• Research finds that digital technology empowered artists to find new opportunities to innovate, create during pandemic.
• Report finds that low-cost, high-value marketing services and collaboration tools will become critical for music industry going forward.
• As a company employing digital technology to support independent artists, Sanwire is ideally positioned for new era.

MIDiA Research, a specialist media and technology analysis company, cites digital technology and social media as powerful tools for independent artists to create content and engage with fans during COVID-19, with increasing roles in the post-pandemic world (https://ibn.fm/x6K6k). As a company dedicated to employing digital technologies to provide a broad spectrum of services for independent artists, Sanwire Corp. (OTC: SNWR) and its wholly owned subsidiary, Intercept Music, stands to benefit from the growing importance digital is expected to play in the music industry. The pandemic has disrupted the music industry in an unprecedented way. As concerts, tours and festivals are canceled and record stores closed because of social distancing measures, revenue streams for artists have dried up. Although COVID-19 has devastated large swaths of the economy — including the entertainment industry — music artists’ responses to the pandemic have been more positive than negative as they turn to tech and social media to entertain larger audiences than ever before. Digital technology lived up to its promise, enabling the industry’s resilience and creativity in the face of hardship never seen before. For example, enabled by the digital technology, a new income source emerging in 2020 is live streaming. The MIDiA report notes that an estimated 20% of artists have been involved in live-streaming performances since the onset of the pandemic. This figure will grow as the sector develops into a significant delivery channel. As a result, live streaming is likely to become a permanent channel rather than a temporary solution (https://ibn.fm/znM8A). Social media marketing becomes ever more important for artists as they take advantage of more time to create, collaborate and communicate with fans on social media,. However, as the content flows onto the social and streaming platforms, it will become an even more crowded space. With almost half of independent artists managing their own marketing, frequently on low or no budgets, capturing the attention of fans and a share of the market is a challenge. MIDiA Research predicts that artists will depend more than ever on light-touch, low-cost but high-value marketing services and collaboration tools (https://ibn.fm/MxlmJ). This is where Sanwire steps in to fill this growing market need as a company offering digital solutions to empower independent artists with a marketing system specifically built for them. Through its subsidiary Intercept Music, Sanwire provides music artists with tools that help them organize and creatively share content, enabling them to create posts to keep existing fans engaged while attracting new fans as well. With best practices from some of the best artists built into the platform, Intercept Music enables artists to monitor their social media and track results from a single dashboard. As a company that provides essential digital technology designed to support the needs of artists in a pandemic world, Sanwire Corp is ideally positioned to occupy the growing sector. For more information, visit the company’s website at www.SanwireCorporation.com and www.InterceptMusic.com. NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to SNWR are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/SNWR

• Research indicates that functional and medicinal mushrooms offer range of physical and mental benefits
• Pure Extracts’ milestone-based strategy catalyzing Company growth
• Strategy includes license procurement, production, marketing of in-house and white label products

Mainstream science is now catching up with what traditional medicine has known for years — that functional and medicinal mushrooms can help treat disease, improve mental cognition and fire up digestion. Pure Extract Technologies Inc., a soon-to-be public, plant-based Canadian extraction company, is on track to position itself as an industry leader through a strategy based on three growth-focused milestones that include the application to Health Canada for a Natural Health Products site license, production and product marketing. Interest in functional and medicinal mushrooms has skyrocketed in recent years – particularly for medicinal varieties such as psilocybin currently being studied as a treatment option for depression, anxiety, PTSD, bipolar disorder, Alzheimer’s disease and addiction (https://ibn.fm/Hl5tn). FDA status on the use of psychedelics appears to be promising, especially since medicinal mushrooms were granted breakthrough therapy status for treatment-resistant depression in 2020 with approvals expected in 2021  (https://ibn.fm/XNMns). Pure Extracts is positioned to benefit from the growing market for functional and medicinal mushrooms and has already progressed significantly towards becoming an industry leader through its milestone-based strategy. The first phase involved completing the expansion of the Company’s 10,000 sq. ft., state-of-the-art processing facility earlier this year, followed by the submission of an evidence package to Health Canada seeking a Standard Processing Licence. Having recently received its Standard Processing License from Health Canada, the Company is currently commencing operations and sales for extraction tolling services and white-label products. The third milestone includes full production, compliance testing, submission of private label products to Health Canada and secure distribution with provincial governments. This last milestone involves the activation of sales and marketing campaigns for the Company’s nationally-recognized product lines. Along with functional and medicinal mushrooms, Pure Extracts is also successfully engaged in the hemp industry through three additional verticals that include marketing for in-house brands, conversion of raw hemp into marketable products and providing white labeling services for existing brands. The Company’s activities are supported by an advisory agreement with Dr. Alexander MacGregor, founder of Transpharm Canada Inc. — company that provides third-party clinical trial services through its Good Manufacturing Practice (“GMP”) manufacturing and testing facility that is fully compliant and licensed by Health Canada. Pure Extracts is leveraging the current transitory state of the functional mushroom market, considered by some analysts to still be in its early stages where dry biomass is still being converted to extracts. The Company’s milestone-based strategy will ensure it grows and moves forward as a leader as it strives to produce consistent, pure mushroom extracts while acceptance of mushrooms wellness products by the mainstream public continues to grow. For more information, visit the Company’s website at www.PureExtractsCorp.com. NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Pure Extracts are available in the company’s newsroom at http://ibn.fm/Pure

• Biotechnology company 180 Life Sciences has launched a variety of advanced clinical and preclinical-stage efforts to develop novel anti-inflammatory treatments for patients with chronic illnesses
• A planned merger with 180 Life Sciences advanced under a special purpose acquisition corporation (SPAC) is expected to be completed within the next month, resulting in a Nasdaq filing under the ticker ATNF
• 180 Life Sciences’s founders are an experienced team of medical scientists who pioneered anti-inflammatory pharmaceuticals in the 1990s that are still in use today, generating billions in revenue
• The company’s own-IP clinical trials seek to resolve inflammation-related issues in conditions such as Dupuytren’s disease, frozen shoulder, arthritis, ulcerative colitis, liver fibrosis and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis
• Analysts forecast the anti-inflammatory therapeutics market will be worth $191.42 billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 3 percent

Clinical stage biotechnology company 180 Life Sciences Corp., whose scientific teams are led by drug developers renowned for producing some of the largest-selling pharmaceuticals to ever come to market, is accelerating toward a planned Nasdaq launch under a special purpose acquisition corporation (“SPAC”) that expects to rocket its research into novel anti-inflammatory therapies toward some stellar goals. KBL Merger Corp. (NASDAQ: KBLM, NASDAQ: KBLMR, and NASDAQ: KBLMW), previously announced its SPAC merger plans with 180 Life Sciences to create a company to be trading under the ticker ATNF (https://ibn.fm/JUoEd), with closing anticipated by November (https://ibn.fm/POsZo). The company recently successfully closed bridge financing for working capital to advance its efforts to go public and develop its pipeline of important new pharmaceuticals. Following U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) approval of the company’s S4 registration statement earlier this month, the company organized a special meeting of stockholders for Oct. 26 regarding the business combination. The clinical trial pipeline includes a Phase 2b/3 trial expected to result in data read-out in 2021 for therapies to fight early-stage Dupuytren’s disease, a condition in which one or more fingers become permanently bent in a flexed position. Additional Phase 2 trials already  expected to be intiated by year-end or early 2021 include treatment of frozen shoulder, a common condition characterized by stiffness and severe pain in the shoulder joint. Additonal planned  trails include an immune system suppression therapy to tackle Postoperative Cognitive Dysfunction (POCD), a condition manifesting as a long-lasting cognitive decline after surgery that is regarded as a major clinical problem with no clear cause or effective therapy at this point, although neuroinflammation is understood to play a critical role (https://ibn.fm/U3SJM). These advanced trials involve the development of products to treat unmet medical needs through anti-TNF therapy, which seeks to block the activity of a substance in the body that can cause inflammation and lead to immune-system diseases. The company also has begun preclinical studies looking at treatments for liver fibrosis and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, inflammation-related pain, early arthritis and ulcerative colitis in ex-smokers, all with anticipated inflammatory system tie-ins. “Our scientific team has unparalleled expertise and a proven track record of developing unique drugs that improved the lives of millions of people and created companies that were later sold for billions of dollars,” KBL Merger Corp. CEO Dr. Marlene Krauss stated in the June news release about the planned ATNF merger. “We have assembled this world-class team to build a unique, global biotechnology company dedicated to developing novel drugs in a cost-effective manner.” Krauss has invested more than $1 billion through three institutional venture capital funds, numerous IPOs and three prior SPACS, with the current venture marking her fourth SPAC in the healthcare space. The medical scientist founders of 180 Life Sciences Krauss referred to are pioneers in the field of anti-inflammatory drugs, developing anti-TNF biologics and anti-integrin inhibitors in 1990s that are still on the market, spawning a new class of inflammation therapeutics. For more information, visit the company’s website at www.180LifeSciences.com. NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to 180 Life Sciences are available in the company’s newsroom at http://ibn.fm/180

• Investment bank UBS reports that electric cars will cost the same to make as conventional cars by 2024.
• Expensive batteries, which account for between a quarter and two-fifths of EV’s cost, have been barrier to production.
• NETE recently announced entry into EV space through merger with privately held Mullen Technologies Inc.

New research from investment bank UBS indicates that electric vehicles (“EVs”) may be as cheap to manufacture as regular models within the next four years (https://ibn.fm/UV8WX). This news bodes well for Net Element Inc. (NASDAQ: NETE), a global financial technology and value-added solutions group that recently announced its planned entry into the EV space through an upcoming merger with privately held Mullen Technologies Inc. (https://ibn.fm/xBu5G). According to the research, “electric cars will cost the same to make as conventional cars, with internal combustion engines, by 2024 and an acceleration in the shift away from fossil fuel vehicles may be imminent.” In addition, “the extra cost of manufacturing battery electric cars versus their fossil fuel equivalents will diminish to just $1,900 (£1,470) per car by 2022, and disappear completely by 2024, according to research by the investment bank UBS.” This is big news to many car manufacturers, which have been “reluctant to shift production away from their profitable internal combustion engine models towards electric cars because of expensive batteries, which are almost exclusively made by east Asian companies. . . .  Batteries account for between a quarter and two-fifths of the cost of the entire vehicle.” UBS said it anticipates battery costs to drop below $100 per kilowatt hour (“kWh”), a key milestone, by 2022. Mullen recently announced its own plans to start work on a manufacturing facility as well as accept pre-orders for its M05 fully electric SUV (https://ibn.fm/TKhPz). “We are excited to begin the build-out of our pilot facility and pre-sales of our MX-05 SUV in October,” said Mullen Technologies chairman and CEO David Michery. “We plan on completing the build-out by April 2021 and to begin assembly of certification prototypes by July 2021. These vehicles will be used for homologation, which is expected to take 16 months and be completed by May of 2022, at which time we expect to begin delivering the first vehicles to the public.” The planned manufacturing facility, which was originally Mullen’s high-voltage battery R&D center, will be renovated to include general assembly as well as battery assembly capabilities; the structure will also house R&D and serve as a warehouse. When complete, the facility will be capable of producing up to 1,000 MX-05 EVs per year. In addition, the plant will manufacture other Mullen models, including the already announced MX-07 and MX-03. Net Element operates a payments-as-a-service transactional and value-added services platform for small to medium enterprise (“SME”) in the United States and selected emerging markets. In the U.S., the company aims to grow transactional revenue by innovating SME productivity services using blockchain technology solutions and Aptito, its cloud-based, restaurant and retail point-of-sale solution. Internationally, Net Element’s strategy is to leverage its omni-channel platform to deliver flexible offerings to emerging markets with diverse banking, regulatory and demographic conditions. Net Element was ranked as one of the fastest-growing companies in North America on Deloitte’s 2017 Technology Fast 500(TM). In 2017 Net Element was recognized by “South Florida Business Journal” as one of 2016’s fastest-growing technology companies. For more information on Net Element, visit the company’s website at www.NetElement.com. NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to NETE are available in the company’s newsroom at http://ibn.fm/NETE

• Gage expanding in Michigan, one of fastest-growing legal cannabis markets in United States
• Adult-use cannabis revenues in Michigan projected at $1 billion per year for 2021, surpassing $1.5 billion by 2023
• Gage currently operates 5 dispensaries, planning to open and operate 8-10 by the end of 2020, with 20+ expected to open by the end of 2021
• YTD revenue estimated at $30+ million, 157% increase from January to September 2020
• Gage planning Canadian listing for Q1 2021

Bruce Linton, a pioneer of the global cannabis industry and current executive chairman of Gage Cannabis Co., has set his sights on Michigan as the next big market for the rapidly growing cannabis industry in the United States. As a leading vertically integrated operator in the industry, Gage has already made significant headway into Michigan and is well-positioned to expand its footprint in record time. “Michigan is one of the top cannabis markets in the U.S., and I am confident Gage is poised to continue building on its historical execution and fortifying its position as one of the top operators and brands in Michigan, as well as a name consumers look for across the United States,” said Linton in recent statements (https://ibn.fm/XUdw7). Since the recreational use of cannabis was legalized in 2018, Michigan has emerged as one of the fastest-growing legal cannabis markets in the United States in terms of consumption. State budget planners have projected recreational marijuana to be worth nearly $1 billion per year in fiscal 2021 with revenues eclipsing $1.5 billion by 2023 (https://ibn.fm/36kc5). “The recreational industry, once fully implemented, will have a significant impact on Michigan’s economy, with hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue flowing into state and local governments,” said Michigan Cannabis Industry Association Director Robin Schnedier, who played an active role alongside both public and private interests to write the 2018 voter-passed legalization law. “We’ve already begun to see waves of hiring by cannabis businesses looking to fill these good-paying jobs, which will have a major impact on communities as these workers have money to spend on goods and services at their local small businesses.” Gage has already made significant investments in the state, including 8-10 medical or adult-use dispensaries currently open or in the works with at least 10 more planned for 2021. Besides its retail operations, Gage engages in cultivation and processing through 19 Class C cultivation licenses across four cultivation assets and three processing licenses with plans to further expand its cultivation facilities in the future. Gage is committed to providing an enhanced cannabis experience starting with top-quality plants that are grown indoors, trimmed by hand and hung to dry. Besides flowers, the company’s brand also includes other unique product types that include edibles, hardware, vaping devices and concentrates. Alongside its own in-house brands, Gage also operates with several strategic and brand partners on an exclusive basis such as Cookies – one of the most iconic cannabis lifestyle brands from Northern California. With delivery services offered within a one-hour radius of its dispensaries, the company’s footprint spans an estimated 90% of Michigan’s population. Dispensaries were among the businesses deemed “essential” during the recent COVID-19 shutdowns, allowing all Gage and Cookies locations to remain open while offering curbside pickup. Despite the global economic recession, Gage posted impressive financial results for 2020 that included sales of $5.8 million in Q1 which bloomed to $11.9 million by Q2. Management expects the trend to continue with estimates for Q3 surpassing $13.1 million, representing an increase of over 150% in sales from January to September 2020. The company is currently planning a Canadian listing for the first quarter of 2021 (https://ibn.fm/V73dL) and has launched a Regulation A, Tier 2, equity financing. For more information on Gage Cannabis Co., visit the company’s website at www.GageUSA.com. To learn more about the company’s Regulation A financing, visit www.GageInvestors.com. NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Gage Cannabis are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/GAGE

• ‘Harvard Business Review’ cites importance of a good business model, specifies key questions it should answer.
• Pure Extracts’ business model founded on three pillars: extraction services, formulation & white-labeling, and development of its in-house ‘Pure Pulls’ branded cannabis and functional mushroom products.
• Company’s business model is multi-faceted, comprehensive and allows for future growth.

A strong business model is essential to every successful organization, whether it’s a new venture or an established player, touts a “Harvard Business Review” article titled “Why Business Models Matter.” Pure Extracts Technologies Corp., a plant-based extraction company with a new vertical in functional mushrooms, recognizes the power of a carefully defined, strategic business model. The Company offers its own distinctive strategy founded on three pillars: extraction services, formulation & white-labeling and Pure Pulls brand development.

Key to a good business model, the HBR article noted, is a simple working definition of the term and the answers to some age-old questions:

• Who is the customer?
• What does the customer value?
• How does the business make money?
• What is the underlying economic logic that explains how the business can deliver value to its customers at an appropriate cost?

Pure Extracts’ business model approach answers these questions and “is multi-faceted and comprehensive as it includes elements that allow for future growth and expansion, scalability and increased productivity,” the Company’s website states.

The first pillar of the business model — extraction — is rooted in one of the core services Pure Extracts offers its customers. “Extraction is our business,” the Company stresses, noting that its Vitalis CO² Extraction systems produce full-spectrum oil, one of the purest and highest-quality oils available on the market. Pure Extracts aims for a capacity of more than 100,000 kg of biomass per year with a technique that has been tried and tested through the Company’s impressive industry experience.

Pillar two — formulation & white-labeling — is accompanied by Pure Extracts’ industry-leading quality assurance. Many Licenced Producers (LPs) in Canada lack the financial wherewithal and the know-how required to successfully manufacture extracted cannabis products, hence the Company is uniquely equipped to offer a variety of different product formulations to other LPs, with each formulation having specific functionalities.

Finally, the third pillar of Pure Extracts’ business model — cannabis and functional mushroom brand development. With the extraction market in Canada still relatively young, few companies are offering oil extraction services; adding their Pure Pulls branded products to the package makes Pure Extracts truly distinctive. The Company’s three-phase development plan outlines the strategic rollout of Pure Extracts product formulations, each of which is carefully composed of exclusive oils and blends of natural ingredients. With Pure Extract’s proven ability and perspective, the Company is uniquely positioned to leverage long-term experience in the space.

“A successful business model represents a better way than the existing alternatives,” the HBR article reads. “It may offer more value to a discrete group of customers. Or it may completely replace the old way of doing things and become the standard for the next generation of entrepreneurs to beat.” Pure Extracts, along with its three-pillar business model, certainly looks to be leading forward to a better way of doing business in an industry that is barely beginning to realize its potential.

Pure Extracts Technologies Corp., headquartered in Pemberton, British Columbia, is a privately held, plant-based extraction company with a new vertical in functional mushrooms. The firm is positioned to be a dominant extraction company and a leader in the rapid development and commercialization of recreational, functional and medicinal products.

For more information on Pure Extracts, visit the company’s website at www.PureExtractsCorp.com.

NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Pure Extracts are available in the company’s newsroom at http://ibn.fm/Pure

• Berubicin Expected to Commence Trials for the Treatment of Glioblastoma, An Aggressive Form of Brain Cancer Currently Considered Incurable
• Production of Berubicin Begins in the U.S. and Europe
• Dual Manufacturing Facilities Engaged to Reduce Supply Chain Interruptions
• IND for Berubicin Could Be Filed by Year End

CNS Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: CNSP) expects to have an Investigational New Drug Application (“IND”) ready for its lead drug candidate, Berubicin, by the end of 2020. An approved IND would give the biotech company, which is developing treatments for primary and metastatic cancers of the brain and central nervous system, the green light to go ahead with clinical trials. In June, CNS Pharmaceuticals signed agreements with two manufacturing entities—one in the U.S., the other in Italy—for the production of Berubicin. Three months later, the manufacturing process has commenced, taking the company a step closer to getting an IND approved by the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”). Berubicin has been specifically developed to target cancers of the brain, including the first targeted indication of glioblastoma multiforme (“GBM”), an aggressive form of brain cancer currently considered incurable. To increase awareness of this destructive disease, a segment on “The Balancing Act, Behind the Mystery,” which airs on Lifetime TV, is focused on glioblastoma. The segment can be viewed here: (click for link). The manufacturing of Berubicin marks an important milestone on the way to initiating clinical studies on GBM patients. CNS Pharmaceuticals has already completed synthesis of the Berubicin Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (“API”), which has been shipped to Pii and BSP, manufacturing entities that will prepare an injectable form of Berubicin ready for clinical use. In June, CNSP hired USA-based Pharmaceutics International, Inc. (“Pii”) and Italian BSP Pharmaceuticals S.p.A. (“BSP”) to handle production. With this dual-track approach to manufacturing, the company reduces the risk of failing to meet its clinical timeline due to drug supply. Moreover, situating production in Europe as well as the U.S., provides localized availability of Berubicin for the upcoming Phase I pediatric and Phase II adult studies in Poland and the U.S. Phase II trial. CNSP has also advanced its clinical agenda. The company recently hired Worldwide Clinical Trials as the contract research organization, Image Analysis Group (“IAG”) as the imaging partner, and Berry Consultants as a biostatistical advisor for its Phase 2 trial design. The company also added Dr. Patrick Wen, a renowned neuro-oncologist, to its Scientific Advisory Board. It has reiterated its expectation to initiate a U.S. Phase 2 trial for Berubicin in Q1 of 2021. Glioblastoma is one of the most aggressive primary brain cancers in adults, with approximately 13,000 new patients diagnosed each year in the U.S.—the highest diagnosis rate of all malignant brain tumors. Yet, awareness of this pernicious malignancy is sorely lacking, although this may be changing after it struck down a number of well-known figures, including Senators Ted Kennedy and John McCain, as well as Beau Biden, son of Vice-President Joe Biden. However, press reports provide scant details of the affliction, an omission CNSP hopes the broadcast on the Lifetime TV show “The Balancing Act, Behind the Mystery” devoted to glioblastoma will correct. The segment relates the story of a glioblastoma patient, complemented by commentary on the rare and difficult-to-treat disease from Dr. Sigmund Hsu, a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of CNS Pharmaceuticals. Aired on October 12, the segment will be re-broadcast on October 23, 2020. For more information, please visit www.CNSPharma.com NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to CNSP are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/CNSP

• Cybin appoints health-care expert Doug Drysdale as new CEO.
• Company confident that his extensive health-care sector background, international company management skills will strengthen Cybin partnerships.
• New CEO says business model, talented management team positions company to examine new psychedelic-based therapies, delivery systems.

Cybin Corp.,a life sciences company advancing psychedelic pharmaceuticals, recently announced the appointment of Doug Drysdale as its CEO (https://ibn.fm/vOTXM). Drysdale brings more than three decades of experience in the health-care sector and will continue to grow its IP portfolio.

“With his myriad business accomplishments, Doug is the ideal leader for Cybin,” said Cybin co-founder and COO Paul Glavine. “We believe that his extensive health-care sector background and international company management skills will help Cybin strengthen partnerships, develop strategic alliances and expand our international presence. We believe his strong leadership experience will help focus Cybin during our initial path to profitability.”

Named an Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2012, Drysdale has served for 30 years in the health care sector. In 2014, he led the recapitalization of a NASDAQ-listed pharmaceutical company, raising $65 million as its corporate director. Following that move, Drysdale served as the company’s chairman and CEO. In that role, he focused on rebuilding the management team and board of directors; he also built a 220-person sales team. Under his continued leadership, the pharmaceutical company raised $465 million of capital; its enterprise value grew exponentially from $80 million to an estimated $800 million.

Before that, Drysdale headed M&A efforts at Actavis Group, leading 15 corporate acquisitions across three continents. Those efforts included a high-profile public hostile takeover attempt in Central Eastern Europe. During that same period, Drysdale raised approximately $3 billion of capital and managed lending syndicates, including over 25 banks, to fund its growth. In 2012, Watson Pharmaceuticals bought Actavis for €4.25 billion.

Drysdale led Norwich Pharmaceuticals into a new period of prosperity, eventually becoming CEO of its parent company, Alvogen Group. During his time as CEO, he grew Norwich’s two-product offering to more than 25 products, strengthened the company’s R&D capabilities and improved staffing efficiency by 25%.

“I am beyond excited to be joining the Cybin team,” said Drysdale. “I believe Cybin’s business model and talented management team uniquely positions the company to examine the efficacy of psychedelic-based therapies and delivery systems in treating mental illness and addiction disorders. I expect Cybin’s expanding development pipeline will allow the company to explore a cost-effective and timely array of health care alternatives.

“We will continue to grow our IP portfolio organically and shall be looking to add to our IP through accretive acquisitions,” he continued. “Research to date is showing positive indications for the potential use of psychedelic-based therapies as alternatives to current chronic depression medications and habit-forming opioids, for various treatment-resistant issues such as eating disorders, smoking cessation, PTSD, anxiety and depression. Mental illness and addiction have profoundly personal meanings for me and affect millions of people worldwide. I am proud to be in a position at Cybin to work to try to help countless patients and their families through the development of novel treatments.”

Cybin is an innovator in the stagnant pharmaceutical sector, where it aims to become the first life science company to bring psilocybin medicine targeting major depressive disorder to market.

For more information about this company, please visit www.Cybin.com.

NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Cybin are available in the company’s newsroom at http://ibn.fm/Cybin

• Launch of InsurTech Portal to Offer Business Owner Liability Protection
• The Insure the People Portal to Provide Coverage to Over 130 Class Codes
• Coverage for Building & Business Property and Business Income
• General Liability Occurrence Limits: US$300,000, US$500,000, US$1 million and US$2 million
• Employment Practices Liability

With the launch of its business owner policy (“BOP”) portal, InsuraGuest Technologies, Inc. (TSX.V: ISGI) (OTC: IGSTF) is extending its general liability coverage to a vital sector of the U.S. economy: small businesses. Through the site—InsureThePeople.com—small business owners and operators of a wide range of enterprises, from public accountants to commodity merchants to bars and pubs, will be able to purchase insurance protection, underwritten by Crum & Forster, for a variety of special needs. The BOP comes at a crucial time. Risks for small business owners have increased dramatically in recent times. The BOP expands InsuraGuest’s product menu. The company already offers a Hospitality Liability Policy to hotels and the vacation rental markets. With this new offering, InsuraGuest is now part and parcel of the insurtech ecosystem. Like a number of pioneering companies before it, InsuraGuest is set to disrupt the staid insurance sector. The company is changing the way insurance coverage is delivered to realize its conviction that insurance should be bought, not sold.

The Insure the People website incorporates many of the beneficial features of InsuraGuest’s insurtech platform. Through it, business owners from a wide range of retail, wholesale, mercantile, office and business service establishments will have access to a range of policies best fitted to their needs. The insurance industry categorizes business enterprises by degree and type of risk into “class codes” that cover various kinds of business enterprise. For instance, in some businesses, such as a manufacturer of furniture, internal risks, injury to workers, say, may be the primary concern. In others, the risks may originate externally, such as being sued by customers for a malfunctioning product or a product that compromises safety guidelines. InsuraGuest’s insurtech BOPs cover over 130 class codes and are now available in all 50 states as well as the District of Columbia, all jurisdictions where the InsuraGuest Insurance Agency is licensed to sell insurance.

BOPs provide the following:

• Property coverage for building and business property, business income and extra expenses.
• Enhanced equipment breakdown (includes micro-circuity).
• General liability – occurrence limits: US$300,000, US$500,000, US$1 million and US$2 million.
• Employment practices liability.

Companies eligible for coverage are those that with revenues up to US$6 million per location, with occupancies up to 35,000 square feet, on a minimum annual premium of US$250.

InsuraGuest also offers a Hospitality Liability Policy, previously known as the Guest Protection Policy. The Hospitality Liability Policy is a supplemental insurance product for hotels, vacation rental operators and similar establishments, which is enjoying increasing adoption. The company recently completed the integration of the end-to-end property management platform operated by Hostfully Inc. with InsuraGuest’s Application Programming Interface (“API”). The integration provides InsuraGuest with Hostfully’s customer listings and also allows Hostfully clients to access InsuraGuest’s hospitality products.

InsuraGuest’s insurtech platform is also capable of connecting to approximately 70 different hotel property-management systems, including Oracle Opera, Hilton-ONQ, Springer-Miller Systems, Marriot Fosse, Marriott Full Service, Agilysys and Lightspeed GPS. It seems that wherever InsuraGuest goes, disruption will not be far behind.

For more information about the company, please visit www.InsuraGuest.com.

NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to ISGI are available in the company’s newsroom at http://ibn.fm/ISGI

• Emerging Wellness Foods Brand Rritual Mushrooms Inc. is developing plant-based superfood products to lead out a fledgling market segment that has a high degree of promise as consumer interest in functional foods increases
• While the mushroom therapeutics subcategory of products is still new and developing, analysts researching the overall functional foods market expect the industry to grow at a CAGR of 7.9 percent to $275.77 billion between 2019 and 2025
• Rritual Mushrooms’ introductory product line draws on the reputations of the Chaga, Lion’s Mane and Reishi mushrooms as beneficial to overall wellness, combining them with herbal remedy adaptogens in powdered elixirs
• The three formulations are being rolled out this fall in 14-stick packs and in 250-gram tubs, as well as in a 14-day variety pack that includes all three elixirs

Researchers have found “enormous potential” for using mushrooms in functional foods, describing the fungal growth’s immunomodulating, anti-tumor, hypocholesterol and anti-bacterial properties as rife with opportunity for food products such as cereal and bread flours as well as cheeses and cheese-related products (https://ibn.fm/jt8xL).

That potential is now being realized with the initial slate of products from lifestyle therapeutics innovator Rritual Mushrooms Inc., whose non-psychoactive wellness elixirs include a Chaga blend designed to augment immunity, a Lion’s Mane blend designed to support cognitive function and brain health, and a Reishi blend to boost the body’s ability to fight anxiety.

Rritual Mushrooms emerged in 2019 as a fledgling company targeting a fledgling industry segment in which no dominant brand has yet emerged to lead the functional foods subcategory. The company is building toward an IPO.

Despite the apparent novelty of the mushroom wellness movement, market analysts at Grand View Research, Inc. stated last year that they expect the overall functional foods market size to reach $275.77 billion in valuation by 2025, expanding at a CAGR of 7.9 percent between 2019 and 2025 (https://ibn.fm/EbzWc), and mushroom food products stand to benefit as part of the trend.

The novel coronavirus pandemic that emerged this year is only expected to increase the demand for functional foods and other nutraceuticals as an infection-wary public seeks to utilize more immunity-boosting supplements in their diets.

In June, Rritual Mushrooms introduced Dr. Mike Hart as the company’s president who will help guide Rritual through plant-based wellness therapy developments (https://ibn.fm/ixb3Q). Hart operates his own family medicine clinic in London, Ontario, where he became the first physician in the locality to open a cannabis clinic in 2014. He continues to use wellness therapies to treat patients’ symptoms such as pain, inflammation, insomnia and depression.

“My belief is that mental fitness is a daily ritual, and Rritual’s product portfolio and approach completely supports my current research and values as a seasoned, plant-based practitioner,” Hart stated in the announcement of his appointment.

In general, mushrooms have twice the protein of asparagus, cabbage and other vegetables, and 12 times the protein found in oranges and apples. Edible mushroom are a good source of several vitamins, including thiamine (“B1”), riboflavin (“B2”), niacin, biotin and ascorbic acid (“C”) (https://ibn.fm/LVheX).

Rritual Mushroom’s product line pairs the Chaga mushroom with the adaptogen Eleuthero root, Lion’s Mane mushroom with the adaptogen Rhodiola root and the Reishi mushroom with the adaptogen Ashwagandha root for products full of bioactive polysaccharides that are helpful to the biome (https://ibn.fm/xBZac). Adaptogens are natural substances used in herbal remedies because they are thought to increase the resistance of organisms to biological stresses (https://ibn.fm/YNLPT).

The three formulations will be available in 14-stick packs and in 300-gram tubs during the fall, as well as a 14-day variety pack that includes all three elixirs. They will be marketed through Rritual’s website and the company’s Amazon store initially before expanding to other online and brick-and-mortar outlets.

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

NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Rritual Mushrooms are available in the company’s newsroom at http://ibn.fm/Rritual

“Mental Fitness is a Daily Ritual“