Web3 Roundup: IBC Places High Hopes for the Metaverse into Cannaland

Web3 Roundup: IBC Places High Hopes for the Metaverse into Cannaland

IBC Heads to Cannaland

Original Article / Without Subscription

New York-based advisory and investment firm InterContinental Beverage Capital (IBC) announced last month that it has partnered with tech company Cannaverse Technologies to serve as a brand advisor for Cannaland, a metaverse project intended to act as a hub for the cannabis consumers and members of the industry.

According to Stephen Horgan, co-founder and EVP of IBC, the firm has purchased “digital real estate” within Cannaland and intends to open a virtual house of brands where consumers can discover new cannabis products and suppliers, and where cultivators, retailers and investors can make connections with companies.

Currently, the Cannaland concept includes virtual reality, but Horgan said the company expects this digital platform to be accessible via a variety of platforms. Barring a change in federal marijuana laws, consumers won’t be able to purchase cannabis directly through the platform, instead being directed toward opportunities for web3-styled promotions such as NFTs that can then unlock or be traded for special products or discounts at dispensaries, among other benefits. Cannaland will also have its own cryptocurrency, Cannaland Tokens (CNLT).

But IBC and Cannaverse hope that the platform will reflect the new community-minded approach to digital life that metaverse and web3 proponents advocate. Horgan said that beyond marketing and brand activations, consumers will be able to buy virtual real estate in Cannaland, professionals can network with one another, and events like digital concerts will be commonplace.

“The way we’ve kind of talked about it since the beginning is Cannaland is kind of the cannabis parallel to Las Vegas,” Horgan told BevNET. “So even though Las Vegas is centered around gambling, for anybody that has been there, there’s regular retail there, there are brands, the whole thing is not about gambling. And so we see it the same way in Cannaland, where brands that want to expose themselves to the cannabis enthusiasts that will enter this reality, they will also [be able to] interact with retailers… So we want to create that reality.”

While web3 is a new frontier for IBC, Cannaland represents the latest expansion of the firm’s interest in the cannabis beverage and CPG sector. Since 2017, Horgan said cannabis has come to comprise about a third of IBC’s total business and it has worked with brands such as ebbu Hemp and non-alc beer maker CERIA to develop and launch THC-infused products.

“Our primary business is still in developing early stage beverage companies, because that’s our expertise,” he said. “But we’re branching out because we think the metaverse offers opportunities to the clients that we serve in our core businesses. So that’s why we’re developing it. We decided that it would expand the markets that they can access and it might compress the timeline [to market] and so forth.”