“We see a year of increased M&A and consolidation activity ahead for the U.S. cannabis market,” said Zuber. To prepare, sophisticated cannabis companies are pursuing IP protection strategies and making sure accounting records are pristine, he said, to make them more attractive targets for acquisition. George Archos, chief executive, of Verano Holdings said U.S. cannabis companies listing on Canadian stock exchanges was the most important trend for 2018. It’s difficult for US-based cannabis companies to access traditional capital due to federal government banking restrictions, so access to Canadian exchanges enabled those companies to fund investment. Khurram Malik, chief executive of Biome Grow, a licensed cannabis producer in Canada, says 2019 will be the year where cannabis growing goes from theory to reality in his country.

Source: Forbes December 15, 2018 17:03 UTC