Next generation of infused products. Cannabis infused products have never been the preferred method of consumption because of delayed onset and inconsistent user experience. Utilizing proprietary, patented and patent-pending technology, Vertosa has solved this problem for their clients. CEO Ben Larson joins Dan Humiston to explain how they are creating emulsions for their client's products which provide their customers with tailored experiences. Produced by PodConX MJBulls - https://podconx.com/podcasts/raising-cannabis-capital Dan Humiston - https://podconx.com/guests/dan-humiston Ben Larson - https://podconx.com/guests/ben-larson Vertosa - https://www.vertosa.com/
Next generation of infused products.
Cannabis infused products have never been the preferred method of consumption because of delayed onset and inconsistent user experience. Utilizing proprietary, patented and patent-pending technology, Vertosa has solved this problem for their clients. CEO Ben Larson joins Dan Humiston to explain how they are creating emulsions for their client's products which provide their customers with tailored experiences.
MJBulls - https://podconx.com/podcasts/raising-cannabis-capital
Dan Humiston - https://podconx.com/guests/dan-humiston
Ben Larson - https://podconx.com/guests/ben-larson
Vertosa - https://www.vertosa.com/
Dan Humiston: . [00:00:00] Today on MJ bulls, we are joined by Ben Larson, the CEO at Veltassa Ben. Welcome to the show.
Ben Larson: Thanks so much, Dan. Great to be.
Dan Humiston: Well, I appreciate you being with us today. In the past, smoking was always the most popular way two to consume cannabis, but over the last couple of years, there's been a spike in infused beverages, cannabis infused beverages.
Why has it taken so long? For this sector to gain traction.
Ben Larson: Great question. I think in the past it's largely been a technology barrier and just like an unfamiliarity with the format. It's not the natural format that the extracts from the plant, want to take. Right. It's a. Extremely hydrophobic compound when you extract it from the plant.
So it's not the first thing that you think of would to put it into like a water-based beverage. Right. And that's why you had all these chocolates and brownies and all that kind of stuff in the earlier days.
Dan Humiston: So, so the, the technology didn't exist, but I see on your website that you now have the [00:01:00] technology to infuse just about anything. I heard one of your videos where they said coffee in the morning, a smoothie in the afternoon wine in the evening. How have you accomplished.
Ben Larson: Yeah, it's through great nanotechnology emotions science. I don't know how to get geeky to get with your audience, but our, our founder and chief scientist is a nano, almost an expert. He's been doing it. His entire career and nano Molson is basically. Taking an oil and breaking it down to very small droplet and then making it water dispersible.
And so our expertise , is doing just that. And , when I say nano, basically we're talking to like nanometers again, I don't know how geeky the audience is, so we'll just stop there. But it makes it really easy for the body to process, which increases the bioavailability , and the experience becomes more rapid in comparison to like old formats.
And so it's a really exciting format, not only because scientifically it's an interesting way [00:02:00] to consume the compounds. Our entire culture as a human race has been built around beverages. Like when do you not have a coffee or a water or a soda or beer or something in your hand?
It's anytime we're at a social event, that's what feels natural and sometimes a crutch for some people. So why not put cannabis in it and, enjoy life a little bit more.
Dan Humiston: Well, and also I think that for most people who are health conscious, the idea of smoking, even if somebody tells me it's safe, I still feel uncomfortable with it. probably drinking , there's probably just as many downsides to it, but I just feel a lot more.
confident drinking something than I do smoking something.
Ben Larson: I look at this day and age it's arguable, which is more stigmatized, right? Like cannabis smoking cigarettes. And so just that association alone lets us know that socially we're driving towards like non-smoking type of products. And then there's the whole medical conversation.
, it's really hard to [00:03:00] imagine that, lighting up, appliance is going to be an actual medical delivery for medicine.
Dan Humiston: Yeah.
Ben Larson: I like pre-rolls, I, I like flower like that. Doesn't that doesn't mean I'm not going to consume it.
It's just, I'm saying from a perception standpoint of the general public that, infused beverages and fused products in general , are going to continuously gain market share.
Dan Humiston: Exactly. I think that's my point is that there's a huge segment of the market that will not smoke anything. And now , you're opening up that market to cannabis. And I saw on your website that you work with a client to create the, is it the emulsion that they're going to infuse into their products? That doesn't seem like a one size fits all process is there's, there's probably a lot of comedy. Can you give us kind of a feel for what some of the variations that your clients are looking for?
Ben Larson: Well, so, those of us that are in the industry, we know conceptually the power of the plant and the versatility of the plant. Right. And what we're trying to do is transmit that, [00:04:00] through to the infused products infused products of the past had a tendency to be pretty homogenous , in experience,
it was like a long onset. It was kind of a heavy onset, sometimes unpredictable and. Completely flipped that we try to take infused products and make them as versatile and predictable as smoking. And so what we do when we engage a client is kind of like what the startup mindset we, we asked the founders or the product makers, like, what are you trying to deliver to your consumer?
What are you trying to market to them? And then we build that system from the ground up. And there's some efficiencies that we've built over time because we serve over a hundred clients in the market. , but. Everything can change, like in that process. And so what cannabinoids or origin do you want to say , to the customer, is it about incorporating miners like THCV or do you want like a full spectrum extraction from Humboldt, California?
these are important questions because it's all marketing. And at the end of the day, selling a product is marketing and then it goes further than the encapsulation system itself. Variety of different ingredients [00:05:00] that can create that system. We have very conventional nano emotions that drive towards clarity , and high bioavailability.
But some people don't need all that. , yes, bioavailability is good. We can still achieve that, but we can go with an, a completely organic system. Right? , we have certified organic formulas on the hemp side of the business. And, and now that's starting to become available on the cannabis side of the business, but to deliver a highly bioavailable stable, system that is certified organic, there's a lot of opportunity there too.
We don't go into any project with a preconceived notion of what the right ingredient is until we have that conversation with the client.
Dan Humiston: Yeah, hopefully land on what their end goal is. You create a product that. I see, I see on your, your website, a testimonial from paps. I mean, it's not like you got small customers looking at what you're doing. That's perhaps blue ribbon beer, right? That
Ben Larson: That's right. That's right. That's so all sorts of large brands , are coming into the space, like, top kombucha companies, top beer companies, health and [00:06:00] wellness beverages, and we work with a lot of them. And so, , the way they get into the market is always interesting.
We help them navigate, all sorts of different legal structures. , it comes down to how they're comfortable entering a market. Frankly, their legal department says so, there's certain clients where we only serve them in Canada, . Because it's federally illegal up there. They want to get the brand started.
And then once it federally legalizes in the U S then , we'll bring them back down into the U S where we have, operations , in six different states. . And so we're just kind of. Navigating the development of it.
We do do other formats. , we believe. Edibles in general, we'll all be fast acting at some point, no one wants to slow experience. But beverage is really interesting because mainstream brands in the beverage category are always pushing the envelope. They're always the least like risk averse.
If you go into a supermarket, you see the most creativity in the beverage aisle, because they're always trying to capture the next best thing. And it's a really exciting market. There's a lot of money in it. And so we knew that [00:07:00] our first major customer was, back in 2019, we engage Vita Coco on the ham side of the business.
And , they launched in both the U S and the UK and realized that. The U S is a little challenging, but you know, it's really showing good pickup in the UK. So, , they're having their infused coconut waters out there. And it's really exciting to help usher in , this next breed of product to the mainstream.
Dan Humiston: It's so cool. That is so cool. You mentioned that you have operations in, , six states. Is that because through federal regulations, you can't cross state lines. So you need separate operations in each.
Ben Larson: That's right. , we're at a unique position in the supply chain where we're the critical component that can't be shipped across states. And so if we go and set up operations, which we can do relatively efficiently then we need to just ensure that the supply chain is sophisticated enough to support these brands.
. Everything, the packaging, the non-active ingredients that can be shipped from a centralized location.[00:08:00] . And so we're doing the hard work to kind of go and lay the groundwork, create a platform. So these brands can have larger addressable markets and grow on top of our services. Again, the listeners probably understand the concept of like MSLs or multi-state operators.
A lot of them are kind of like walled gardens are creating a lot of value for themselves. We're trying to turn that into. Create kind of a services-based B2B
Dan Humiston: Oh, yeah. I like that concept. I like that concept, but I, I do think that. It's probably fairly expensive. And most of that costs are front-loaded. Does that mean that you have to raise capital or are you raising capital and I'll help you to get through this?
Ben Larson: . Yeah, a little bit of background on me. I come out of the venture capital space. I I've been working with early stage. Tech startups , for over 10 years now, I got into the cannabis industry back in 2015. So, all that to say for TOSA is venture backed. We have raised money in the past and I've always coached people in the saying you're always raising.
You're always fundraising. You're always meeting investors. You're always getting them [00:09:00] excited. It's just whether you're accepting checks or not. we've had a phenomenal run so far. We're only three and a half years old at this point, but we have experienced three X growth over the last two years in a row.
And are preparing for our series a come Q1. So yeah.
Dan Humiston: Wow. It's exciting. It's exciting. We have all of Fortosis information in the show notes. So if you're interested in learning more about their products who are participating in their growth, I'm sure somebody from Ben's team, we happy to speak to with you about that. Ben. Thanks for being on the show today.
This was fun.
Ben Larson: Yeah, thanks so much, Dan. I appreciate the platform.