Microsoft goes cannabis

Software giant Microsoft has announced a partnership with a cannabis software company to enter the cannabis business, specifically to track the cannabis plant's journey from seed to sale.

The new partnership involves Kind Financial, a Los Angeles startup that creates tools and technologies for cannabis-related businesses. The software will be a new cloud-based product from Microsoft, Azure. Kind already sells systems for seed-to-sale tracking«, which allow growers to track their plants from planting to packaging, and banking systems to manage cash in dispensaries, as the banking industry is still hesitant to embrace canna-dollars.

This announcement marks a significant turning point in the cannabis industry. An official representative from Microsoft spoke about the market's potential to The New York Times:

«We believe that’There will be significant growth »The more regulated an industry is, the more transactions there are, and we believe there will be more sophisticated needs and tools in the future,« said Kimberly Nelson, Executive Director of Local Solutions for Microsoft.

In an interview with The Times, Kind's creator admits it took between 6 to 9 months to convince Microsoft to get on board. The growth of the cannabis market in the United States was a major motivator for Microsoft.

«Every company that works in the cannabis industry wants legitimacy,» says Dinenberg, a former finance expert who moved from Philadelphia to launch Kind in California. «I like to think of this as the first of many dominoes to fall.».

This partnership with Kind is Microsoft’s second major announcement this week. On Monday, the company announced that it was acquiring LinkedIn, the professional social network, for $26 billion.

First major player to enter the canna-business

This is the first time a company with such a high profile has shown interest in’cannabis industry, even though Microsoft will not directly touch the plant's cultivation. Microsoft has seen its interest in this market rise along with that of its clients, who increasingly asked it for seed-to-sale solutions.

Kind Financial was founded in 2013 by David Dinenberg. Lindy Snider, daughter of a former professional hockey player, is one of the early investors. In 2015, Kind Financial acquired the startup Agrisoft, a developer of seed-to-sale software and a provider of consulting and financial services for cannabis businesses.

Together, the two companies will tackle government contracts across the United States and internationally. They have also already applied for the implementation of a seed-to-sale system in Puerto Rico. These markets are highly competitive, with numerous companies vying for contracts worth several million dollars.

Kind's competitors will therefore likely seek to ally with large companies in the coming months. Other announcements in sight?