• Following the legalization of recreational cannabis in California in January 2018, the cannabis market in the U.S. is expected to balloon to $23.3 billion by 2022.
• The global cannabis market could increase three-fold by 2022 with a projected worth of $32 billion.
• The sector will become increasingly competitive and Hybrid-aeroponics blended with big data and predictive analytics is expected to produce maximum cannabis yields, driving the market for premium cannabis products.
• The vertical farming market, which utilizes aeroponics for growing crops of all kinds, is expected to reach nearly $10 billion by 2025. Innovation and IP within the cannabis sector can be carried over into the urban farming sector.

Green Hygienics Holdings Inc. (OTC: GRYN) is a full-scope, premium cannabis cultivation company targeting the high-end medical and adult-use recreational market. With more than 25 years of experience in agricultural science and innovation, Green Hygienics is establishing itself as a leader in the advancement of science-driven cannabis cultivation systems. The company will grow by generating revenues from the sales of premium grade cannabis products, developing and licensing valuable IP, making strategic acquisitions, and creating trusted global consumer brands.

The company has integrated and is developing its own IP assets related to proprietary systems and apparatus, software, algorithms and custom-engineered hardware. This provides ultimate efficiencies in a commercially controlled cultivation environment. Utilizing the advantages of hybrid-aeroponics, Green Hygienics creates a sterile growing environment that produces consistent, high-quality product while maintaining the lowest possible carbon footprint. The company utilizes state-of-the-art, quality-controlled commercial cultivation methodology to assure production of pharmaceutical-grade cannabis at much higher yields and greatly reduced costs.

Hybrid-aeroponics produces quality cannabis faster than traditional methods since it doesn’t require natural sunlight or soil and can be operational and produce plants anywhere. Plants grown under aeroponic conditions receive water and nutrients directly to their roots via a fine mist in a controlled environment, dramatically reducing spoilage while keeping the product organic and the environment pest-free. The plants are given the exact amount of nutrients and moisture precisely when needed. Green Hygienics maintains ultimate control over every aspect of this cultivation process, which allows the company to operate with conservation of natural resources in mind. The technology that uses 90-95 percent less water and does not require the use of pesticides or fungicides.

Additionally, the company’s state-of-the-art engineered, controlled environments include electrical, mechanical and HVAC designs that meet mandatory fire and energy codes while improving energy efficiency significantly.

Through these practices, Green Hygienics is establishing itself as a leader in the advancement of science-driven cannabis cultivation systems. The company continues to develop and incubate software as well as engineer hardware to provide additional control over the commercial cultivation method. The company’s science-based approach reveals any growth anomalies before the human eye can see them. This makes it possible to monitor all facets of production, identify cultivation problems based upon scientific data, and implement immediate corrective action, if needed.

The future of commercial cannabis cultivation hinges on using science to control the growing environment in order to remain competitive and deliver a premium grade of product on a consistent basis. The company holds a competitive advantage through its ability to produce premium cannabis products at a significantly lower cost per gram than direct competitors and others in the cannabis industry.

Innovations within the sector that create efficiencies and successful brands will become highly valued. Green Hygienics and its forward-thinking management team are constantly studying the market dynamics of the cannabis industry in North America and abroad while actively pursuing possible expansion opportunities. The company is headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada and establishing operations in San Diego, California, targeting the $5 billion California cannabis market.

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

• Preventative health care market expected to see 15 percent CAGR in build toward $196.9 billion in revenues by 2024
• PreveCeutical Medical conducting five R&D programs that aim to boost preventative health for cancers, head injuries
• Recent investor update highlights company’s cannabis product development efforts, including sleep aid product agreement with Asterion Cannabis Inc.

PreveCeutical Medical Inc. (CSE: PREV) (OTCQB: PRVCF) (FSE: 18H) recently published an investor update detailing its corporate activities (http://ibn.fm/37FYr), particularly as they relate to its efforts to improve public health through a novel delivery method for cannabis-related products. The report notes PreveCeutical’s successes, underscored by its completion of a $6.5 million financing to inject new capital into its research efforts, as well as general capital purposes.

PreveCeutical CEO and President Stephen Van Deventer has a long history of building up cutting edge companies, including Aurora Cannabis Inc., together with PreveCeutical co-founder Kimberly Van Deventer. Since 2015, PreveCeutical’s mission has been one of developing preventive therapies for health-conscious consumers who want nature-based products.

In recent months, the company has advanced the testing of its Nature Identical™ peptides toward the treatment and prevention of cancers such as the glioblastoma, the disease that took the life of Sen. John McCain. The company’s research team identified eight peptide candidates for the anticipated line of wellness products earlier this year, building on analysis of the Caribbean blue scorpion whose venom is widely reputed to have had a historical benefit among islanders of treating and staving off cancers.

Under the second phase of development, PreveCeutical’s researchers are working to redesign the eight venom peptides to improve their stability and usefulness in drug applications (http://ibn.fm/aDmsx). Once that work is completed, the company will begin screening the peptides in cell-based cancer models.

PreveCeutical has been simultaneously developing its Sol-gel formulation as a nasal gel that will deliver cannabinoid solutions in a rapid-pass mechanism from the nose to the brain, avoiding the destructive aspects of the digestive system that seek to vet and eliminate chemicals that are foreign to the body.

By using Sol-gels to deliver cannabis derivatives in a non-smoked method, PreveCeutical expects to engineer better ways of responding to pain, inflammation, anxiety, seizures and other neurological disorders that cannabis has a history of alleviating. The company is currently testing several custom applicators to facilitate safe and consistent delivery of the cannabinoids to the central nervous system in defined measurements, all with the intent of creating a way to present medications directly where they will do the most good with the fewest side effects.

To further its cannabis research, PreveCeutical created an Australian subsidiary, through which the company conducts its development projects in conjunction with the Pharmacy Australia Centre of Excellence at the University of Queensland. PreveCeutical secured the licenses to have cannabis shipped from Canadian cultivators to the university earlier this year.

In mid-August, 2018, privately held Asterion Cannabis Inc., where Van Deventer also serves as CEO and board chairman, announced that it had granted PreveCeutical a worldwide license to use, manufacture, distribute and sell three natural health sleep aid products that are Health Canada-approved. The news followed on Asterion’s July announcement that it will build the world’s largest automated greenhouse in Queensland, using renewable energy to power the 4.3 million-square-foot facility (approximately 99 acres, or 40 hectares) for cannabis extraction, processing and research and development.

The company intends to begin manufacturing the Natural Health Products line of sleep aids and sell them in retail pharmacies and health-focused stores, as well as on PreveCeutical’s website.

PreveCeutical also has R&D programs targeting dual gene therapy for type 2 diabetes and obesity, non-addictive analgesic peptides as a replacement to highly addictive analgesics and a therapeutic product for treating athletes who suffer from concussions. Through these initiatives, the health sciences company aims to become a leader in preventative health sciences.

Crystal Equity Research noted that the company’s successful efforts to raise new funding in June for useable capital (http://ibn.fm/DK4Vl) put PreveCeutical’s potential “into a higher gear with its development pipeline,” predicting that preventative health care will remain lucrative as it builds toward an anticipated $196.9 billion in revenue by 2024 with a 15 percent CAGR. Grandview Research found that 60 percent of the world’s population uses some type of medicine, whether traditional or non-conventional. The National Center for Disease Control reported that 20 percent of the United States’ population uses alternative therapies (http://ibn.fm/U3PIP).

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

• Sharing Services owns, operates or controls an interest in companies specializing in the direct selling industry
• The company has its unique ‘Blue Ocean Strategy’ to promote successful entrepreneurship
• Direct Selling continues to be a major growth industry

Texas-based Sharing Services, Inc. (OTC: SHRV) focuses on direct selling. The company owns, operates or controls an interest in an array of companies specializing in the direct selling industry. Sharing Services’ mission is to transform the direct selling industry model by creating a diversified holdings company that maintains an ownership interest in numerous direct selling operations. Its mission relies heavily on its implemented ‘Blue Ocean Strategy’.

Sharing Services’ subsidiaries either sell products directly to consumers via independent representatives or offer services. These services include health and wellness, travel, auto and home insurance, life and health insurance, energy brokerage and training. The United States is the world’s largest direct selling market, and, in 2017, 18.6 million people were involved in direct selling in the U.S. (http://ibn.fm/IVPBy).

The company’s ‘Blue Ocean Strategy’ combines important components together to execute its mission. This includes elevating home-based entrepreneurs, called “Elepreneurs” (Elevated Entrepreneurs), using direct selling channels to generate 100 percent organic growth while creating as many successful independent business leaders as possible. Elepreneurs, LLC is a 100 percent wholly owned subsidiary of Sharing Services. The aim of Elepreneurs is to contract with companies to promote and sell products by employing a direct selling model.

Direct Selling is a growth industry that gives individuals the opportunity to be independent entrepreneurs. Direct Selling News reported (http://ibn.fm/KgTkC) that, “In 2017, global direct selling recorded US$189.6 billion (2017 constant U.S. dollars) in estimated retail sales – a 1.6 percent increase over 2016 – and up nearly $20 billion since 2014, resulting in a 3.7% compound annual growth rate over the 3-year period from 2014 to 2017.”

Recently, Sharing Services signed a joint venture agreement with Health Wealth & Happiness Limited (“HWH”). The focus of this agreement is to expand the company’s “Elepreneurs” brand and market its products in Asia. “Elepreneurs Asia Limited” is the name of the newly created company. The joint venture anticipates market openings throughout Asia, leveraging marketing and sales rights in China, Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Papua, New Guinea.

Sharing Services also recently announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Elevacity Global, LLC, will launch its product line in Australia and New Zealand. Plans to complete the process this year to meet consumer demand are being fast-tracked. In a news release, Robert Oblon, chairman of Sharing Services, stated, “I am confident that the team of professionals we are working with in Australia and New Zealand will successfully launch our products. We are pleased to continue our ‘Blue Ocean Strategy’ philosophy on the other side of the globe.”

With its aggressive business strategy, Sharing Services is revolutionizing the direct selling industry. The company has grown by more than 10,000 independent sales representatives over the last several months because of its emphasis on helping people become independent business leaders. It is working to mesh Elepreneurs with the Sharing Service brand to establish creative interaction that drives corporate success and develops successful entrepreneurs.

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

• Youngevity International announces second quarter 2018 results
• Coffee revenues rise by 40 percent
• Youngevity to enter the hemp CBD market

With the release of its second quarter 2018 results, Youngevity International, Inc. (NASDAQ: YGYI) offers a glimpse into coffee’s influence on our social and commercial milieus. This simple beverage, often overlooked because of its ubiquitous use, has been credited with nothing less than catalyzing the industrial revolution (http://ibn.fm/UH03c). Before its introduction to Europe, standard breakfast fare included beer, a practice that may have contributed to the counsel “Eat breakfast like a king.” However, kings typically do not need to rise early to plough the fields or take the sheep out to pasture. Early morning draughts of beer are unlikely to foster good work ethics, but coffee can, according to some commentators. It’s responsible “for the increase in productivity and innovation that characterized the industrial revolution.” At Youngevity, this dynamic appears to be at work again. The company’s second quarter 2018 results reveal that revenues have risen, boosted by a sharp performance improvement from its coffee segment.

Youngevity’s coffee connection began in 2014, when Youngevity International purchased a 1,000-acre coffee plantation in Matagalpa, Nicaragua. The plantation had long been neglected but still housed 180 dedicated workers and their families. The first phase in getting it fully operational again focused on those workers. The company launched, what seemed at the time, a simple “Kindness Project” request for used clothing from distributors and customers. The response was overwhelming. Enough was received to provide clothing for workers on all of the plantations in the vicinity, including the one belonging to Youngevity. This led to the establishment of the ‘Youngevity Be the Change Foundation’ after the neighboring plantations began calling the Youngevity estate ‘The Giving Plantation’, an initiative that aligns with Youngevity’s desire to promote healthy and empowered lifestyles.

Youngevity has reported that, for the three months ended June 30, 2018, revenues increased 6.6 percent to $44.26 million, as compared to $41.53 million for the three months ended June 30, 2017 (http://ibn.fm/clomt). Commercial coffee sales increased by $1.42 million, or 23.7 percent, to $7.41 million, compared to $5.99 million for the three months ended June 30, 2017, an increase that was mainly due to increased revenues of $1.17 million from its green coffee business. During the quarter, approximately 17 percent of total revenues came from commercial coffee sales.

The rest of Youngevity’s revenues were derived from direct sales. Total sales rose to $36.85 million, registering a 3.7 percent increase of $1.31 million over the prior year period. This increase was primarily attributed to revenues from new acquisitions and price increases on certain products that went into effect on January 1, 2018. For the quarter, gross profit increased approximately 5.3 percent to $25.38 million, compared to $24.1 million for the three months ended June 30, 2017. Overall gross profit as a percentage of revenues decreased slightly to 57.4 percent, compared to 58 percent in the same period last year.

Youngevity is also moving into the cannabidiol (CBD) market (http://ibn.fm/YXxVT). In August, the company announced that it is entering the CBD market with a proprietary line of hemp-derived CBD oil products. At present, the CBD market is experiencing meteoric growth and is projected to reach $2.1 billion by 2020, with $450 million coming from hemp-based sources, according to estimates provided by the Hemp Business Journal. That’s a 700 percent increase from 2016. Demand for CBD has skyrocketed, due primarily to a wide variety of applications that ranges from cosmetics to food and beverage to health supplements.

Youngevity is a leading omni-direct lifestyle company offering a hybrid of the direct selling business model that also offers e-commerce and the power of social selling. Assembling a virtual Main Street of products and services under one corporate entity, YGYI offers products from the six top-selling retail categories: health/nutrition, home/family, food/beverage (including coffee), spa/beauty, apparel/jewelry and innovative services. The company was formed in the wake of a summer 2011 merger between Youngevity Essential Life Sciences and Javalution® Coffee Company (now part of the company’s food and beverage division). The resulting company became Youngevity International, Inc. in July 2013.

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

• Intelagy card processing solution promises to save merchants significant costs
• Business model is subscription-based instead of charging according to credit card processing volume
• Company’s flat fee structure begins at $29 per month

Accelerated Technologies Holding Corp. (OTC: ATHC) has reported an overwhelmingly positive response to its new credit card processing solution. ATHC’s managing director, Alex Lemberg, recently spoke to NetworkNewsAudio’s Stuart Smith about the company’s innovative business model and the goals that it has for the rest of the year (http://ibn.fm/o6iEf).

ATHC, which provides consulting and develops technology products and services, recently launched Intelagy, which provides a range of services, including credit card processing, branding, web development and hosting solutions, to small-to-medium businesses. “Yesterday we did our first fairly decent-sized marketing campaign,” Lemberg said in the interview (http://ibn.fm/XQzgu).

Intelagy is subscription-based, meaning that merchants can choose to pay for the level of service that suits their business needs. Instead of the traditional service model which charges clients according to the volume of their card processing payments, Intelagy charges its clients a flat fee. According to Intelagy’s fee structure, organizations that process $100,000 per year would pay a subscription fee of $29 per month, while those which process over $1 million per year would pay $199 per month.

Lemberg added, “Think about the ridiculous amounts of cost savings and just the logic behind that, right? Today, if your business is doing $500,000 in credit card processing, you’re paying a percentage of that to those independent sales organizations. And when your business goes from $500,000 to $1 million, you’re still paying a percentage. So, really, you’re getting dinged, for lack of a better word, the better your business actually operates. And there’s just no logical reason behind it.”

ATHC’s managing director spoke of the company’s two main goals for 2018: to reach 100,000 merchants and to launch subsidiary FinBridge, which will lend capital to alternative business lenders. Among these lenders would be independent sales organizations offering debit and credit card processing services to merchants. FinBridge is being designed to find inefficiencies in organizations the provide consumer loans and help them improve operations via better controls and lower risk factors.

The company’s portfolio also includes IconXchange, currently being developed to fund personality brands. The platform will use blockchain technology and provide an open, decentralized infrastructure that will allow individuals to obtain and exchange investment in personalities of the world of sports and entertainment.

ATHC also owns XStreamCorp, which is described as a revolutionary “reality gaming social network.” XStreamCorp was designed to compete with Facebook’s social gaming market and will incorporate proprietary technology to provide users with streaming video, audio and messaging capabilities.

Speaking of how ATHC hopes to impact small to mid-sized business, Lemberg voiced hope that his company will assist clients in becoming more cost effective, both in terms of credit card processing and securing sustainable financing for business growth.

“From a credit card processing perspective, we will begin to give them services that they would never be able to afford, or even know existed from a technology perspective. And then, more importantly, when they need money to actually grow or sustain or cover a particular time of the year, like a season where they can use more inventory, we will bridge them to more affordable, less predatory, more sustainable financing products,” he concluded.

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

• NUGL has hired a renowned attorney to serve as an IP and trademark law consultant
• NUGL has created one of the largest cannabis-related search app platforms and the world’s very first comprehensive cannabis search engine
• Company’s database includes only true, untainted user ratings and feedback, with no fake reviews or purchased top-spot listings

NUGL Inc. (OTC: NUGL), creator of the world’s first comprehensive cannabis software platform and a company setting a new technology standard for the cannabis industry, recently announced that it has hired renowned attorney Scott P. Shaw to serve as an expert industry consultant in IP and trademark law (http://ibn.fm/yNVQd).

Named a “Super Lawyer” in 2017 by Los Angeles magazine – an honor recognizing attorneys who rank in the top five percent for excellence in practicing law – Shaw is a shareholder with Call & Jensen and specializes in litigation and strategic client counseling for that firm. He was honored as a “Rising Star” for eight years and was been distinguished as one of the “2015 Top 25 Orange County Rising Stars” and the “Top 100 Southern California Rising Stars.”

In engaging Shaw’s services, NUGL aims to protect its brand and intellectual property – a necessary measure as the company continues to grow and build a diverse range in its network of profiles. As one of the largest cannabis-related search app platforms, offering unparalleled expertise in forming brands within the cannabis space, NUGL continues progressing toward its goal of becoming a household name in the cannabis industry.

NUGL stands out in the cannabis space by offering the only cannabis search app that provides pure search results that are equal and unbiased; the company does not sell top-spot listings or fake reviews.

NUGL’s app provides topnotch searchability to connect users with customer-rated dispensaries, cannabis strains and brands, but its services go far beyond that, delivering something greatly needed and truly unique in the cannabis space. NUGL’s application provides profiles for every type of cannabis brand, business and service, including listing physicians, lawyers, accountants, real estate agents and other entities that offer cannabis-related services.

Other features that set NUGL’s application apart are its superior networking capabilities and its ability to arm novice startups with the marketing and business tools they need to move forward – tools that are otherwise largely unavailable in the cannabis space.

As the cannabis industry continues to grow and as consumers become more knowledgeable, demand for specific marijuana brands will increase, and brands will emerge with more narrowed focuses. The startups and developers behind these brands will need an improved means of getting their products on the right shelves and in front of consumers, and NUGL provides that. NUGL’s new technology gives cannabis brands and service providers the ability to actively network and make crucial connections. Through NUGL’s technology, a brand holder can reach out to dispensaries, for example, to forge deals to get his or her brand on the necessary shelves. This provides a brand with physical availability addresses, which, in turn, gives the consumer the necessary content to conduct a superior search for products and services.

Notably, NUGL’s comprehensive, flexible technology has been built on a web app, with the user interface and client-side logic running in a web browser. This web application communicates seamlessly with both iOS and Android.

NUGL has launched numerous features, including exclusive profile claiming, features for brands and listings and honest consumer-based reviews. The company is quickly gaining market share and now has directory services that span North America. The company’s B2B and B2P application is one-of-a-kind in the cannabis industry, providing a crucially needed service as the cannabis space continues to evolve at breakneck speed.

For more information, visit the company’s website at http://ibn.fm/NUGL

• Easily integrated BLOCKStrain platform tracks cannabis supply chain from genome to sale
• Blockchain-based genetic registration process provides verification security for growers and consumers alike
• Protection of proprietary cannabis strains is critical, as eventual entry of Big Pharma and Big Ag companies into newly legalized cannabis space is certain

As the legal cannabis space expands and major players enter the industry, the need for supply chain verification is growing dramatically, with real-world problems already becoming apparent. These include:

• IP lawsuits that have not stood up in court;
• Known copying of major brands in dispensaries by illegal growers; and
• Gray market products being passed off as legal.

Cannabis industry suppliers and consumers are currently faced with a major gap in supply chain transparency and verification, a gap that’s feeding a growing industry demand for an effective solution.

The team at BLOCKStrain Technology Corp. (TSX.V: DNAX), a full-service software company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, wisely predicted that it would take an immutable, powerful technology to accomplish this critical task. To that end, BLOCKStrain has developed the first integrated blockchain platform that registers and tracks cannabis intellectual property (“IP”) from genome to sale.

“This industry is growing at such an exponential rate,” Robert Galarza, CEO and co-founder of BLOCKStrain, said in an exclusive interview with NetworkNewsAudio (http://ibn.fm/kMNJi).  “You need to be able to create a method, utilizing technology, to verify that product and make sure the product that’s being put on shelves is tested and safe… You want to make sure what you’re putting in your body is healthy.”

Through the use of BLOCKStrain, cannabis growers can defend intellectual property rights with an authentic, verifiable chain of evidence embedded in the blockchain from genome to sale. For companies in the cannabis space, efforts to secure intellectual property protection should start early and remain a top priority. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) routinely grants patents for cannabis and cannabis-related inventions, according to an article in The Legal Intelligencer (http://ibn.fm/hukAC), but that doesn’t mean it’s an easy process. Patent claims cover a wide range of technologies, with all requiring proof of invention or the product of human ingenuity through selective or genetic breeding, the article states.

That’s where BLOCKStrain’s platform comes in by providing a gene-registration defense of intellectual property rights and establishing historical proof of ownership. That’s huge for cannabis growers seeking to develop their own brands for an increasingly astute and knowledgeable base of loyal consumers. The authenticity of a particular cannabis strain is followed from genome to sale, providing reliable, transparent cannabis supply chain tracking via BLOCKStrain’s unique platform.

With a solid foundation in place, BLOCKStrain is looking toward the future with a near-term focus on the Canadian cannabis market ahead of the country’s scheduled October 2018 legalization of adult-use recreational cannabis.

“Our goal is to help this industry develop and unfold,” Galarza stated, adding that BLOCKStrain is well positioned to grow its market share by “putting the best solution in front of the industry and all of the participants here.”

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.BLOCKStrain.io

• DeepMarkit is the only publicly listed company focused completely on gamification
• The company assists businesses in converting players into leads and leads into customers
• Analysts suggest that the global gamification market will be a $22 billion-plus industry by 2022

DeepMarkit Inc. (TSX.V: MKT) (OTCQB: MKTDF), headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, develops and markets gamification technology to assist businesses in engaging consumers and other audiences. The company offers a robust patent-pending, ‘Gamification’ technology platform. Its management team has deep experience in creating and marketing premier gaming products.

DeepMarkit is the only publicly listed company centered on gamification. P&S Market Research estimates that the worldwide gamification market will be worth more than $22 billion by 2022 (http://ibn.fm/2QXsc). Expanding use of smartphones and mobile devices is creating a substantial base for the gamification market.

DeepMarkit is integrated with numerous partner distribution platforms as it pursues this significant market opportunity. The company helps businesses convert players into leads and leads into customers. The DeepMarkit platform integrates an array of gaming elements with interactive advertising and powerful visuals, including 3D images. The platform is suitable for multi-channel and omni-channel approaches, which integrate web, mobile and social media.

DeepMarkit’s conversion tools include social campaigns. The design of its high-end conversion tool aims to provide interactive experiences and reward participants via prizes. With this tool, businesses can convert unknown social media followers into known email subscribers, sending external traffic to a business’s website.

The company’s conversion tools also include its Gamify Slide Out. DeepMarkit offers monthly subscription plans, distributed by way of ecommerce platforms. The Basic Conversion Tool is designed to be functional in less than 10 minutes – fully integrated into a customer’s website. Gamify Slide Out converts website traffic into email subscribers.

Fundamentally, DeepMarkit’s platform enables businesses to create branded games. These games subsequently attract new customers and therefore generate sales, producing leads via data capture. MarTech Advisor (MTA) notes (http://ibn.fm/xgF0H), “Data is widely available across departments today. The key lies in utilizing this data to drive more revenue – starting with high-quality lead generation.”

DeepMarkit’s proprietary promotions platform “Gamify” drew a $1.5 million investment from Allstate International LLC (Hong Kong). This investment gave Allstate a 10 percent stake in DeepMarkit. It also presents an opportunity to bring the Gamify platform into the burgeoning Asian gaming market. P&S Market Research also noted (http://ibn.fm/Ss4HF) that “Geographically, North America has been the largest contributor to the global gamification market revenue. Nevertheless, developing regions, which include Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Middle-East & Africa, are likely to show faster growth, during 2016 – 2022, compared with developed regions of North America and Europe.”

DeepMarkit’s sales strategy centers on continuing to add integration partners, thus increasing the company’s product visibility. Its sales strategy also includes cross marketing additional products such as social campaigns and surveys. DeepMarkit gains customers via its free product version of Gamify Slide Out. It then works to convert free customers into paying customers with its Enhanced Gamify Slide Out with paid features.

Gamify is available for free download on all major e-commerce platforms – including Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce and as a plugin for WordPress – opening the door for easy and broad adoption.

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

• ASCK projects future revenues of $45 million from 300 homes per year at a 20 percent margin from its Goldendale, Washington facility; it will initially produce materials for 100 homes annually
• CEO John Sprovieri said that the firm’s planned facility in Ontario, Canada, could export materials for homes in the Northeastern U.S.; new facility in Cuba is possible
• ASCK manufactures proprietary lightweight and energy efficient hybrid wall and roof panels for on-site construction by contractors/developers

Auscrete Corp. (OTC: ASCK) is planning to begin production by year-end from its flagship facility in Goldendale, Washington. When completed, the site is expected to have capacity for 300 homes that could generate annual revenues of $45 million at a projected margin of 20 percent for the company, as Sprovieri noted in an audio interview with NetworkNewsWire (http://ibn.fm/CpFja).

Sprovieri said that he expects ASCK to be in production at its Goldendale facility by the end of this calendar year, with the plant boasting initial annual capacity of about 100 homes. Later, the company plans to add two more buildings at the location and expand its production capacity.

“Initially, our first production building will enable us to build up to 100 homes,” he said in the interview. “With two more buildings, typically, we could build more than 300 homes per year. Three hundred homes per year is about $45 million revenue. Our bottom line can usually get to 20%. As you can imagine, the company should be quite profitable.”

ASCK is a building manufacturing company focused on ‘green’, energy efficient structures made from lightweight hybrid concrete/insulation wall and roof panels. The company, which is positioning itself as a major supplier in the affordable housing market, has stated that these units have very low maintenance costs. They are resistant to insects and mold, as well as natural events such as hurricanes and earth tremors. The houses, to be sold to contractors/developers, would be constructed onsite. The materials are also suitable for commercial and industrial structures, ASCK said.

Sprovieri added that the government of Canada has expressed interest to ASCK’s Canadian partners about establishing a housing materials plant in Cuba. Additionally, upon completion, ASCK’s Ontario facility could, in the future, export homes to the Northeastern U.S. Sprovieri noted that because homes constructed of the company’s materials will not burn, there is also a future opportunity for the company to provide houses in California. That state has already had more than 1,000 houses destroyed by wildfires this year, according to USA Today (http://ibn.fm/ez3op).

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

• Safety improvements in lithium battery technology on the horizon
• Lithium demand driven by electric vehicle and energy storage system uses
• Quantum Minerals adds nine new claims at lithium-rich Irgon Mine Property

Not all news about lithium is good. Who wants to hear about another fire started by an exploding lithium battery? Such reports raise justified concern, particularly as lithium batteries are becoming almost as ubiquitous as outlets connected to the electrical power grid. But such ill tidings may soon be a thing of the past, for a new electrolyte may stop lithium batteries from catching fire. This welcome development removes one more hurdle to the widespread adoption of lithium-ion batteries and boosts the fortunes of lithium producers like QMC Quantum Minerals Corp. (OTC: QMCQF) (TSX.V: QMC) (FSE: 3LQ). As global demand for the metal continues to rise, the mineral resource company has increased its claims at its Irgon Mine Property. The company’s 100-percent-owned Irgon Lithium Mine Project lies within the prolific Cat Lake-Winnipeg River rare-element pegmatite field of southeastern Manitoba, which also hosts Cabot Corporation’s rare-element TANCO pegmatite deposit.

Demand for lithium is expected to continue to increase, as lithium-ion battery applications and systems multiply. The main driver, at present, appears to be power systems for electric vehicles. However, lithium batteries are also finding increasing deployment as part of energy storage systems (“ESS”). For example, by June 2018, Tesla had already deployed “over 1 GWh of energy storage,” including a single installation of 129 MWh in South Australia (http://ibn.fm/Ojgl6). In addition, French utility EDF plans to invest $10 billion in 10 GW of energy storage systems by 2035, and, here at home, New York State wants to have 1,500 MW of ESS installed by 2025. The city had its first behind-the-meter installation last May – a 300 kW, 1.2 MWh lithium-ion battery project in Brooklyn (http://ibn.fm/5HXTH). These are just a sample of the many ESS projects underway or planned in the U.S. and around the world. It would be a decidedly unhappy state of affairs if one or more of those batteries were to explode or burst into flames, considering that a Tesla Powerpack weighs 2,650 lbs. (1,200 kg) (http://ibn.fm/wlGiZ).

If the scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) get their way, that aforementioned explosion is unlikely to happen. At the 256th national meeting and exposition of the American Chemical Society, Gabriel Veith, who headed the project, announced an inexpensive method to prevent battery fires from occurring (http://ibn.fm/FRwio). Named after an imaginary green substance from the world of Dr. Seuss, ‘oobleck’ is a suspension of cornstarch in water that demonstrates the properties of a non-Newtonian fluid, i.e., one that behaves like a solid when subjected to stress. As Wikipedia explains: “A person may walk on a large tub of oobleck without sinking due to its shear thickening properties, as long as the individual moves quickly enough to provide enough force with each step to cause the thickening. Also, if oobleck is placed on a large subwoofer driven at a sufficiently high volume, it will thicken and form standing waves in response to low frequency sound waves from the speaker. If a person were to punch or hit oobleck, it would thicken and act like a solid. After the blow, the oobleck will go back to its thin liquid like state.” Magical stuff indeed!

Quantum Minerals has now staked nine additional claims at its lithium-rich Irgon Mine Property, covering an area of 1,936 hectares (4,784 acres), which raises its contiguous footprint from 2,647 hectares (6,541 acres) to 4,583 hectares (11,325 acres) (http://ibn.fm/gLFJ1). The project, located at Cat Lake, Manitoba, is home to several pegmatite dikes rich in lithium (Li), plus accessory cesium (Cs) and tantalum (Ta) mineralization.

The former developer of the property, the Lithium Corporation of Canada Limited, carried out substantial drilling and underground developmental work from which it estimated the deposit to contain more than 1.2 million tons of spodumene-bearing pegmatite, graded at 1.51 percent lithium oxide.

Quantum Minerals’ portfolio also includes two volcanic massive sulphide (VMS) properties – the Rocky Lake and Rocky-Namew, known collectively as the Namew Lake District Project – which potentially contain base metal-rich mineral deposits. These claims extend over approximately 23,000 hectares (~57,000 acres) in one of Canada’s most productive mining regions, the Flin Flon/Snow Lake VMS mining district of western Manitoba, Canada.

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