Microsoft And Cannabis

Microsoft announced yesterday that it will partner with cannabis tech company KIND Financial. KIND is a Los Angeles based technology start up. The company creates software and tech devices for the cannabis industry.

Their primary goal is to help cannabis companies navigate the many rules and regulations that govern the cannabis industry.

One of its biggest products is what it calls “Agrisoft Seed to Sale software.”

This software helps cannabis growers track their plants from the very beginning planting and growing stages all the way to point of sale.

KIND has also created kiosks for dispensaries. The devices help dispensary owners handle their cash transactions.

The kiosks have been especially relevant since many dispensaries are stuck doing cash-only business. That’s because very few banks are willing to work with cannabis companies, especially dispensaries.

Microsoft has decided to team up with KIND as part of the Microsoft Health and Human Services Pod for Managed Service Providers.

According to a press release published yesterday the goal of that program is to give state, county, and city governments tools to track and trace cannabis products as they move throughout the industry.

Microsoft’s Azure Government Cloud

The whole thing will operate on Microsoft’s Azure Government cloud.

“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,” said Microsoft executive Kimberly Nelson.

“KIND agreed that Azure Government is the only cloud platform designed to meet government standards for the strictly regulated cannabis compliance programs.”

The partnership is an important one not only for KIND but the cannabis industry more generally.

This is the first time that Microsoft has entered into a direct partnership with a company operating in the cannabis space.

The relationship between tech companies and cannabis companies is likely to continue growing.

Along with KIND, there have already been a handful of tech startups that have focused on creating solutions specifically for the cannabis industry.

Tokken and Hypur are two examples of tech companies that have come up with ways for dispensaries to work around their banking problems.

And an up and coming app called Releaf will help medical cannabis users track their experiences. The idea is to help patients pinpoint the exact strains that work best for them. It will also aggregate user data to help give feedback to doctors, researchers, growers, and providers.