Business

How Cannabis Investment is Spreading Across the Globe

Published

7 years ago

October 3, 2019

Investment in cannabis has no borders, and cannabis companies like World High Life PLC (NEX: LIFE), GreenStar Biosciences Corp. (CSE: GSTR) and Veritas Farms Inc. (OTC: VFRMD) prove it

As the cannabis business develops, investors are establishing new frontiers and expand to new markets. These include the U.S., Europe and South American countries, such as Colombia that recently hosted the first medical cannabis investment summit in Latin America.

The Cannabis Summit that took place on September 12-13 in Bogota, seeked to raise investments of 20-40 million dollars and invited 150 investors and 70 businessmen.

This is not the first time that multimillion-dollar medical cannabis businesses have been made in Colombia. Just in March this year, an analysis was published about how this industry moves in the country. The analysis presented Plantmedco, a national company that attracted the attention of foreign investors, who were willing to inject a juicy capital close to US$40 million.

Hence, the estimate of 20 or 40 million dollars that were expected to be raised in investment during the summit in Bogota is not something new. What is news is that investors The Arcview Group and Muisca Capital Group presented the event as the first medical cannabis investment summit in Latin America, the “Cannabiz Latino Hub – Impact Investment Summit & B2B Expo”.

Thus, Bogotá consolidates itself as the first city in Latin America to hold such a summit. According to Muisca Capital Group CEO Carol Ortega, this translates into an opportunity for the region to consolidate a venture capital community that will help propel Latin legal cannabis companies to the next level, allowing them to compete internationally.

Figures managed by Muisca Capital Group show that by 2028 this industry is expected to reach 13 billion dollars, and that by 2019 its growth in the world market will increase by 38%.

“The positive socio economic impact that the legal cannabis industry is bringing to Latin America is undeniable and we are pleased to help the region move forward by connecting global capital with business opportunities,” said Troy Dayton, CEO of investor group The Arcview Group.

Data collected by El Espectador, according to advanced talks with companies immersed in this business, show that the medical cannabis industry can generate jobs where the lowest paid employee receives about $1,200,000 per month. Added to the above, it is estimated that a single hectare of cultivation can generate between US$3 and US$8 million.

Investments in Europe

Latin America is not the only region targeted by cannabis investors. Some companies decided to target Europe, as it is another market with a huge potential, estimated to be worth 58 billion euro by 2029.

An investment company World High Live PLC (NEX: LIFE) recently made news in the UK by announcing the proposal to acquire all shares of Love Hemp in a deal valued at 9 million GBP. Love Hemp is the British CBD leader. The company has their products available at over 1,200 retailers in the country, on top of the agreements they have with big network stores like Boots, Sainsbury’s, Tesco or Superdrug.

World High Life wants to be a part of the CBD and medicinal cannabis business developing in Europe. With Love Hemp, they are planning to enter Germany in 2020 and expand further from there, adding other promising cannabis companies to their portfolio.

The U.S. market is investors’ target

Even the U.S. is a market with an unfulfilled potential for investments in cannabis. Canadian companies, such as GreenStar Biosciences Corp. (CSE: GSTR), are executing the plan to enter the American market through the acquisition or partnership agreements with local cannabis enterprises. GreenStar has even made it their core business strategy, to build a diverse portfolio of top, most promising North American companies touching on every aspect of the product life cycle.

Cowlitz is a Washington state-based producer and distributor of cannabis products for recreational use, and a tenant partner company of GreenStar. They are a leader in their state, as no other company produces cannabis with high quality, high THC level and at affordable prices. Cowlitz regularly records a quarterly revenue of $4 million and at the end of last year reported a revenue of $14.6 million.

Washington state is one of the 13 U.S. states where trading recreational cannabis is legal. Another one where marijuana business is blooming is Colorado which attracts a lot of investment. Veritas Farms Inc. (OTC: VFRMD) has their corporate headquarters in Lauderdale, Florida, but decided to base a 140-acre industrial hemp farm and manufacturing facility in Pueblo, Colorado. The company produces eight categories of high quality hemp oil products. Their focus on honesty, transparency and proven quality pays off and brings tremendous results. Veritas Farms, which was established in 2015, generated more than $2.9 million in total revenue in the second quarter of 2019, that is a 500% increase year on year. Their gross profits skyrocketed by almost 800% to $1,523,413.

Looking at the success of their products, the company is in the process of expanding their billboard and large poster campaign to five new cities: Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Denver, and Colorado Springs. The campaign will last three months, until December 29.

As the medicinal and recreational cannabis markets grow in North America, South America and Europe, it becomes clear that we are witnessing the emergence of a new global industry. It will be interesting to see how the companies that took first steps into becoming world key cannabis players, succeed.

Business

Ipsos Helps Brands Understand How They Get Customer Experience Wrong & Why It’s Costing Them Millions

Published

4 weeks ago

June 26, 2026

Matthew Wiles

For brands looking to succeed in the modern business ecosystem, the customer experience (CX) is not something companies can afford to ignore. CX is a direct driver of revenue, loyalty, and growth for organizations.

Ipsos, one of the world’s leading market research firms, helps brands understand that failing to focus on the customer experience can lead to lost sales, which in turn can translate to not only millions in lost revenue but also lost trust and credibility in the market.

How brands still get CX wrong

“The customer decision and desire to do business with brands directly affect the bottom line,” says Brad Christian, Chief Commercial Officer at Ipsos – Experience Practice.

Customer experience may sound like a simple concept, but many brands still get it wrong. CX goes beyond surveys and feedback. Leaders who fail to connect feedback in a meaningful way to goals such as retention, repeat visits or purchases, advocacy, and operational performance fail to deliver on their service promises. The emotional and functional disconnect can spell trouble for brands. The most polished advertising campaigns cannot make up for a frustrating customer interaction or a promise that a business cannot fulfill.

According to Ipsos’s internal research, many customers today see service as too automated and impersonal. More than half report that their experience is worse than promised.

These findings don’t just result in disappointed buyers. They result in lost customers, negative feedback, and a long-term impact on the business as a whole.

“Brands have to manage the entire customer experience across each and every touchpoint,” explains Christian.

Poor CX can be expensive

Executives can often underestimate how expensive a history of poor CX can be. Global losses can reach into the billions while leaders wonder what went wrong. In an age of rapid social media communication, a single negative interaction can spell disaster for a company, leading to reduced customer spending or the entire loss of its most loyal customers.

Those losses are not just reflected in lost revenue, however. Customer acquisition and marketing dollars can also be lost as companies continue to spend money trying to retain their customer base, often skipping right over the experience part of retention.

Poor customer experience can be a deep operating problem that creates a domino effect, decimating businesses from the inside out. These poor experiences can impact not only present and future customer acquisition but also business leaders and employees.

CX matters more in today’s business landscape

The customer experience has always mattered, but it may matter more to brands trying to make it in a modern, ultra-competitive, digitally-driven business landscape. Good experiences encourage repeat purchases, boost loyalty, and increase the likelihood that customers will go online and recommend a brand to others.

“Customer experience isn’t an isolated function,” says Christian. “It’s ‌part of a larger system that ensures that brands measure and manage customer experience data and then act on that data to drive action where customer experience gaps exist.”

Brands also have to seek to understand today’s customers, who expect experiences that are seamless, authentic, and relevant. As more and more companies hop on the automation train, they will want to reassure their customers that the human element that many people consider important still exists.

At Ipsos, six drivers of strong customer relationships form the bedrock of the company’s CX platform, something that they refer to as the “Forces of CX”: certainty, fair treatment, control, status, belonging, and enjoyment.

Customers want to feel that if they have an issue with a brand, it will be handled and that their concerns will be understood. They don’t want the customer experience to feel like a battleground; they want it to feel fair and human.

“Customer experience isn’t just a nicer experience,” says Christian. “It ties directly to specific financial outcomes, whether that be increased sales, greater market share, or stronger brand loyalty.”

How Ipsos helps businesses deliver customer experiences that matter

Ipsos turns customer feedback into reliable, actionable, decision-ready information. The company goes beyond simple satisfaction metrics and implements voice-of-the-customer programs, journey analytics, relationship feedback, and quality research.

“Brands don’t just need data,” Christian says. “They need measurements as to how they are delivering on their brand promise and predictive modeling to tie financial performance measures to those measures to help them determine where to invest to maximize the customer experience and understand what financial impact those investments might deliver for the business.”

Ipsos measures the interactions that matter ‌most and shows brands how each interaction can affect retention, share of spend, and efficiency. For brands that are trying to reduce the guesswork behind CX, Ipsos helps them move beyond cosmetic fixes to achieve real, meaningful change.

Customer expectations can shift on a dime, influenced by society, social media, and even changing trends. Ipsos helps brands meet those rapidly changing customer expectations with hard evidence and comprehensive metrics.

Today’s brands need to understand how to get the customer experience right. Ipsos has the insights needed to drive home the deep importance of CX in today’s marketplace.