After the legalization of medical and recreational cannabis in over 20 states, Microsoft on Thursday will release information regarding its first-ever partnership with a software company that stands behind the burgeoning cannabis industry. The partnership includes Kind Financial, a Los Angeles-based start-up company that develops technology and tools for cannabis-related businesses to navigate through the various rules and regulations in states across the US that allow the sale of legal marijuana. Kind sells what it called “Agrisoft Seed to Sale software,” that allows pot growers track their plants from seed to the point of sale, and it provides kiosks that cannabis businesses use for cash management inside their place of business.
This will be the first time Microsoft has done a cannabis industry-related deal. The company’s founder, at least, is not unaware of the situation. Bill Gates told BuzzFeed back in a 2014 interview that he voted “Yes” on to legalize marijuana in his home state of Washington.
“It’s an experiment, and it’s probably good to have a couple states try it out to see before you make that national policy,” he stated at the time.
Now that test run has developed into a business opportunity for the software behemoth. According to Kind, the deal announced Thursday involves Kind participating in Microsoft’s newly created Microsoft health and human services pod for managed service providers. That means Kind’s products will be available to customers who use Microsoft’s Azure government cloud product. In a press release planned to be released Thursday, Kimberly Nelson, Microsoft’s executive director of state and local government solutions, stated,
“Kind’s strategic industry positioning, experienced team and top-notch-technology running in the Microsoft Azure Government cloud, made for an easy decision to align efforts.” Kind’s CEO, David Dinenberg, said: “No one can predict the future of cannabis legalization it is clear that legalized cannabis will always be subject to strict oversight and regulations similar to alcohol and tobacco; and, Kind is proud to offer governments and regulatory agencies the tools and technology to monitor cannabis compliance.”
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