KELOWNA, BC – Valens GroWorks Corp. (TSX: VLNS) (OTCQX: VLNCF) (“Valens” or “The Valens Company”), a global leader in the end-to-end development and manufacturing of innovative, cannabinoid-based products, today announced a custom manufacturing agreement with Verse Cannabis (“Verse”), a group of innovators focused on bringing to market cutting-edge product formulations rooted in cannabinoid science.
Under the initial five-year agreement, The Valens Company will manufacture and distribute a range of next generation products, such as hydrocarbon-derived crumble— a much-anticipated product by experienced consumers, as well as one of the first entries into the Canadian legal market. The first line of products will be manufactured under the brand Verse Originals, which will include a range of high-quality essential products, such as vapes and oils. To follow, the Company will produce and manufacture a line of innovative formats under the brand Verse Concentrates, including live resin vape pens and various water-based products leveraging SōRSE by Valens emulsion technology. Under the terms of the custom manufacturing agreement, The Valens Company will pay Verse royalties over the five-year term. More information on the Verse product lines can be found here https://versecannabis.com/.
“We are excited to develop new, long-awaited products with a brand that values quality and innovation as much as we do,” said Tyler Robson, Chief Executive Officer of The Valens Company. “In partnership with Verse, we will be introducing a wide assortment of reimagined cannabis products yet to be seen in the legal Canadian market, but very much in line with the expectations of experienced cannabis users.”
Vape and concentrate product formats continue to present a significant market growth opportunity and generate a substantial portion of cannabis sales in North America. In 2019, the vape and concentrate product categories represented 33 percent of total sales in mature markets like California and Colorado. In Colorado, sales growth in these product categories has outperformed the growth in the flower category, being responsible for more than 50 percent of total sales growth from 2016 to 2019. Furthermore, concentrates alone make up for 14 percent of sales in Colorado’s legal market.
Due to Canada’s phased rollout, the illicit market for concentrates continues to thrive and outperform these products in the legal cannabis market. Manufacturing popular, advanced products with Verse can put into motion an important consumer migration opportunity from the illicit market that The Valens Company hopes to bring to life with this partnership.
Robson added, “Concentrates have a long history in Canada, albeit in the illicit market. We now see a genuine opportunity to offer popular products, redeveloped based on the highest standards and our proprietary hydrocarbon processes. Over the last three years, The Valens Company has created a state-of-the-art platform that holds the highest regulatory certifications for hydrocarbon extraction. Our proprietary technologies, knowledge, and mass production capabilities will be used to create premium concentrate products that will satisfy a large void in Canada’s current legal market.”
About The Valens Company
The Valens Company is a global leader in the end-to-end development and manufacturing of innovative, cannabinoid-based products. The Valens Company is focused on being the partner of choice for leading Canadian and international cannabis brands by providing best-in-class, proprietary services including CO2, ethanol, hydrocarbon, solvent-less and terpene extraction, analytical testing, formulation and product development and custom manufacturing. Valens is the largest third-party extraction Company in Canada with an annual capacity of 425,000 kg of dried cannabis and hemp biomass at our purpose-built facility in Kelowna, British Columbia which is in the process of becoming European Union (EU) Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) compliant. The Valens Company currently offers a wide range of product formats, including tinctures, two-piece caps, soft gels, oral sprays and vape pens as well as beverages, concentrates, topicals, edibles, injectables, natural health products and has a strong pipeline of next-generation products in development for future release. Finally, The Valens Company’s wholly-owned subsidiary Valens Labs is a Health Canada licensed ISO 17025 accredited cannabis testing lab providing sector-leading analytical services and has partnered with Thermo Fisher Scientific to develop a Centre of Excellence in Plant-Based Science. For more information, please visit https://thevalenscompany.com
About Verse
Introducing Verse…
There is a clear need in the marketplace for Verse. On the one hand, beautifully branded and marketed flower-based brands line the shelves of cannabis stores nationwide. On the other hand, quality-obsessed craft products, fill the needs of those demanding more, but at a high price.
This is where the idea for Verse was born. An assortment of the highest quality cannabinoid-based Gen2 products accessible to all. A brand whose North Star would always be innovation and quality but values like realness and honesty would trump frills and gimmicks.
Like the verse of a song or poem, where creativity follows the rules of rhythm to become attractive to its listener, so does Verse, combining creative innovation with the rules of science to engineer extraordinary experiences for consumers.
