FastFunds Financial, operating in the cannabis industry through wholly owned subsidiaries Cannabis Angel, Inc., Cannabis Merchant Financial Solutions, Inc., and The 420 Development Corp., has relaunched its Tommy Chong Green Card website (www.TommyChongGreenCard.com) with enhanced features consistent with all of the company’s marketing materials.

As FastFunds Financial wraps up its final planning, the company said that in early October it will launch a social media integration program developed by media consultant Casa Giallo, Inc. Building on the relaunched Tommy Chong website, the new program will integrate various social media channels – through which Tommy Chong has a total of more than 4 million followers – to generate widespread awareness of the Tommy Chong Green Card.

The Tommy Chong Green Card functions as a pre-paid loyalty debit card with a turnkey customer rewards technology. In addition, the card functions as a reloadable stored value card that can be used to purchase merchandise at the participating dispensary. To achieve awareness initiatives, Casa Giallo will leverage its position as an industry leader in the cannabis space where it works with clients such as Snoop Dogg and Tommy Chong, among others.

“This relaunched website will be the focal point of renewed marketing efforts for the Tommy Chong Green Card and at this juncture we have already received preliminary interest from several dispensaries and distributors for the card,” Kurt Martig, president of Cannabis Merchant Financial Solutions. “We are excited about the new website and its enhancements as we work to turn this interest into card placements.”

For more information visit www.fastfundsfinancial.com

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Combining entertainment with dining is a proven formula that’s been successfully utilized by some of the restaurant industry’s most recognizable brands for decades. Chuck E. Cheese has been a favorite amongst families looking for a more exciting dining experience since opening its first location in 1977, while Dave & Buster’s Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ: PLAY) has achieved strong financial growth in recent quarters by targeting adults with a soft spot for video games. Likewise, Giggles N’ Hugs, Inc. (OTCQB: GIGL) has leveraged its own inventive take on the traditional family fun dining concept to achieve considerable growth in the category since opening its first location in 2009.

GIGL offers a first-of-its-kind, award-winning family restaurant and play space that combines exciting play elements for children with healthy, organic foods that are perfect for health conscious parents and families. In just over six years, GIGL has grown to include three locations in some of Los Angeles’s top malls, and its prospects for future growth are extremely promising. In a recent press release, Joey Parsi, the company’s founder and chief executive officer, detailed plans to open new locations in a collection of viable markets in the coming months. GIGL is already in active negotiations for this expansion with several of the largest mall owners in the country – including General Growth Properties (NYSE: GGP) and Simon Property Group (NYSE: SPG).

“[W]e’re moving forward on our plan to open new locations in markets like Seattle and San Francisco in the north and San Diego and Orange County in the south,” Parsi stated. “With the expected significant discounts from current market rents as well as attractive tenant allowances that have been offered, we should see great reductions in construction costs and rent for the new locations.”

The company is also reportedly receiving substantial interest from potential franchisees in both domestic and international markets. In addition to GIGL’s core company-owned expansion plans, franchising its innovative concept represents an immense opportunity for rapid growth at very attractive margins. The vast experience of the company’s management team – which includes John Kaufman, former president of Koo Koo Roo Chicken, and Philip Gay, former CEO of Wolfgang Puck Restaurants – is expected to play a key role in any future ventures into the franchising space.

Demand for GIGL’s innovative restaurant concept is at an all-time high, and the company is in a strategic position to translate this demand into sustainable growth moving forward. Look for GIGL to make noteworthy progress toward its goal of 12 company-owned locations by the end of 2017 while continuing to evaluate the tremendous upside of franchise opportunities in the months to come.

For more information, visit www.gigglesnhugs.com

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Growing demand for our nation’s police force to wear body cameras has triggered an industry race to develop and deploy the most efficient and wearable technologies possible. VOXX International Corp. subsidiary VOXX Electronics Corp. is among the more recognizable names working to carve a spot in this fast-growing industry.

VOXX Electronics’ most recent move was to sign a letter of intent with S4 Worldwide, LLC (S4W) for exclusive rights to manufacture and distribute the SENTRY BodyCam, a real-time HD/IR streaming wearable body camera designed for military, police and law enforcement officials.

S4W’s SENTRY BodyCam provides real-time HD video communications link for police and law enforcement officials for instant awareness and visibility from any location with an embedded GPS chip. The device is self-powered for up to 10 hours with portable lithium polymer battery supply, automatic video upload via Wi-Fi, automated notification of activity recorded, and extended onboard and remote archiving capabilities.

Of key importance here is the lithium polymer battery, which emphasizes the need for body-cameras to be lightweight and flexible without compromising durability and reliability. Developing a technology of this nature is first nature for NEAH Power Systems, Inc., also making an entrance into the body-cam industry and a vertical link to VOXX with a recently announced a key partnership with S4W.

Neah Power’s fuel cell business is divided into three product lines, each in various degrees of progression and potential commercial partnerships: the patented and award winning, silicon-based Powerchip® technology; BuzzBar™ and BuzzCell™ micro fuel cells, which use patent pending low cost, differentiated technology; and Formira™, a reformer platform for direct on-site generation of hydrogen gas.

With 14 patents and eight patents pending, NEAH Power has incorporated its award-winning and patented PowerChip® fuel cell architecture into the patent pending PowerChip® battery. To date, this new battery design has exhibited unprecedented performance characteristics.

The teaming agreement with S4W enables both parties to integrate NEAH Power’s power generation and energy storage technologies with S4W’s industry leading security and defense products, including cutting-edge body cameras currently marketed to police and security professionals around the world. The agreement also allows the two companies to cooperatively market each of the other’s products, thereby expanding the number of distribution and sales channels available, driving one another’s capabilities and growing customer bases with high capital efficiency.

NEAH Power will deliver commercial units of its patented formic acid reformer fuel cell (Formira HOD™) and engineering units of its PowerChip® fuel cell and silicon-chip based PowerChip® Battery. In addition, NEAH Power will provide S4W with engineering and technical support to ensure successful integration into S4W’s state-of-the-art body worn cameras.

In a news release announcing the agreement, Paul Sault, CEO of S4W noted, “Our engineering staff and consultants immediately recognized the transformative nature of NEAH Power’s Formira HOD™ and PowerChip® solutions, specifically, when incorporated in a highly disruptive product like our Smart Body Cam where continuous power is necessary for delivery of the ever-important personnel and public safety benefits they provide. Upon first being introduced to NEAH Power’s PowerChip® Battery, S4W was eager to become an early adopter. While interviewing countless numbers of public safety personnel about what features they wanted to see standard on a body camera, having the power necessary to make it through an entire shift without battery recharging or replacement, ranked very near the top.”

As NEAH Power moves closer to first commercial release of the PowerChip® Battery, the company appears to be in the right place, at the right time, with a potentially superior product that will cater to demand for small, light and powerful energy storage solutions for today’s police force.

For more information, visit www.neahpower.com

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Lingo Media Corp. (OTCQB: LMDCF) (TSX-V: LM) is on a mission to change the way the world learns English, and its unique combination of education and technology is helping it promote rapid growth in a variety of viable global markets. In recent weeks, the company, through wholly-owned subsidiary ELL Technologies Ltd., has secured contracts with a government agency in Colombia and the Peruvian Navy to provide its proprietary English language training products moving forward. These partnerships, in addition to the company’s established foothold in the Mexican educational market, are expected to play a key role in Lingo’s ongoing expansion efforts throughout Latin America.

“Our team continues to work diligently on developing, refining and expanding our digital content library, program applications and learning tools,” Gali Bar-Ziv, president and chief executive officer of ELL Technologies, stated in a news release. “Securing another government contract adds further recognition to our brand and our products as we continue to build our sales pipeline… across Latin America.”

In the second quarter of 2015, Lingo capitalized on its growing brand recognition by recording strong financial results. The company’s total revenue for the period was just shy of $1.8 million, marking a year-over-year increase of more than 100 percent. As a result, Lingo realized a net profit of more than $979,000, up from $217,633 during the previous year. This performance was attributable to the company’s ongoing shift from print-based programs to digital learning tools. Leveraging a growth strategy similar to that of educational technology giant Rosetta Stone, Inc. (NYSE: RST), Lingo is in a favorable position to continue promoting strong growth in Latin America and around the globe.

Last week, Lingo set the stage for future growth through the release of its pre-school program Winnie’s World. The inaugural title of its Kids program, Winnie’s World was created for pre-readers, as it doesn’t require any prior knowledge of the English language. By providing an interactive, cross-platform program with which students can practice and perfect their English without a native instructor, Lingo is addressing a seriously underserved area of the greater electronic learning industry.

“We recognize the lack of competition in this expansive marketplace for proven pedagogically sound English software for preschoolers and are now positioned to aggressively market and sell Winnie’s World to the early childcare market,” Michael Kraft, president and chief executive officer of Lingo, stated.

For prospective shareholders, Lingo’s comprehensive product line – which fulfills the needs of the entire student life cycle – will serve as a formidable platform upon which to continue expanding its share of the global English learning market. Look for the company to build upon its recent progress in Latin America as it continues to promote sustainable financial growth.

For more information, visit www.lingomedia.com

Latitude 360, an award-winning developer and operator of upscale, multi-dimensional dining and entertainment venues, this morning announced its partnership with leading mobile payment technology platform MyCheck. Per the agreement, MyCheck will provide” new robust avenues” to strengthen Latitude 360 customer engagement via its own branded ordering and payment app.

The partnership will be an on-premise brand integration and extend to the five current locations Latitude 360 operates, including Jacksonville, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Syracuse, and Saucon Valley, as well as future locations.

“We are thrilled to partner with MyCheck as we are always looking for opportunities to elevate the guest experience in our venues,” Brent W. Brown, CEO/Founder of Latitude 360 stated in the news release. “After analyzing multiple options, we concluded that MyCheck was a unique partner that could meet our needs, given their potential to not only boost the guest experience that our customers have come to expect at our venues, but also increase sales and help our staff reach peak performance. Being that our five venues range in size from 55,000 to 75,000 square feet, utilizing MyCheck will facilitate the ability for our guests to engage in the many entertainment options Latitude 360 offers without delay.”

With the partnership comes a groundbreaking, custom-designed app scheduled for release in October. The Latitude 360 mobile app will allow guests to easily order beverage and dessert items off the menu, reorder other items already on their check and then easily view, split their bill with friends and pay, using multiple linked payment methods including Apple Pay. In addition, guests will be able to view their status and redeem benefits from their Latitude 360 Membership and Rewards program – all from the convenience of the customer’s smartphone.

“We are proud to partner with the innovators at Latitude 360, and enable this unique experience into what has become an ultimate dining and entertainment destination,” said Tal Zvi Nathanel, co-founder and U.S. CEO of MyCheck. “We are excited to our integrated capabilities to further enhance the Latitude 360 Experience and satisfaction among a growing number of guests.”

Today’s news follows recent significant announcements from Latitude 360 as the multi-dimensional entertainment venue and eatery continues to grow its roster of in-retail promotions. The brand recently signed partnerships with Cross, Monster Energy, and Major League Fantasy.

For more information, visit www.latitude360.com

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After receiving 18 tasting medals, Aristocrat Group’s Ultra-Premium Handcrafted RWB Vodka appears to be emerging as one of the top-rated vodkas in North America. The U.S.-made, distilled spirit’s most recent awards came at this year’s Los Angeles International Spirits Competition, where RWB received a Gold medal and Best in Category designation.

In a news release this morning, ASCC CEO Robert Federowicz said he is most proud of the brand’s performance last year in Bulgaria’s Ultimate Vodka Competition, where RWB tallied the maximum number of points possible and bested vodkas from Russia, Ukraine, Sweden and Poland.

“To go into a competition in Eastern Europe where vodka has been made for generations and win is a testament to the care put into every bottle of RWB Vodka,” Federowicz said. “This isn’t just the best vodka made in the USA—it’s one of the best vodkas on the planet.”

ASCC recently celebrated the second anniversary of its debut product release, which the company says judges applaud as having a “dry, silky body and perfectly balanced notes of sweet cream, peppercorn and dried fruit.”

Made in the USA using Idaho russet potatoes and mountain spring water, RWB Vodka is the flagship product within the company’s growing portfolio of brands. ASCC has taken careful measures to ensure its product stands apart from the rest.

“Everything from our product’s ‘gluten-free’ labeling to our sponsorship of sports teams and recording artists have helped us to differentiate our brand and achieve the goals we set for word-of-mouth and visibility,” Federowicz said. “We’re confident that there will be many more awards to come.”

For more information visit www.aristocratgroupcorp.com

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Today before the opening bell, International Stem Cell Corp. announced that Mahnaz Ebrahimi will be taking over as the new Chief Financial Officer, effective September 14, 2015. The prior CFO, Jay Novak, ended his employment in May.

Ms. Ebrahimi is a Certified Public Accountant, a Certified Equity Professional and a Certified Cash Manager. She has more than 25 years of experience in financial management and accounting of growing research-driven companies in the life sciences, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical sectors. Most recently, she has been assisting several biotechnology and technology companies on accounting and SEC related matters in an expert consultancy capacity, including Flux Power Holdings, Polaris Pharmaceuticals and Ocera Therapeutics.

From 2010 until an acquisition took place in 2012, Ms. Ebrahimi served as Director of Finance and Planning, as well as Treasury, of eBioscience. She also served as Vice President of Finance and Administration and Chief Financial Officer of Profil Institute for Clinical Research from 2003 to 2005. From 1989 to 2000, she served as Director of Finance & Treasury and Assistant Controller of Agouron Pharmaceuticals, which became a subsidiary of Pfizer in 2000.

For those unfamiliar with International Stem Cell Corp., it is a California-based biotechnology company focused on the therapeutic applications of human parthenogenetic stem cells (hpSCs) and the development and commercialization of cell-based research and cosmetic products. ISCO’s core technology, parthenogenesis, results in the creation of pluripotent human stem cells from unfertilized oocytes (eggs). ISCO also produces and markets specialized cells and growth media for therapeutic research worldwide through its subsidiary Lifeline Cell Technology, and stem cell-based skin care products through its subsidiary Lifeline Skin Care.

For more information, visit www.internationalstemcell.com

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FutureLand Corp. is a cannabis and hemp land leasing company formed to capitalize on the emerging global cannabis market. The company currently owns roughly 240 acres in southern Colorado, which it leases to medical marijuana, retail marijuana and industrial hemp growers. FutureLand delivers the land and facilities, as well as all licensing, approvals, site plans, supplies and equipment needed to meet the specific needs of cultivators. While the company retains complete ownership of all land and structures, it also monetizes through leases, financing interest revenue and management fees associated with cultivation centers.

“[The company] currently has two signed leases for our land in Colorado,” Cameron Cox, chief executive officer of FutureLand, stated in a letter to shareholders. “Both leases are for five years, plus renewals. We will continue to outfit the property and look for new opportunities both in Colorado and other states.”

The company’s leasing strategy follows a proven model currently being utilized by a variety of major investment firms. Silver Bay Realty Trust Corp. (NYSE: SBY), for example, acquires, renovates, leases and manages single-family properties for rental income and long-term capital appreciation, while Equity Residential (NYSE: EQR) focuses on high quality apartment properties. Unlike these firms, however, FutureLand is also strategically positioned to benefit from the rapid growth of the cannabis industry.

According to research from The ArcView Group, the U.S. cannabis industry grew to approximately $2.7 billion in 2014, which was a year-over-year increase of nearly 75 percent. Over the next five years, the firm forecasts that 14 more states will legalize recreational marijuana and two more states will legalize the plant for medicinal purposes. As a result, the national marijuana market is expected to reach nearly $11 billion by 2019. This performance will serve as a formidable platform upon which FutureLand can rapidly expand upon its existing operations.

In addition to its leasing strategy, FutureLand has also outlined intentions to own and operate its own cultivation centers and dispensaries in the future. The company is currently awaiting a federal decision to reclassify cannabis as a schedule II drug before executing on this approach. Recent federal initiatives – including a Supreme Court decision recognizing the right of states to regulate marijuana use and a congressional act banning the federal government from interfering with state medical marijuana laws – could foreshadow a significant and sustainable opportunity for FutureLand to rapidly expand its target markets.

For more information, visit www.futurelandcorp.com

The legal marijuana industry is one of the fastest growing markets in the country. Nearly half of all states allow for medicinal cannabis consumption, and a handful – including Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska – have legalized recreational use as well. Despite the industry’s widespread acceptance, nearly all of the nation’s banks refuse to take money from marijuana sales for fear of punishment from federal authorities, for whom marijuana remains illegal. As a result, those operating in the marijuana industry are forced to maintain huge sums of cash on hand, making them a prime target for criminal activities.

FastFunds Financial Corp., through majority-owned subsidiary Brawnstone Security, Inc., is addressing these concerns by offering topflight security services to clients in the rapidly expanding marijuana industry. With a team comprised of police officers, private investigators, law enforcement trainers and private security consultants, Brawnstone has quickly grown into one of the top providers of security and training in the eastern United States. Since acquiring a 70 percent interest in Brawnstone in 2014, FFFC has made considerable progress toward increasing its subsidiary’s share of the national security industry, which is currently valued in excess of $300 billion.

Last week, FFFC released an update on Brawnstone, and the results were extremely promising. Following aggressive work on gross margin enhancement and spending reduction, the company reported stabilized revenues of approximately $64,000 per month for the first eight months of the year. FFFC expects to build on this progress in the coming months by capitalizing on the potential passage of legalization measures for both medical and recreational marijuana use in Brawnstone’s home state of Ohio. Voters in Ohio are currently set to weigh in on the proposed amendments on November 3, 2015.

For prospective shareholders, FFFC’s comprehensive approach to the thriving legal cannabis industry makes it an intriguing investment opportunity. Look for the company to continue focusing on ways to capitalize on rising consumer interest in a variety of unique ways – including the release of the Tommy Chong Green Card, the development of cultivation products through Pure Grow Systems and the funding of promising startups through Cannabis Angel – as it promotes maximized shareholder value.

For more information, visit www.fastfundsfinancial.com

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With California’s landmark Assembly and Senate passage of sweeping marijuana regulations this month, as the Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act heads for an eager pen of Gov. Brown, the state’s $1.15 billion marijuana market (BIS Research, September 1) – which is the largest in what was a $2.7 billion legal marijuana market last year – has now reached a significant milestone. But this milestone, set in the country’s most populous state, applies to the much broader U.S. cannabis industry.

That industry is now forecast to hit $20.67 billion in 2020 (Research and Markets, September 18), on an estimated CAGR of 29.80 percent. One of the big components that will do quite well in all of this is going to be hemp, and it’s a subject that is largely under-reported on. Given that hemp was illegal to grow without a permit for decades, and that the 2014 Farm Bill finally made it possible for Americans to grow limited quantities of hemp, the $620 million (Hemp Industries Association, 2014) U.S. market for hemp is currently being serviced by some $500 million in imports.

With modern processing techniques, the powerful organic fibers in the hemp plant can be extracted for various important industrial uses, including a key LCM (lost circulation material) product for the global drilling fluids market, which was recently forecast in a report published by MarketReportsHub.com in January, as being on track to hit $16.31 billion by 2019. High-quality LCM is used in drilling mud to ubiquitously plug fractures or handle porosity in geological formations, which lead to lost pressure and output, and potentially blowouts. The high-grade organic fiber in hemp is perfect for this application, but the limited domestic market has hindered its more widespread use, even though it is superb at handling a variety of pressure and temperature related phenomena without impairing the rheology (fluid dynamics of substances like muds) of the drilling fluid, or increasing fluid-loss.

Hemp can be made into a wide variety of consumer goods as well, from fine clothing and shampoos, to high-grade medicinal cannabidiol and nutraceuticals for the rapidly expanding global nutraceutical market, which is set to grow at around 8 percent CAGR, from $186.2 billion this year to around $270 billion in 2020 (Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India and RNCOS, August). However, it is the lucrative niche market in LCM that North Carolina based Hemp, Inc. has its eyes on the most, with the launch of the company’s custom 70,000 square-foot multipurpose industrial hemp processing plant, expected to be the biggest in all of North America, and capable of doing everything from decortication (fiber stripping) to milling.

The company’s existing portfolio of hemp-infused consumer products, like shampoos and conditioners, lip balms, moisturizers, skin treatment oils, and candles, showcase an already well-developed branding sense. Sure, Q2 sales this of nutraceuticals/bed and bath were up this year, but revenues from the company’s forthcoming DrillWall™ product, used to maintain seals across both energy and water drilling markets, are expected to be as much as just under of $1 million a month.

Given such revenue projections from the company using a limited workforce of one crew shift per day and an output of only one ton per hour, a three-crew shift cycle means HEMP could be raking in $2.94 million a month from its new facility, via juicy three to five year contracts typical among LCM buyers. The company is also working on an absorbent hemp product used to soak up spills called SpillSorbent™, made with hemp and another fibrous plant known as kenaf. The company already has almost five million pounds of material stored at its massive decortication facility and as of mid-August, the 150 acre kenaf crop of Tainung 2 cultivar, a kenaf variety prized for its maximum mass yield, was about seven feet high and on schedule for harvesting before the end of the year.

Learn more by visiting www.hempinc.com

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