Microsoft is teaming with Kind Financial to assist in the tracking of marijuana sales, making it one of the first major tech companies to enter the category of cannabis technology.
The companies will work together to acquire government-facing contracts for seed to sale tracking, according to a statement by Kind, which said it was selected by Microsoft to participate in Microsoft’s Health and Human Services Pod for Managed Service Providers. There the two will “provide state, county and municipalities with purpose-built solutions for track and trace (‘seed to sale’ in the cannabis industry) technology.”
Kind Financial is a service provider for the cannabis-selling business, offering tracking, management and point-of-sale tools for growers, operators and sellers.
Said Kimberly Nelson, Microsoft’s executive director of state and local government solutions: “Kind’s strategic industry positioning, experienced team and top-notch-technology running in the Microsoft Azure Government Cloud made for an easy decision to align efforts. Kind agreed that Azure Government is the only Cloud platform designed to meet government standards for the closely regulated cannabis compliance programs, and we look forward to working together to help our government customers launch successful regulatory programs.”
Marijuana-growing technology has faced issues in its ability to fully thrive because of the ambiguities of its legality, and the complications that come with selling it. It had just a bare-bones presence at CES 2016 and was not a show-sanctioned category by the Consumer Technology Association, producers of the show.
Some start-ups have instead taken to crowdfunding platforms like Indiegogo.
