of competition, and the Company’s
reliance on existing regulations regarding the use and development of
cannabis-based products. These forward-looking statements are made as of
the date of this news release, and we assume no obligation to update
the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual
results could differ from those projected in the forward-looking
statements. Although we believe that any beliefs, plans, expectations
and intentions contained in this press release are reasonable, there can
be no assurance that any such beliefs, plans, expectations or
intentions will prove to be accurate. Investors should consult all of
the information set forth herein and should also refer to the risk
factors disclosure outlined in our annual report on Form 10-12G, our
quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and other periodic reports filed from
time-to-time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. For more
information, please visit www.sec.gov.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 2:41 PM on Thursday, June 27th, 2019
SPONSOR: Esports Entertainment
$GMBL Esports audience is 350M, growing to 590M, Esports wagering is
projected at $23 BILLION by 2020. The company has launched VIE.gg
esports betting platform and has accelerated affiliate marketing
agreements with 190 Esports teams. Click here for more information
GMBL: OTCQB
———————–
Hershey is gravitating toward opportunities in esports
Twitch, the No.1 streaming site for gamers, touts 15 million unique daily visitors, and over 2.2 million creators who live stream their gameplay.
The global esports audience is projected to hit 600 million by 2023 — up from 281 million just three years ago, per Business Insider Intelligence estimates.
And revenue will rise with it: Global esports revenue is forecasted to reach $2.96billion by 2022, up from $869 million in 2018.
The Hershey Company is looking to reach non-traditional audiences through
esports, per Digiday. Hershey has traditionally allocated the bulk of
its media spend to traditional TV advertising, but it’s increasingly
diversifying its media spend beyond traditional TV and into more digital
spaces. The esports phenomenon has opened up a channel to reach
hundreds of millions of eyeballs worldwide.
Business Insider Intelligence
Hershey is increasingly investing in esports as it looks to tap into
audiences its traditional buys likely miss — in particular millennial
and Gen Z males under age 25. Hershey decided to ramp up its commitment
to the fast-growing space after seeing younger audiences flock to
streaming sites like Twitch and YouTube to engage with gamers
live-streaming their sessions.
Twitch, the No.1 streaming site for gamers, touts 15
million unique daily visitors, and over 2.2 million creators who live
stream their gameplay. The global esports audience is projected to hit 600
million by 2023 — up from 281 million just three years ago, per
Business Insider Intelligence estimates. And revenue will rise with it:
Global esports revenue is forecasted to reach $2.96billion by 2022, up from $869 million in 2018.
There are three primary methods for brands to advertise in esports:
Event sponsorships. While brands can reach esports viewers by
advertising on streaming platforms like Twitch and YouTube, they can
also reach millions of esports event attendees and viewers by sponsoring
major live competitions. For instance, 200million
viewers tuned into the League of Legends World Championship in 2018 —
nearly double the number that watched the Super Bowl that year, which
clocked in at about
98 million viewers. That same event sold 23,000 tickets in under four
hours, with game owner Riot releasing an additional 3,000 to meet the
overwhelming demand.
Direct advertising on sites like Twitch. Many brands have taken to
running ads on alongside gaming content on the top video streaming
platforms for live gameplay. For instance, Wendy’s designed an interactive ad-campaign which ran on Twitch, and Nike has even debuted new shoes on the site.
Influencer brand partnerships. Gaming influencers inspire
intense trust and loyalty among their followings: If a gaming
influencer recommends hardware, their fans are likely to purchase that
gear, and if they recommend food or eat something while playing, their
fans might also follow suit. In fact, Hershey’s first foray into esports
was a partnership with top gamers “Ninja” ( 5 million Twitch followers), and “DrLupo” ( 3.4 million Twitch followers) to launch its Reese’s Pieces candy bar at gamer event TwitchCon (like Comic-Con, but for video games). Likewise, Axe partnered
with “Cizzorz” — part of the popular FazeClan esports team — to run a
promotional contest where fans could upload a live-action clip of
themselves gaming to Instagram or Twitter and be entered to win a
feature on the gamer’s channel and the opportunity to attend VidCon with
him.
As the global esports market explodes, I expect opportunities for
brand partnerships and advertisements to trace a similar path. And it’s
likely that brands get increasingly creative with their attempts to win a
piece of the space. Already, brands like Kellogg — which launched a new
cereal dubbed “Lucio-Oh’s,” based on a popular Overwatchcharacter — are experimenting with their approaches to the gaming world.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 2:00 PM on Thursday, June 27th, 2019
SPONSOR: North Bud Farms Inc. (NBUD:CSE) Sustainable low cost, high quality cannabinoid production and procurement focusing on both bio-pharmaceutical development and Cannabinoid Infused Products. Learn More.
NBUD: CSE
—————
Cannabis industry expects bump in sales for Canada Day long weekend
Canada Day long weekend is no longer mostly the preserve of the liquor industry, say some of the country’s cannabis retailers.
More of the pie for that flag-waving party is being carved out by legal pot sellers as the first post-legalization national birthday approaches, says an online cannabis information resource.
By: Bill Kaufmann
The Canada Day long weekend is no longer mostly the preserve of the
liquor industry, say some of the country’s cannabis retailers.
More of the pie for that flag-waving party is being carved out by
legal pot sellers as the first post-legalization national birthday
approaches, says an online cannabis information resource.
A survey commissioned by Leafly Canada suggests 25 per cent of
Alberta adults plan to embark on a cannabis buzz this long weekend,
among the highest in the country.
“That’s one in four compared to one in five (nationally),†said Jo
Vos, managing director of Leafly Canada, which commissioned the poll of
1,513 people conducted last week by Maru/Blue.
“Alberta and Atlantic Canada are leading the country in plans to consume this weekend,†said Vos.
Among millennials surveyed — those aged 22 to 37 — a whopping 33 per
cent said they plan to toke up or consume edibles on Canada’s 152nd
anniversary weekend.
The latest Statistics Canada figures on cannabis consumption suggest
15 per cent of Canadians reported using pot in the past three months,
with 19 per cent planning to consume it over the next three months.
“That was a similar percentage to what was reported before legalization,†states StatsCan.
Those numbers rise to 33 per cent among those aged 18 to 24.
Cannabis information clearing house Leafly is confident legalization
is pushing cannabis use into the mainstream when weekends approach, said
Vos.
“We believe consumption patterns will continue to shift and there’s a
broader awareness of cannabis as an option,†she said, adding those
follow the lines of booze consumption.
“We know there are behaviour patterns very similar to alcohol in the lead-up to weekends.â€
There are even “very compelling†indications that cannabis could displace some alcohol use, added Vos.
It was illegal but now there’s a freedom,Mark Goliger
Some statistics on alcohol sales in Canada show they haven’t
decreased since pot legalization, but some predict that might happen
when cannabis-infused beverages come on the market at year’s end.
Vos acknowledged marketing the newly legalized product is a much
tougher task than that facing the alcohol industry, whose wares can be
promoted openly on a host of platforms, including newspaper ads and
street signage.
Legalization has grown Canadian cannabis demand “but not
exponentially,†said Mark Goliger, CEO of National Access Cannabis
(NAC), which operates 15 stores in Alberta.
But he said the first summer long weekend following prohibition’s end
will likely see a spike in people consuming pot, and those who do
should feel no stigma.
“It was illegal but now there’s a freedom,†said Goliger.
“Long weekends are a time for people to relax and enjoy more of
everything, whether it’s food, friends, drinks, cannabis and, hopefully,
sunshine.â€
NAC recently announced revenues of $40 million since legalization,
through its NewLeaf Cannabis stores in Alberta and other outlets in
Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
“We’d love to have been further ahead but with the (now-ended)
moratorium on new stores in Alberta, supply problems, with Ontario going
to a lottery system for new stores and B.C. not going as fast as we’d
like, it’s impacted things,†he said.
Cannabis retailers expect to sell plenty of the green stuff on the
first Canada Day long weekend since legalization.Ryan Remiorz / THE
CANADIAN PRESS
Unacademy, an online learning platform, has raised $50 million Series D funding round
from Steadview Capital, Sequoia India, Nexus Venture Partners and Blume
Ventures. Aakrit Vaish, co-founder of tech firm Haptik and Sujeet
Kumar, co-founder of business-to-business online marketplace Udaan also
participated in the round, along with Unacademy founders, Gaurav Munjal and Roman Saini.
“By leveraging technology and
high-quality educators, we aim to move closer to our mission of
democratising education at all levels, starting with test prep,†said
Gaurav Munjal, co-founder and chief executive of Unacademy. “We are seeing unprecedented growth and engagement from learners in smaller towns and cities, and are also very humbled to see that top-quality educators are choosing Unacademy as their primary platform to reach out to students.â€
The company now has more than 400 top educators from
across the country taking live classes every day on Unacademy Plus.
This is available to every student, irrespective of their location said
the company.
Unacademy recently launched its Plus Subscription, and since its launch, more than 50,000 learners have
subscribed to Unacademy Plus. The firm said this service is available
for more than 20 exam categories and provides students unlimited access
to live courses by top educators across the country. Learners get
a personalised live learning experience that is augmented by
doubt-clearing sessions with the educators, interactive classes and live
test series. More than 600 live classes are conducted every day by the
educators on Plus who teach from all across the country.
“Unacademy is a very meaningful ed-tech company in the making and
Sequoia India is excited to invest signiï¬cantly in this round,” said
Shailendra Singh, managing director, Sequoia Capital (India) Singapore.
“We were thrilled with how rapidly Gaurav (Munjal) and the team
converted some of our collective product brainstorming sessions into an
amazing live-streaming product and a subscription business for the test
prep market,†said Singh.
Unacademy was founded by Gaurav Munjal, Roman Saini and Hemesh Singh
in 2015. The firm said the platform empowers educators by making it easy
for them to create high-quality educational lessons on the Educator
App, that learners access via the Learning App. The platform currently
has more than 10,000 registered educators and 13 million learners. The
company had previously raised a Series C round of $21 million in July
2018 from Sequoia India, SAIF Partners, Nexus Venture Partners, and
others. In October 2018, Unacademy acquired Jaipur-based online education and career portal Wiï¬study, one of the fastest growing education YouTube channels in the world.
The company said it has the largest distribution for educational
videos on its free platform and YouTube and Unacademy lessons have more
than 100 million monthly views across these platforms. Unacademy’s
YouTube channels currently have more than 11 million subscribers,
according to the company.
The global online education market
is projected to reach a total market size of $286.62 billion by 2023,
increasing from $159.52 billion in 2017, according to the report titled
‘Global Online Education Market.’
In March this year, another edtech company
Byju’s raised an additional funding of $31 million in a financing round
led by US-based growth equity investor General Atlantic (GA), along
with Chinese internet giant Tencent. The investment took the valuation
of Byju’s to over $5 billion, from $3.6 billion when it raised $540
million in a funding round led by South African conglomerate Naspers in
December last year.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 10:27 AM on Wednesday, June 26th, 2019
SPONSOR: ThreeD Capital Inc. (IDK:CSE) Led by
legendary financier, Sheldon Inwentash, ThreeD is a Canadian-based
venture capital firm that only invests in best of breed small-cap
companies which are both defensible and mass scalable. More than just
lip service, Inwentash has financed many of Canada’s biggest small-cap
exits. Click Here For More Information.
The radical idea hiding inside Facebook’s digital currency proposal
A major goal of the Libra Association, the nonprofit Facebook has created to manage the project’s development, is to use Libra to revolutionize the concept of digital identity.
Relevant passage lives near the bottom of a document meant to explain the role of the Libra Association:
“An additional goal of the association is to develop and promote an open identity standard.
Last week, after months of hype and speculation, Facebook finally revealed its plan to launch a blockchain system, called Libra. Since the launch, most of the attention has focused on Libra coin, the cryptocurrency that will run on the new blockchain.
But tucked away in one of the documents Facebook published is
something that may turn out to be just as important as the coin—if not
more so. A major goal of the Libra Association, the nonprofit Facebook
has created to manage the project’s development, is to use Libra to
revolutionize the concept of digital identity.
The relevant passage lives near the bottom of a document
meant to explain the role of the Libra Association: “An additional goal
of the association is to develop and promote an open identity standard.
We believe that decentralized and portable digital identity is a
prerequisite to financial inclusion and competition.â€
But what is a “decentralized and portable digital identity� In
theory, it provides a way to avoid having to trust a single,
centralized authority to verify and take care of our identifying
credentials. For internet users, it would mean that instead of relying
on Facebook or Google’s own log-in tool to provide our credentials to
other websites, we could own and control them ourselves. In theory, this
could better protect that information from hackers and identity
thieves, since it wouldn’t live on company servers.
The concept (sometimes called “self-sovereign identityâ€)
is something of a holy grail in the world of internet technology, and
developers have been pursuing it for years. Big companies including
Microsoft and IBM have been working on decentralized identity
applications for a while now, and so have a number of startups.
But it’s more than just an internet thing. For the roughly one billion
people around the world without any kind of identifying credentials at
all, such technology could make it possible to access financial services
that they cannot today, starting with things like bank accounts and
loans.
Helping some of those people must be part of what Facebook meant when it said in the Libra white paper
that the new system is intended to “serve as an efficient medium of
exchange for billions of people around the world†and “improve access to
financial services.†In some cases the currency itself might be able to
do that, but in others it’s likely that users will need some form of
identification to access a particular service. That’s probably why
Libra’s developers call an open, portable identity standard a
“prerequisite to financial inclusion.â€
But such a digital identity could go beyond finance, too.
Sharing many kinds of sensitive data using a blockchain—for instance,
health information—might require some form of automated ID check.
Facebook itself already has experience with digital identities.
Facebook Connect lets users log in to third party sites using their
Facebook-verified credentials (you might be using it to access
technologyreview.com right now). But Facebook Connect is risky because
it relies on a central authority, argues Christopher Allen, cochair of the credentials community group
of the World Wide Web Consortium, the most important international
standards body for the web. Trusting one entity with this responsibility
is dangerous because the site could go down or the business could fail.
And Facebook can revoke accounts at will.
But it’s hard to say how decentralized Libra’s new identity
system would be, because Facebook hasn’t revealed anything about what
it’s planning.
For example, there’s the possibility that the digital identity
will only work inside the Libra network, which requires permission to
participate in. Unlike systems like Bitcoin and Ethereum, for which
anyone with the right hardware and an internet connection can join and
help validate transactions, Libra requires its validators to be
identified and approved. Nearly 30 companies have already signed up to
run network “nodes,†and Libra’s developers want to up that to 100 by
the time the platform is supposed to launch for real next year.
Facebook’s main message with the launch of Libra and the Libra
Association appears to be a response to past criticisms of how it
handled personal data. The company appears to be saying “Hey, look,
we’re trying to be more open. We don’t want to be this honey pot of
everyone’s information,†says Wayne Vaughan, co-founder of the Decentralized Identity Foundation,
a consortium of companies all working on aspects of blockchain-based
identity. But if whatever identity standard they might come up with only
works for 100 companies, says Vaughan, “that’s not decentralizedâ€â€”it’s
just a standard for 100 companies. Facebook did not respond to a request
for comment.
Either way, it’s not clear how Facebook and the Libra
Association would overcome some big technical challenges that have held
back blockchain-based identity systems. For one, blockchains are still
hard to use for many people. A problem that is particularly difficult
for identity applications is that if you lose or forget your private
keys, which aren’t easy to manage in the first place, it’s hard to
restore them, says Allen.
Another technical challenge pertains to privacy. How will the
personal identification data be kept separate from financial
transactions? This piece is particularly concerning for privacy
advocates in the context of Libra, given Facebook’s less-than-stellar
track record. And an aversion to financial surveillance fuels much of
the cryptocurrency movement.
“Where you spend your money and who you spend it with and how
much you spend is some of the most private information for people,†says
Vaughan.
On the whole, says Allen, though the technology of
decentralized identity has advanced to the point of several serious
pilot tests, it’s “not anywhere near ready†for adoption by billions of
people around the world. And given what the company has revealed so far,
“I don’t see how Facebook can do it,†he says.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 8:46 AM on Wednesday, June 26th, 2019
Announced that the Company’s wholly owned subsidiary, hempSMART, Ltd., has successfully launched and generated sales from its hempSMART™ CBD product line in Scotland.
On June 22, 2019, the hempSMART UK team successfully sold out at its launch event, which led to the sign-up of numerous new marketing associates.
ESCONDIDO, Calif., June 26, 2019 – - MARIJUANA COMPANY OF AMERICA INC. (“MCOA†or the “Companyâ€) (OTCQB: MCOA), an innovative hemp and cannabis corporation, is pleased to announce that the Company’s wholly owned subsidiary, hempSMART, Ltd., has successfully launched and generated sales from its hempSMART™ CBD product line in Scotland.
On June 22, 2019, the hempSMART UK team successfully sold out at its
launch event, which led to the sign-up of numerous new marketing
associates. The Company’s launch event included an in-depth overview on
the education of the CBD industry and its hempSMART products, as well as
its marketing and compensation plans.
“We are delighted to report another milestone with the opening of
hempSMART and our expansion into Scotland,†said Mr. Ian Harvey, Global
Sales Director of hempSMART, Ltd. “There is a real demand for
high-quality CBD products throughout Europe, and the success
demonstrated from our sales in Scotland has confirmed this. After
Saturday’s event, Scotland is an ideal location for the hempSMART brand,
with future events and opportunity presentations already in place. I
personally didn’t expect to ever be a part of a new company that could
generate so much success and excitement in such a short period of time.â€
“We are excited to finally offer our premium line of CBD products to
the country of Scotland,†said Mr. Don Steinberg, CEO of MCOA. “It has
always been MCOA’s goal to open sales of its hempSMART products in
multiple countries around the world. Our Company anticipates additional
expansions of our footprint into other EU countries moving into the
second half of 2019.â€
About Marijuana Company of America, Inc. MCOA is a
corporation that participates in (1) product research and development
of legal hemp-based consumer products under the brand name “hempSMART™â€
and targets general health and well-being; (2) an affiliate marketing
program to promote and sell its legal hemp-based consumer products
containing CBD; (3) leasing of real property to separate business
entities engaged in the growth and sale of cannabis in those states and
jurisdictions where cannabis has been legalized and properly regulated
for medicinal and recreational use; and (4) the expansion of its
business into ancillary areas of the legalized cannabis and hemp
industry, as the legalized markets and opportunities in this segment
mature and develop.
About Our hempSMART Products Containing CBD The
United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not recognized CBD
as a safe and effective drug for any indication. Our products containing
CBD derived from industrial hemp are not marketed or sold based upon
claims that their use is safe and effective treatment for any medical
condition as drugs or dietary supplements subject to the FDA’s
jurisdiction.
Forward Looking Statements This news
release contains “forward-looking statements” that are not purely
historical and may include any statements regarding beliefs, plans,
expectations or intentions regarding the future. Such forward-looking
statements include, among other things, the development, costs and
results of new business opportunities and words such as “anticipate,”
“seek,” intend,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “project,” “plan” or
similar phrases that may be deemed “forward-looking statements” within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking
statements due to numerous factors. Such factors include, among others,
the inherent uncertainties associated with new projects, the future U.S.
and global economies, the impact of competition, and the Company’s
reliance on existing regulations regarding the use and development of
cannabis-based products. These forward-looking statements are made as of
the date of this news release, and we assume no obligation to update
the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual
results could differ from those projected in the forward-looking
statements. Although we believe that any beliefs, plans, expectations
and intentions contained in this press release are reasonable, there can
be no assurance that any such beliefs, plans, expectations or
intentions will prove to be accurate. Investors should consult all of
the information set forth herein and should also refer to the risk
factors disclosure outlined in our annual report on Form 10-12G, our
quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and other periodic reports filed from
time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. For more
information, please visit www.sec.gov.
