TORONTO, ON–(Marketwired – June 15, 2017) – WeedMD Inc. (TSX VENTURE: WMD) (“WeedMD” or the “Company“), is pleased to announce that it has entered into a Letter of Intent with Tokyo Smoke BrandCo to license Van der Pop, North America’s premium female-focused cannabis brand. The partnership will allow WeedMD to produce and ship Van der Pop’s branded cannabis in Canada to patients registered through the Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations system. WeedMD will deliver its indoor Ontario-grown cannabis under the Van der Pop brand for its Canadian patients starting in late 2017. The transaction marks Tokyo Smoke BrandCo’s second licensing deal in Canada focused on combining its premium brands with medical licensed producers, to shape how future cannabis brands operate in Canada.
“Van der Pop is the highest visibility female-focused cannabis brand, and is helping to drive the evolution of the cannabis industry. We are thrilled to partner with Van der Pop as its grower of choice in Canada, given its innovative approach to creating a premium cannabis experience focused specifically on women,” said Bruce Dawson-Scully, CEO of WeedMD. “We believe that branding will be one of the key differentiators in the cannabis market and we look forward to working with the Van der Pop and Tokyo Smoke BrandCo teams to create a unique offering in the Canadian cannabis landscape.”
Partnering with Van der Pop brings WeedMD further along its strategic path of targeting unique and under-served demographics of the Canadian cannabis market, including the difficult-to-penetrate long-term care and retirement sectors. With receipt of its sales license in April, the Company is now shipping dried cannabis as well as live cannabis plants to patients, and looks forward to addressing the ongoing needs of the diverse and rapidly growing medical cannabis market.
Van der Pop is the leading female-focused Cannabis brand on social media today. It has received overwhelmingly positive, international attention from the cannabis and design community in media outlets including The Coveteur, Vice, Cool Hunting, Forbes, Fashionista, High Times, and Entrepreneur. It has a dedicated following in the USA and has launched products including Poppins, a series of Italian-made locked leather stash bags, and SELF, the newly launched hemp seed oil beauty line.
“We’re eager for this next step in the evolution of our business and have been carefully planning this move for quite some time. It was of paramount importance for us to select a grower that is as committed to rigorous quality control as WeedMD, but more critically, a grower that is aware that women represent a key segment of the cannabis market and currently have few product and brand offerings that speak directly to them,” said April Pride, founder of Van der Pop. “I’m very excited for our customers — existing and new — to experience the strains that we have been working on together.”
For more information, patients can sign up at www.vanderpop.com or www.tokyosmoke.com to be among the first notified when the Van der Pop cannabis becomes available.
Patients are also welcome to register at www.weedmd.com in order to join the growing number of patients who are already experiencing a great lineup of currently available products, as well as to order Van der Pop branded products when available.
About Van der Pop:
Van der Pop is one of North America’s most recognized female-focused cannabis brands. With an emphasis on discretion, education and style, Seattle-based Van der Pop’s signature products include accessories to store, consume, and share cannabis. In spring 2017, the company introduced SELF, an all-natural self-care line for beauty, body and brain that is formulated with European cultivated hemp seed oil. With its acquisition by Toronto-based Tokyo Smoke BrandCo in the past year, Van der Pop will release branded cannabis strains to medical patients throughout Canada late in 2017, at which time the company will also release branded cannabis to Washington State’s recreational cannabis stores.
Instagram:@vanderpop
Facebook: /sessionobsessed
Twitter: @van_der_pop
About Tokyo Smoke BrandCo:
Tokyo Smoke BrandCo is a category defining cannabis company. Its portfolio of premium brands, including Van der Pop and Tokyo Smoke, is designed to bring approachability for a range of cannabis customers. With the recent completion of its $3 million Series A funding, its recent acquisition of fellow cannabis brand Van der Pop, its partnership with Aphria and its development of Nesta Brands, Tokyo Smoke continues to be the leading Canadian brand in the cannabis space.
About WeedMD Inc.:
WeedMD Inc. is a licensed producer of medical cannabis pursuant to the Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations (ACMPR). WeedMD operates a 26,000 square foot, scalable production facility in Aylmer, Ontario with over four acres of property for future expansion. WeedMD is focused on providing consistent medicine to the long-term care and assisted living markets in Canada through its comprehensive platform developed exclusively for that industry. WeedMD is dedicated to educating healthcare practitioners and furthering public understanding of the role medical cannabis can play as an alternative to prescription medication in relieving a variety of chronic medical conditions and illnesses.
Follow WeedMD on:
Facebook: /weedmd
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/weedmd
Twitter: @WeedMD
Instagram: @WeedMD
To learn more, visit us at www.weedmd.com
CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS: Certain information in this news release constitutes forward-looking statements under applicable securities laws. Any statements that are contained in this news release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are often identified by terms such as “may”, “will” “should”, “anticipate”, “expect”, “believe”, “intend” or the negative of these terms and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to internal expectations, any commentary related to the legalization of marijuana and the timing related thereto, expectations with respect to the availability of products and expectations of Health Canada approvals. Forward-looking statements necessarily involve known and unknown risks, including, without limitation, risks associated with general economic conditions; adverse industry events; marketing costs; loss of markets; future legislative and regulatory developments involving medical marijuana; inability to access sufficient capital from internal and external sources, and/or inability to access sufficient capital on favourable terms; the medical marijuana industry in Canada generally, income tax and regulatory matters; the ability of WeedMD Inc. to implement its business strategies; competition; crop failure; currency and interest rate fluctuations and other risks.
Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list is not exhaustive. Readers are further cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as there can be no assurance that the plans, intentions or expectations upon which they are placed will occur. Such information, although considered reasonable by management at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange (the “Exchange”) nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
For further information, please contact:
WeedMD Inc.
Keith Merker
Chief Financial Officer
Tel: 519-765-2440 Ext. 222
Email: investor@weedmd.com
Tokyo Smoke
publicity@tokyosmoke.com