SEATTLE — The output of analyzing large blocks of information, or “big data” as it is generally known, to identify trends is one of the most valuable commodities today. One of the beauties of big data is that it can pinpoint trends at all scales, from an individual to an entire country. Another is that it transcends all industries, including the burgeoning medical plant intake industry, with companies like RYAH Medtech Inc. utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) to aggregate and correlate HIPAA-compliant medical data for the purpose of helping doctors and patients personalize cannabis to better predict treatment outcomes.
RYAH Medtech is a subsidiary of PotBotics, the creation was a blend of merging the PotBotics and RYAH data ecosystems, ahead of the company becoming a public entity. The process is ongoing, with the company expecting to be listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange under the ticker (“RYAH”-pending).
Prime Blockchain Inc. just announced that they have entered into a binding letter of intent (“LOI”) with Potbotics Inc. o/a RYAH, a leading data aggregation and technology company focused on the global plant-based medical market. The LOI outlines the proposed terms and conditions by which Prime Blockchain and RYAH will accomplish a business combination that will result in a reverse takeover of Prime Blockchain by RYAH and its security holders.
Greg Wagner, RYAH’s Chief Executive Officer, commented, “This new Letter of Intent was executed for the purpose of accelerating our listing plans on the CSE and further reflects our commitment to provide liquidity, transparency and new opportunities to strategic partners, future investors and current investors alike.”
PotBotics is the developer of PotBot, a top cannabis app on Apple and Android. The free app has more than 180,000 downloads (and a 4.9-star user rating on Apple). The app is part of a complete medical plant intake ecosystem, developed from the ground up over the last half-decade, aggregating data from around the world to understand where future research can lead the industry.
A cornerstone of RYAH’s predictive analysis model is its eponymous vaporizer, a leading technology that is not simply a traditional-style tool. In fact, it is the world’s first dose-measuring vaporizer. While the RYAH device incorporates improvements such as a straight vapor pathway and diffused mouthpiece to make the user experience better, the technology at its core sets the vaporizer apart from anything today.
This means things like smart QR capsules keeping track of each session and an airflow sensor measuring each dose in 5 mL increments as part of the analytics package.
The accompanying mobile application captures all of the data, down to the plant strain, temperature and dose stats in real time to generate a profile for a consistent and reliable vaporizing experience.
Via the RYAH cloud solution, doctors and patients can track the effects and specifics of plant strains to communicate on the optimal therapeutic program for the patient’s needs. This product is being branded under the moniker “RYAH MD”.
Furthermore, the data is integrated into RYAH’s comprehensive AI platform to provide licensed cultivators, dispensaries, laboratories and pharmaceutical companies with a growing body of data on their plant strains and most appropriate medical indications.
From seed to therapeutic effect, the RYAH system aggregates and analyzes data, a key to not only improving outcomes, but also standardizing the fragmented industry, an area of unmet need to protect consumers.
The Launch Has Begun
Earlier this month, RYAH hit a major developmental milestone, receiving a Medical Device Establishment License (MDEL) from Health Canada for the commercial grade dry herb cartridges that are used in the dose-measuring vaporizer and AI-powered system. The license makes RYAH one of only a small handful of companies in the market to have an accredited vaporizer/cartridge solutions in Canada.
“The [MDEL from Health Canada] further proves to the medical, data intelligence and institutional communities that we are both serious and focused in leading medical plant data analysis market in the U.S., Canada and far beyond,” commented Gregory Wagner, CEO of RYAH, in a statement disclosing the new license. Wagner, a 20 year Wall Street veteran and startup boffin, assumed the role of the top executive and President at RYAH in March ahead of the going public transaction.
Last month, RYAH also brought in Michael Hart as VP Business Development. Hart will be headquartered in London and tasked with establishing a footprint in Europe, as well as South American markets.
The Ball Gets Rolling: United States, Canada, Next Up the European Union
CEO Wagner & VP of Business Development Hart will be working tirelessly to continue building the client base for the new RYAH products as they have been gaining momentum this year. The company first cracked the Washington State markets in January for its vaporizer via a partnership with Green Revolution, a leading producer/processor in Washington that is actively pursuing expansion into other states, namely the massive California markets.
Washington State is recognized as a pioneer in the legal cannabis market, passing legal recreational marijuana by a ballot vote in November 2012, at the same time as Colorado, to become the first two states in the country to end prohibition. In cases such as this where recreational marijuana is allowed, individuals have the opportunity to use the novel features of the RYAH vaporizer and app to create a controlled regimen for themselves.
The launch is comprised of an initial array of four different cartridges, targeted towards the health and wellness market.
RYAH’s move into Washington was followed by penetrating the Oklahoma markets in March through a partnership with The Peak Dispensary, marking the first medical-only state to carry RYAH’s state-of-the-art vaporizer. The agreement means that the RYAH Vaporizer will be available on the shelves at Peak’s nine establishments statewide.
Speaking to the quality of the product, The Peak Dispensary CEO Corbin Wyatt said, “Because it enables patients to properly create a dosing regimen, the RYAH vaporizer clearly contributes to our long-standing goal of ensuring that Oklahoma patients are provided with an unrivaled experience, be it from a product or from a service perspective.”
In yet another strategic move RYAH Medtech announced recently that the company has entered into a signed agreement with Northern Green Canada Inc., for distribution of the RYAH vaporizer, the first dose-measuring dry herb vaporizer along with the RYAH signature dry herb cartridges.
“I am pleased to announce the commencement of RYAH’s footprint in Canada via our new distribution agreement. Northern Green Canada is a best-in-class LP with strong European ties that complements our model of delivering IoT devices along with AI powered data analytics in the medical plant industry. We are focused on commercial relationships that will accelerate commercialization of our products abroad, and the agreement with NGC is the first step towards achieving that goal globally,” said Gregory Wagner, CEO of RYAH.
RYAH announced this week they have received the CE Mark for its vaporizer. This certification is essential for the company’s critical expansion into the European Union.
“The CE mark of the RYAH vaporizer is an important milestone for RYAH’s global aspirations and we expect to shortly initiate our launch in Europe,” says Jordan Medley, Head of Product Operations at RYAH.
A Data Opportunity Made in Heaven
The Global Big Data market is estimated by WiseGuyReports at $23.56 billion in 2015 and is expected to reach $118.52 billion by 2022 growing at a CAGR of 26.0%. The global plant material market, according to Grandview Market Research, is growing 23.9% annually and will reach $66.3 billion by the end of 2025.
Safe to say that there is a clear market opportunity where the twain meet. While it’s still relatively new, the entrance of big data in the medical plant intake industry could be one of the most disruptive market segments out there.
There is a new age upon us. Consumers, once paranoid about their habits being known, are growing accustomed to big data as a means of improving life. To that end, RYAH is hitting on all the industry’s pressure points. Consumers love sharing their knowledge and experiences (take how popular Leafly is) and RYAH’s also in that sweet spot. Technology takes over with smart vaporizers to improve experiences and collect even more robust data sets for aggregation, analysis and generation of insightful data. RYAH being first to market with a dose-measuring vaporizer, QR embedded cartridges is a strong addition to being able to control temperature.
Big data is interesting because it by definition takes a lot of it to work. However, a tiny piece of information gleaned from big data can be a game changer, a lynchpin to a domino effect. Every piece of information collected through an AI system like that of RYAH Medtech Inc. has value to people and companies throughout the entire industry.
