• Consumer reports show growing tendency to reject smoke-inhaled substances such as cigarettes
• Sproutly Canada’s solution provides truly water-soluble cannabis product that mimics rapid onset, offset of smoked drug
• Cannabis-infused beverage market potential forecast between $900 million and $4.4 billion by 2024

As savvy cannabis investors look toward the market potential of the beverage-ization of their natural plant products, suppliers such as Sproutly Canada, Inc. (OTCQB: SRUTF) (CSE: SPR) (FRA: 38G) are strengthening their operations by adding more experienced executives, building their distribution networks and increasing their output capabilities.

Sproutly Canada is focused on cultivating pharmaceutical-grade cannabis for the backbone of its technological breakthrough in creating the first natural, truly water-soluble cannabis solution. The company aims to use water-soluble ingredients such as its patent pending Infuz2O product in beverages capable of mimicking the rapid onset and rapid wear-off effects of inhaled cannabis, providing an especially appealing alternative to smoked products.

The company’s Infuz2O solution will supplement in establishing revolutionary brands that can deliver predictable, measurable amounts of cannabis to consumers that are true to strain. Despite the company’s 16,600-square-foot closed-loop production facility that’s capable of producing 1,400 kilograms of dried flower per year, Sproutly’s business model is not constrained by the amount of cannabis it grows, thanks to its readiness to source natural product on the open market through its network.

Sproutly anticipates that the cannabis-infused beverage market will bring in revenues between $900 million and $4.4 billion by 2024, depending on the percentage of the market that it captures, drawing on statistics reported by Deloitte and its own analysis (http://ibn.fm/WVjFU). The figures do not account for the potential of a premium market based on Sproutly’s technology for delivering naturally water-soluble solutions to supply cannabis-based beverages and edibles.

On November 20, the company announced that it had migrated the license of its wholly owned subsidiary, Toronto Herbal Remedies Inc. (“THR”), to compliance with the Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations (ACMPR) standards in order to gain authorization to possess cannabis; obtain dried cannabis, fresh cannabis, cannabis plants or cannabis plant seeds by cultivating, propagating, and harvesting cannabis; and to sell cannabis, including to other licensed producers (http://ibn.fm/HbnC6).

The product growth potential of the company is accompanied by the addition of long-time international wine and spirits industry executive Constantine Constandis to its advisory board (http://ibn.fm/NnG5E), with the expectation that he will become an independent board of directors member after the company’s next annual general meeting increases the size of that board, according to an announcement on November 29.

Constandis was a former senior executive with Pernod Ricard SA, the publicly traded producer of wine and spirits whose global portfolio includes Absolute Vodka, Jameson, The Glenlivet and Beefeater, among others.

“His experience in brand building, operations, sales and marketing in the highly-regulated spirits industry will prove to be extremely valuable to Sproutly as it continues to develop into a leading cannabis beverage company,” CEO and President Keith Dolo stated in the news release.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Sproutly.ca

• Net Element transaction with Argus Merchant Services and Treasury Payments leads to expectations of added gross profits in next four years
• E-commerce expected to command larger share of sales revenues than brick-and-mortar retail by 2022
• Net Element technologies adaptable to wide variety of mobile and online business needs

World finance technology innovator Net Element, Inc. (NASDAQ: NETE) is building its own capital potential as well as that of its customers, announcing recently that it has acquired cash flow assets that are expected to generate well over $4 million in gross profits over the next four years and continued profits thereafter.

The $1.42 million transaction through subsidiary Unified Portfolio Acquisitions is a step forward in the company’s five-year partnership with credit and debit card payment processing platforms Argus Merchant Services, LLC and Treasury Payments, LLC, both under the direction of Argus President Jacob Shimon. Additionally, Argus’ total billing commitment to Net Element’s Unified Payments subsidiary is expected to generate over $19 million in gross margin during the next five years, according to a news release issued by the company (http://ibn.fm/3KrQv).

“The unprecedented support and commitment we have received from Net Element has not only helped us grow our business, but also establish strategic partnerships with our ISO’s and agents. We feel confident that this transaction will boost our continued growth and establish a strong leading presence in the market,” Eugene Gold, managing partner of Argus Merchant Services and CEO of WOW Payments, stated in the news release.

Net Element focuses its payments as a service model on the needs of small- to medium-sized enterprises in the United States and select emerging markets. The company provides point of sale support to restaurants and retailers through its Aptito technological solution (http://ibn.fm/C57yZ), to hotel and tourism industry enterprises through its VIP Payments platform (http://ibn.fm/WSrSt) and to kiosk and truck vendors through its Unified Mobile Payments (http://ibn.fm/lbysK). It also adds online B2B e-commerce services for brick and mortar storefronts through Netevia (http://ibn.fm/hPj4u).

Worldwide commerce continues to increase its level of transaction online and through networked mobile devices. Market researcher Euromonitor International forecasts that it will grow exponentially by 2022 to become a larger channel than traditional grocery retail (http://ibn.fm/A0m9u), even though it currently commands less than a quarter of that market share, according to Shopify.com (http://ibn.fm/TGFo9).

The success of e-commerce businesses will depend on their ability to manage multiple channels of customer engagement — the widely varying means by which potential clients gain information about what a business offers as they shop around. Net Element’s omni-channel PayOnline platform takes a global view of commerce as it aims to deliver flexible solutions to international markets where diverse banking, regulatory and demographic conditions exist.

The company recently scaled back its European ventures, but it added a unique development when it announced that it would partner with Sputnik Bank in Russia to provide third-party bank processing to other banks locked into the country’s increasingly outdated legacy systems (http://ibn.fm/RqgWn).

“We believe this is the first bank to provide a wholesale service to other Russian banks and if executed properly could be a huge success,” the company stated in its news release about the partnership. “In the future, this entity could even be spun off into its own independent fintech company like many of the banks in the U.S. have done.”

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.NetElement.com

• 100 percent ownership of the Cyclops Nickel-Cobalt Project in strategic location along northern coast of Indonesia
• Production/mining permits issued along with environmental (AMDAL) permit issued
• Significant, shallow mineralization at project site with a historical* estimate of 37Mt @ 0.11% Co and 1.31%Ni at 0.8% Ni cut-off grade
• Significant potential for expansion as mineralization is open at depth and on-strike
• Estimate based on over 856 shallow drill holes and 26 test pits
• Historical (non-compliant to 43-101 standards) high-grade drill intercepts of 8m @ 0.18% Co; 13m @ 0.15% Co; and 10m @ 0.19% Co
• Strategically located near China, the world’s largest cobalt buyer
• Cyclops Project Area covers 5,000 hectares with 9 prospects including 5 drill-tested and known cobalt-nickel prospects
• Preliminary Offtake Agreement signed with China’s top battery materials supplier, Beijing Easpring

Pacific Rim Cobalt Corp. (CSE: BOLT) (OTCQB: PCRCF) (XFRA: NXFE) is a Canada-based exploration company focused on the acquisition and development of production-grade cobalt deposits, a key raw material input for the growing lithium-ion battery industry.

Pacific Rim Cobalt and its Cyclops Nickel-Cobalt Project, located in the Depapre District, Jayapura Regency, Papua Province, Republic of Indonesia, is uniquely positioned in a region with potentially the largest source of cobalt outside of Africa. Strategically located near China, the world’s largest cobalt buyer, the Cyclops Project is a laterite (iron-hosted) mineral prospect, rich in cobalt and nickel. Cobalt consumption in China is on-track to use over 8,000 tonnes of cobalt annually by 2021 for electric vehicle production alone and is projected to remain the world’s largest cobalt consumer for many years to come.

Global demand for renewable power is fueling a massive shift from traditional energy supply chain economics to cobalt-reliant lithium-ion batteries, the world’s most widely used power source for portable applications such as electric vehicles and other high-tech applications.

Pacific Rim Cobalt management has concluded that strategic access to major markets offers the most important factor to servicing the rising demand for cobalt. The company’s acquisition of its initial asset in Indonesia offers near surface, strong nickel-cobalt mineralization in an area with excellent infrastructure including a nearby workforce, supplies, sealed roads, ocean access, nearby port facility and gentle topography. The project area, nestled on the north coast of Papua, Indonesia, establishes Pacific Rim Cobalt well within the economically attractive ocean-going transportation range to Asia and its lucrative, growing industrial markets.

Exploration efforts are currently focused on establishing a maiden compliant resource for the Cyclops project, both in historically identified and drill-tested prospects as well as previously unexplored areas of the claims. During the first nine months of 2018, the company focused on assembling the necessary agreements to access northern areas of the project hosting historically identified mineralized zones. Mapping, sampling and a mini-bulk sample within the mineralized zones has been completed, along with a small-scale program in the previously unexplored far southern area of the project. With surface access to priority targets now established, Pacific Rim Cobalt will initiate drilling and extract additional mini-bulk samples for further metallurgical testing.

“We are excited and optimistic about the unique possibility of developing this project into an asset that will add shareholder value and position the company to play a future role in the battery metals supply chain,” Pacific Rim Cobalt CEO Ranjeet Sundher recently stated (http://nnw.fm/u1HNs). “We expect the near-surface nature of cobalt/nickel mineralization at the Cyclops project will lend itself well to low-cost, logistically straightforward drilling. We thus anticipate the opportunity to undertake a resource calculation study, as well as ongoing metallurgy and process option testing, will present itself in the near future. It’s going to be a busy year ahead, and we look forward to getting the drills turning and building value.”

Pacific Rim Cobalt’s world-class management team includes Sundher, who has over 20 years of capital markets experience. Sundher is also president of Canrim Ventures Ltd., a Singaporean advisory firm specializing in early stage project finance and structure. He previously founded Indogold Exploration, a Jakarta-based mining service firm, and has raised over $40 million for companies in which he was a founder/partner.

Chief Financial Officer Steve Vanry has 25 years of professional experience in senior management positions with public and private natural resources companies, providing expertise in capital markets corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, regulatory compliance, accounting and financial reporting.

Andre Talaska serves as country manager and technical supervisor. He has over 30 years of experience in the mining and exploration industry and has held senior positions with several companies in Australia and southeast Asia. Shakir Juffry, business development/engineering, is a chemical engineer and extractive metallurgist by background training who has over 20 years of experience in the Indonesian mining and minerals exploration field. Toto Suarto Sajali, operation and development manager, is a mining engineer with over 15 years of experience in Indonesian project assessment, development and operations.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.PacificRimCobalt.com

• Redfund Capital’s 2018 portfolio consists of five companies; a total of 11 companies are in the pipeline at various due diligence stages
• New partnership was announced at the end of November for the purpose of developing water-soluble cannabis technologies
• During 2019, Redfund intends to maintain its CBD industry focus

The year of 2018 featured a number of important developments for Redfund Capital Corp. (CSE: LOAN) (OTC: PNNRF) (Frankfurt: O3X4), the first medical cannabis incubator and accelerator financing medical cannabis, CBD and hemp companies through a debt facility.

At the end of November, the company announced a key partnership with Cannabis Strategic Ventures (OTC: NUGS) for the development of water-soluble cannabis technologies to be used in the food and beverage industry, via Redfund-owned Biolog Inc. (http://ibn.fm/qYedJ).

According to representatives of Redfund and Cannabis Strategic Ventures, water-soluble cannabis technologies provide new opportunities for growth in the world of CBD products. Current water-soluble cannabis technologies come with specific limitations that stand in the way of adoption. Hence, Redfund and Cannabis Strategic Ventures will seek alternatives that enable the technology to push past original constraints for the purpose of developing cannabis ingredients for ready addition to foods, beverages and cosmetic products, to name a few.

Redfund has also partnered with Mary’s Wellness Ltd., a marketer and distributor of cannabis-infused teas (http://ibn.fm/Kai3T), and it is currently having active discussions with partners in the UK, Switzerland, Colombia and Portugal to help launch Mary’s products.

Additionally, the company is funding Winterlife Inc. as the latter launches a new CBD product line (http://ibn.fm/1Bb6a). Winterlife products are currently available in over 600 dispensaries throughout the State of Washington, with processing agreements in place with several other U.S. states.

In November, Redfund shared a comprehensive list of 2018 updates. According to the announcement, the core component of Redfund’s business strategy through the year was to establish the foundations of a loan portfolio that generates revenue with monthly interest income and that also grows value for shareholders (http://ibn.fm/mb9Qz).

In 2018, the company extended funds for five signed promissory notes. In addition, Redfund had 11 companies in the pipeline at various stages of due diligence. As of November, the Redfund loan portfolio consists of Winterlife, Mary’s Wellness, RxMM Health Care, Biominerales Pharma Colombia and Biolog Inc.

Based on its strategy, Redfund aims to provide debt and equity funding in the mid and later stages of the development of a target company. The current focus is medical cannabis, hemp and CBD-related health care/wellness companies.

Redfund also launched an array of innovative initiatives throughout the year. First Euro Cannabis is one such initiative. A Redfund subsidiary, First Euro Cannabis is the first incubator and accelerator in Europe that finances medical cannabis, CBD and hemp companies. This subsidiary is also expected to play a major role in the European distribution of Winterlife products (http://ibn.fm/OUbWt).

In terms of future development, Redfund has made some announcements about the growth anticipated in 2019.

Two of the companies in the Redfund portfolio are investigating the process for filing to the Canadian Securities Exchange. By the end of the first quarter of 2019, these companies anticipate becoming stand-alone public entities.

“The Company vision is to have a portfolio of 20 companies with $75 million injected through loans deployed to companies who have commonalities of revenues, brand awareness, and a keen interest to go global with their products… We are looking forward to our portfolio companies being leaders in the public markets,” Redfund CEO Meris Kott said in a news release.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.RedfundCapital.com

• Company has retained Boustead Securities for underwriting of the planned IPO for wholly owned foreign enterprise CBD Biotech
• CIIX is taking necessary steps to support the growth strategy currently in place for CBD Biotech
• With the finalized spinoff of CBD Biotech, CIIX will look to refocus on its original mission

ChineseInvestors.com, Inc. (OTCQB: CIIX), a leading financial news media and content platform serving the global Chinese-speaking community, recently announced (http://ibn.fm/JRGbs) that it has retained Boustead Securities, LLC for the underwriting of the planned initial public offering (IPO) of its wholly owned foreign enterprise, CBD Biotech Co. Ltd.

According to Warren Wang, founder, CEO and chairman of CIIX, this is one of many steps in place to execute the planned spinoff of CBD Biotech. Wang believes that listing on a national exchange will add value to the company by providing market visibility and access to capital, while further supporting the growth strategy that’s currently in place. In the press release, Boustead Securities emphasized the potential that CBD Biotech can gain by being a first mover in the Chinese CBD market.

The company has already made positive steps toward increasing CBD Biotech’s visibility and accessibility on a global scale. A few of the steps that have been taken over the last year include:

• Launched the world’s first CBD health products store published in the Chinese language, www.ChineseCBDOil.com
• Launched the world’s first cannabis-focused social media mobile app created for Chinese-speaking customers, Da Ma Dian Ping
• Appointed a chief financial officer, Alex Hamilton, with the goal of providing CBD-related products to China’s mainland population (http://ibn.fm/bd0c8)

With the finalized spinoff of CBD Biotech, CIIX will be able to re-focus on its original mission of providing financial information and services to the larger Chinese community in the U.S. and elsewhere. Over the years, the company has invested heavily in a variety of products and services for education of Chinese-speaking investors worldwide. These resources include real-time market analysis, commentaries and educational products that allow the CIIX audience to make informed decisions to help meet their individual financial goals.

The company has a diversified line of products and services to expand revenue streams. This includes the CBD products, the financial information products and services and a consultative service for private companies looking to go public.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.ChineseInvestors.com

• Kontrol Energy is entering the cannabis vertical sector, as legalization of recreational cannabis in Canada opens up C$6 billion market
• Company’s smart energy solutions, utilizing IoT, cloud and SaaS technologies, could significantly cut costs
• As competition intensifies, production efficiency is set to become a differentiating success factor

The legalization of recreational cannabis on October 17, 2018, in Canada has opened a market, estimated at just under C$6 billion, to competitive forces. Now, market pressure will, undoubtedly, drive the search for more efficient production methods. One big-ticket item set to garner attention is the cost of energy, which makes up around 30 percent of direct grow expenses. This is all very well and good for Kontrol Energy Corp. (CSE: KNR) (FSE: 1K8). The Ontario-based tech company specializes in the integration of smart energy technologies and solutions for commercial and industrial property owners and operators aimed at helping them benefit from energy cost savings and minimize greenhouse gas emissions. Voted the seventh-fastest growing startup in 2018, Kontrol aims to be a leader in the energy efficiency sector through the implementation of IoT, cloud and SaaS technologies.

With the passage of its Cannabis Act in June 2018, Canada became the first G7 country and the second nation state (Uruguay was the first) to legalize the use of marijuana for general adult use. The large black market is now about to change color as it opens up to licensed producers and retailers. In 2017, the latest year for which complete data is available, 4.9 million Canadians used cannabis, according to Statistics Canada (http://ibn.fm/LZEYo). They spent C$5.7 billion ($4.17 billion) to do so, of which 90 percent was through the black market – a nice chunk of change, if you can get it. The quest to do exactly that is intensifying. Back in August 2018, Marijuana Business Daily reported the number of licensed producers (LPs) at 115, with another 588 applications awaiting process by Health Canada (http://ibn.fm/ECdze). As competition heats up, the focus on costs will, indisputably, increase.

Energy costs are a big part of the equation. Using traditional growing methods, it takes about 2,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity to produce a pound of cannabis product. That’s roughly the same energy consumption as an average household over a period of two to three months. To produce 1,000 pounds per annum would cost C$188,000 at the current mid-peak price of 9.4¢ per kWh – much, much more (C$264,000) at the on-peak price of 13.2¢ per kWh (http://ibn.fm/dUPil).

However, Kontrol Energy is offering ways to cut those costs. In July 2018, the company announced that it was entering the North American cannabis market as a supplier of integrated energy efficiency solutions and technologies (http://ibn.fm/Gz7Xs). Through its operating subsidiaries and its most recent energy technology acquisition, Kontrol is focused on assisting cannabis growers reduce their costs of energy.

“As the North American cannabis industry begins to enter a consolidation phase there is a growing demand for energy solutions which will assist in the drive to the lowest cost of production,” Paul Ghezzi, CEO of Kontrol Energy, stated in a news release. “Further as cannabis moves to become a global commodity the ability to source lower costs of energy with real-time analytics and management is increasingly important.”

Kontrol, based in Mississauga, Ontario, currently operates through four divisions. Kontrol Technologies Inc. runs the turn-key energy retrofit business; Kontrol Energy Group manages the energy management system (EMS) unit; ORTECH Consulting Inc. oversees the greenhouse gas verification and testing business; and the engineering analysis, energy audits, electrical and mechanical design service business is handled by Efficiency Engineering Inc.

The company’s management has more than 40 years of combined clean energy experience. The team has been involved in over $500 million in solar energy projects connected to the Ontario electricity grid, over $850 million in renewable projects globally and more than 400 energy efficiency retrofits in Ontario. Now, it’s bringing its expertise to the billion dollar cannabis industry, providing smart solutions to cut costs and emissions.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.KontrolEnergy.com

• Therma Bright’s thermal, dermatological technologies finding value in responding to array of concerns, from pain to pandemics
• Wider cosmeceutical industry expected to grow at CAGR of 8.21 percent between 2017 and 2023
• Therma Bright’s niche focus is in strengthening skin defenses through non-invasive infrared energy and cannabidiol properties

Skin health is a critical component of a person’s overall wellness, and the researchers at Therma Bright, Inc. (TSX.V: THRM) (OTC: THRBF) are making dermatological defenses the first line of resistance against a variety of medical concerns ranging from pain to pandemics.

The medical device developer has been an innovator in the field of using infrared light to tackle skin maladies by delivering controlled topical heat to afflicted areas without a risk of burning the skin. The technology was introduced as the trademarked InterceptCS product to treat cold sores by killing cells infected with the herpes simplex Type 1 virus. Design and engineering of the system was completed in late 2005 and in April 2006 (http://ibn.fm/SITXl).*

More recently, the company has been advancing its TherOZap technology as a first-generation medical device approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the relief of the symptoms of skin pain, itch and inflammation associated with insect bites and stings. Therma Bright has been working on a TherOZap product that may provide a skin barrier to combat the Zika virus and other mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue, and it recently announced that final prototypes were sent to a research laboratory where testing of the technology against the Zika virus is underway (http://ibn.fm/Q2YRt).

Zika gained worldwide attention after an outbreak in 2015, and its apparent connection to Latin American children’s birth defects, such as the brain-damaging microcephaly head ailment, led the World Health Organization to declare the sexually transmitted virus a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern” because of its high potential for transnational transmission to other parts of the world (http://ibn.fm/Cbte1).

Dengue has been making news for decades as a viral infectious disease originating, like Zika, from mosquito bites. It used to be called “break-bone fever” because it sometimes causes severe joint and muscle pain that feels like bones are breaking. WHO estimates that there may be 50-100 million dengue cases around the world every year, although some analysts believe the number is higher (http://ibn.fm/t87Md).

Researchers have been reporting progress lately toward potential vaccines. Clinical trials are underway for Zika solutions (http://ibn.fm/PofwS), and a partial dengue vaccine became commercially available in 11 countries in 2016 amid ongoing concerns about adverse responses in some vaccinated populations (http://ibn.fm/SyTmu).

Therma Bright’s novel barrier solution could provide a welcome response to medical concerns on a worldwide scale. The Zika trials are expected to last several months, an indication of their importance.

In October, Therma Bright revealed that it is also developing testing for a hemp cannabidiol (CBD)-based pain relief therapy that will use creams, gels or salves in concert with its thermal-generation products to target various forms of general or chronic pain such as back pain, arthritic pain and other orthopedic concerns. The company announced its first prototype in December.

Therma Bright’s attention to such a variety of skin care concerns positions it well within the cosmeceuticals market, which is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.21 percent between 2017 and 2023, resulting in a worldwide market valued at $72.99 billion overall (http://ibn.fm/ogcMx).

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.ThermaBright.com

* Based on double blind placebo study the InterceptCS™ is approved for the claim “For prevention of cold sores when used within 3 hours of the onset of the prodrome.” by Health Canada. The InterceptCS™ is not approved by the United States FDA for any claim of clinical indication, clinical efficacy, and/or cure or prevention of disease.

• Cannabis researchers predict that global sales of the plant will reach $32 billion by 2022
• Canada’s recent nationwide legalization of adult uses of cannabis is fueling a spike in labor force opportunities, including a 266 percent increase in cannabis jobs
• Icon Exploration’s agreement with City View Green (CVG) is sowing the seeds of growth as the Canadian cannabis license applicant prepares a 40,000-square-foot cultivation facility

New job and wage statistics released just shy of Canada’s two-month anniversary for full-use cannabis legalization underscore the strength of the ‘weed’ industry, as well as the market potential of companies such as Icon Exploration Inc. (TSX.V: IEX.H) that are aiming to build the industry into a multi-billion-dollar juggernaut.

Icon Exploration is a recent entrant to the space, working to create a company focused on evaluating and potentially acquiring diverse targets in the cannabis industry. Still, the company’s leadership team includes individuals who have already gained experience in the fledgling industry, and the extraction expert working in the plant’s active cannabinoid ingredients is preparing to build brand ideas based on a craft honed in the state-driven industry south of Canada’s border.

Canada has emerged as a visionary nation, the second in the American hemisphere (and the first in the industrialized G7 consortium) to legalize recreational cannabinoid drug use, such as marijuana smoking and vaping, in addition to nascent medicinal and wellness uses (http://ibn.fm/thL3N). The lawmakers’ decision highlighted the growing popularity of what was once only a lowbrow joke-inducing relaxant among a much wider segment of society.

Indeed, the recent Statistics Canada labor force report (http://ibn.fm/iBckf) indicates that the number of cannabis-related jobs grew by 266 percent between November 2017 and November 2018, and the jobs, on average, pay more than the national average. The report states that the average hourly wage for employees in cannabis-related jobs was $29.58, with the majority of them in the agriculture industry. Virtually all of the employees were working full time and had permanent positions, according to Statistics Canada data.

As Icon Exploration works to establish its foothold in the cannabis industry, global spending on the plant’s legalized cultivation continues to expand. Cannabis researchers at Arcview Market Research and BDS Analytics predict that worldwide sales will reach $32 billion by 2022, according to an interview cited by the Washington Times (http://ibn.fm/oz2Zg). Despite Canada’s early leadership, the vast majority of that spending is expected to come from the United States, with prohibition continuing to crumble, as noted by the report and a similar ArcView interview with the Los Angeles Times (http://ibn.fm/W5aPD). The report adds that some analysts anticipate that U.S. sales will top $75 billion by 2030.

All of that is good news for Icon Exploration as it builds its portfolio in the cannabis space. The company recently entered a formal agreement with vertically integrated cannabis company City View Green (CVG), a Canadian governmental license applicant preparing a 40,000-square-foot cultivation facility near Toronto for pharmaceutical-grade cannabis as it awaits final approval of the license. An additional 4.3 acres at the site are reserved for the potential construction of another 125,000 square feet of cultivation and extraction facilities.

CVG’s plans include the production of high-quality edible products, distillates and water-soluble brands for the cannabidiol (CBD)-infused beverage market that is gaining heightened market attention since multi-national beverage maker Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZ) invested billions of dollars in Canopy Growth Corp. (NYSE: CGC) (TSX: WEED) for a share of its cannabis operations (http://ibn.fm/eG4aQ).

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.IconExploration.net

• 5G Network services began to appear in the United States during the last quarter of 2018, with momentum building for 2019
• Spectrum Global Solutions counts the 5G network movers among its clientele and is continuing to develop its capacity to build and maintain such networks
• The U.S. telecommunications industry is expected to invest about $157 billion in capital upgrades for new and existing networks by 2021

The ever upward-spiraling hunger that consumers feel for mobile computer data delivery is fueling the next surge in transmission power as 5G networks begin making inroads throughout the developed world’s communications infrastructure, and Spectrum Global Solutions, Inc. (OTC: SGSI) is poised to play a key role in delivering and maintaining that infrastructure.

The fifth generation of cellular mobile communications, 5G represents yet another exponential increase in computing-on-the-go capacity. When the second generation debuted all the way back in 1991 and began opening the door to everyman cell phone use, it boosted data transfer to a rate of 0.1 megabits per second. 3G increased that by a factor of 10 seven years later, and the currently common 4G standard raised the bar by a factor of 15 when it debuted in 2008. Now, a decade later, 5G is set to increase the network data transfer rate to 1.4 gigabits per second — nearly 1,000 times 4G’s 15 megabits per second rate and 20 times 4G LTE’s peak rate – all while maintaining the ability to reliably handle the signals for far more devices (http://ibn.fm/QaXaK).

In late December, AT&T went live with 5G service in 12 cities across the United States, and other networks were working to introduce their own faster services (http://ibn.fm/IGCxx). Verizon previously announced, in October, that it would be the first to deploy a commercial 5G network in the United States with the limited introduction of a home broadband service in parts of Sacramento, Houston, Indianapolis and Los Angeles. The service doesn’t currently meet the globally recognized 5G standard, but the company is racing to adopt the standard in the next few months. AT&T and Verizon are among an A-list group of carriers, aggregators, project management organizations (PMOs), original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), utilities and large enterprises that Spectrum Global Solutions, or SGSI, serves.

SGSI is a single-source provider of end-to-end network needs, from development and deployment to established infrastructure maintenance. The company is one of the few nationwide, full-service entities offering network engineering, construction, installation, maintenance and supportive professional services for metropolitan areas. SGSI is professionally registered in every U.S. state but Alaska, as well as three U.S. island territories and six Canadian provinces, allowing it to respond to multi-location projects and the growing need for bundled services.

Spectrum Global Solutions announced the acquisition of ADEX Corp. and ADEX Puerto Rico LLC in March, positioning it to capitalize on the continuing rollout of 5G services during the coming years. The ADEX entities added turnkey wireless and wireline telecom services, as well as professional staffing for projects, delivering new clients and capabilities to the company (http://ibn.fm/wYwJS) as SGSI’s other subsidiaries have done. ADEX is an outsource provider of engineering and installation services, staffing solutions and other services which include consulting to the telecommunications industry, its service providers and specialty customers worldwide.

The U.S. telecommunications industry is expected to expend some $157 billion for capital upgrades by 2021, largely due to the rollout of 5G networks, improvements to existing 4G networks, the auction of FCC spectrum bandwidth, the growth of Internet of Things (IOT) devices and other network infrastructure modernization (http://ibn.fm/L06kh).

“We expect that our cash position will increase due to operating profits in the telecommunications division. Over the coming months and year, subject to raising additional funds, we plan to primarily concentrate on our telecommunications business and associated projects,” the company stated in its most recent quarterly filing (http://ibn.fm/5lmCT).

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.SpectrumGlobalSolutions.com

• Sproutly’s chief science officer, Dr. Arup Sen, recently discussed the company’s unique water-soluble technology and its ability to create designer cannabis beverages
• Sproutly entered LOI with the largest Caribbean medical cannabis producer to establish a joint venture to sell cannabis-infused beverages and oil products

As worldwide prohibition of cannabis eases, restrictions on scientific research into cannabinoids are loosening as well, allowing innovative companies like Sproutly Canada, Inc. (OTCQB: SRUTF) (CSE: SPR) (FRA: 38G) to emerge. Sproutly, based in Vancouver, Canada, has discovered water-soluble forms of cannabinoids, which it is now able to extract with a proprietary Aqueous Phytorecovery Process (APP) technological platform. In a recent interview, Dr. Arup Sen, chief science officer of Sproutly, discussed the technology and the potential that it holds for creating designer cannabis beverages, a promise that appears to have already blossomed. Sproutly has signed a letter of intent with Global Canna Labs Limited, the Caribbean’s largest medical cannabis producer. The two companies are planning to launch a line of cannabis-infused beverages for the Carribean market, based on Sproutly’s APP technology.

This easing of restrictions on cannabis has put favorable alternative and consumer-driven delivery methods under the spotlight. Marijuana available on the black market was consumed mainly through smoking. However, some people don’t enjoy smoking, or may be worried about the long-term health effects.

The obvious solution is to develop oral delivery methods that consumer want, but, in the case of cannabinoids, current oral delivery options are inefficient. For delivery via the human blood stream, hydrophilic (water-soluble) substances are best, but cannabinoids are hydrophobic (literally oil-based and afraid of water). Accordingly, several technologies to make cannabinoids water-compatible have been developed. They mostly involve the use of micro- or nanoemulsions. However, Sproutly’s APP technology goes beyond that by being able to recover water-soluble forms of cannabinoids, marking a huge leap in delivery.

As Sen explained in an interview with Investor Ideas (http://ibn.fm/QlipZ), “About three years ago we got interested in cannabis plants, however the challenge was that all the biologically active molecules are oils… So, we developed, and have a patent-pending process that is unique in that we are able to find and recover naturally water-soluble forms of these oils (that are able to) flow through the blood. (Now) we can recover commercially feasible amounts of these unique naturally water-soluble forms of the entire plant/cannabinoid/terpene profile.”

“This also exhibited an unusual feature, which is expected only of truly water-dissolved molecules, not formulated by emulsion or encapsulation, in that the truly water-soluble material, just like sugar and salt, go into our system rapidly, (hence fast onset for the cannabinoids and clear out from the system rapidly), so our offset time is less than an hour and half and most of them less than an hour. This is in sharp contrast to either free oil or all of the formulations that the industry has developed over the past couple of decades that formulate oil into water.”

“This now positions us to be the only player that can truly make, what would be called ‘designer beverages,’ where cannabis components are one component but we can add minerals, we can add anti-oxidants and we can add vitamins to really create functionality in the beverage and have controlled dosage.”

The technology is due to make its debut soon in Canada and abroad. Sproutly recently announced that it had entered into a letter of intent with Global Canna Labs Limited to establish a joint venture for the purpose of developing, producing, distributing, marketing and selling cannabis-infused beverages, edibles and topical products derived from Sproutly’s fully licensed, APP Technology (http://ibn.fm/zMSk6). Global Canna Labs Limited, with offices in Kingston, Jamaica, is the largest medical cannabis producer in the Caribbean. The firm counts among its board members a former Commissioner of the Jamaica Constabulary Force and a former Commissioner of Jamaica’s Customs Agency.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Sproutly.ca