Press Release

 

New York, April 20, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Blinc Group Inc., the regulatory-focused designer and provider of premium, customized and bespoke vaporizer technologies, is proud to announce it is one of the Arcview Collective Fund’s best performing portfolio companies for 2021.

“As a result of this investment, in 2021 the Blinc Group has more than doubled its revenue and proven why we are the leading provider of vape technology. Our team puts quality and safety at the forefront of everything we do. The ‘Powered by Blinc’ trademark is more than just a slogan – it’s a promise to our customers that they are receiving the highest quality vape technology, guaranteed,” said Arnaud Dumas de Rauly, co-founder and CEO of the Blinc Group.

In late 2020, the Blinc Group closed on a convertible note round, including the investment from the Arcview Collective Fund, and saw a 134% increase in revenue, a 77% increase in the number of clients, and a 32% increase in revenue per client in 2021 as compared to 2020. Blinc expanded its sales team, opened an office in Toronto, expanded its team in Shenzhen, China, and invested in the research and development of new innovative materials and vape technologies a number of which launched in early 2022.

“The Blinc Group has been a great investment for the Arcview Collective Fund. We look for companies that are raising the bar in the cannabis industry and true market leaders, the Blinc Group is just such a company,” said Jeffrey Finkle, CEO of the Arcview Group.

The Arcview Collective Fund is a member-managed venture fund whose members range from experienced angel investors and partners in venture capital funds to executives who make decisions on how the fund is run and in which companies to invest funds.

“This past year we finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel with the Covid-19 pandemic and are so thankful for our team and all our investors who worked everyday to make the Blinc Group successful during that difficult time. The dedication of our team demonstrated to our clients that we are more than just a hardware supplier, but a trusted partner,” added Dumas de Rauly.

The convertible note round, which closed in late 2020 was led by 7thirty Capital, Equitas Partners Fund and WGD Capital, LP, with The Arcview Collective Fund and the Panther Opportunity Fund both participated as well.

About the Blinc Group
Headquartered in New York City, The Blinc Group designs, develops, supplies, and supports premium cannabis vaping hardware. The company offers a curated collection of proven cartridges, batteries, ready to use vaporizers and complete bespoke device development to multi-state operators, licensed producers, and brands. Blinc completes the value chain by providing its clients access to a suite of support services ranging from research and development, production, testing, standard operating procedures, training and all the way to go-to-market strategy and brand communications consulting. With full control of the supply chain, the company’s unique “Powered by Blinc” process enables clients to provide innovative, safe, and quality-controlled products to cannabis consumers worldwide.

Media Contact:
Gretchen Gaileypr@theblincgroup.com
202-489-3821

Link to the original release

PRESS RELEASE

 

New York — The Blinc Group, Inc., the regulatory-focused designer, and provider of premium, customized and bespoke vaporizer technologies, has been issued a patent 11116251 by the U.S. Patent and Trademarks Office for its vape technology designed to save brands thousands in lost inventory and give consumers peace of mind and clarity in their vape product experience – The RingSystem.

“Cannabis businesses have been struggling to maintain the proper amount of inventory in the vape space while also keeping their customers informed of what’s in their product. Companies shell out thousands of dollars for packaging and fill their cartridges with a specific cultivar to shortly find out that it’s not selling as expected.  They are left with huge losses in branded hardware, but our RingSystem allows the Brands and Licensed Producers to label their products on demand during production, and, if they have to – pivot and relabel for pennies, not dollars,” said Sasha Aksenov, Co-Founder and Chief Innovation Officer of The Blinc Group.

“A significant amount of vape products have no strain, no experience markings on the device and once the box is trashed, the consumers are left in the dark as to what they are vaping on.  It boggles the mind that with such onerous packaging labeling standards that this industry incurs, clearly labeling the product itself is not part of the regulations. Those types of standards are expected with any other type of consumer product, why not cannabis?  Now our patented technology is meeting that standard head-on, and we could not be prouder,” added Aksenov.

The RingSystem consists of two bands one at the base of the mouthpiece or “top” and the other at the base of the cartridge – TopRing and BaseRing. Before capping your compatible “Powered by Blinc” cartridge or disposable, you simply snap the TopRing onto the mouthpiece of the cartridge with the strain name.  The ring is also easily removed if you decide that the strain you’ve invested in is not “moving” and you need to pivot on the formulation or experience. 

“At the Blinc Group we strive every day to promote innovation, quality, safety, and integrity in every one of our products, the RingSystem is no different. It is imperative that the entire industry take those goals to heart. Consumers need to know what’s in their cartridge at all times and for this industry to thrive companies need to be able to increase their productivity and flexibility, without spending huge amounts of working capital on an unsold inventory. There are enough hurdles in the cannabis space, what’s in your vape cartridge shouldn’t be one of them,” said Arnaud Dumas de Rauly, Co-Founder & CEO of the Blinc Group.

About the Blinc Group
Headquartered in New York City, The Blinc Group designs, develops, supplies, and supports premium cannabis vaping hardware. The company offers a curated collection of proven cartridges, batteries, ready to use vaporizers, and complete bespoke device development to major multi-state operators, licensed producers, and brands. Blinc completes the value chain by providing its clients access to a suite of support services ranging from research and development, production, testing, standard operating procedures, training and all the way to go-to-market strategy and brand communications consulting. With full control of the supply chain, the company’s unique “Powered by Blinc” process enables clients to provide innovative, safe, and quality-controlled products to cannabis consumers worldwide.

Media Contact:
Gretchen Gaileypr@theblincgroup.com
202-489-3821

LINK TO THE ORIGINAL RELEASE

If you were to ask what the main problem facing the largest cannabis market in the country is, there would be one resounding answer – TAXES.

Cannabis taxes on the state and local levels are choking the life of businesses across the state of California and cultivators, manufacturers, and retailers are looking for relief anywhere. Currently, businesses are subject to a $161 a pound state cultivation tax for flower, then a 15% state excise tax (which is really 27%, but we’ll get into that later), a 10% state sales tax in most areas, not to mention the varying local cultivation, processing, manufacturing, distribution, and retail tax, effectively making the tax rate on the average cannabis purchase about 50%.

At first glance, these taxes might seem reasonable, but when examined more closely they are not what they seem.  For example, the 15% excise tax is defined by an arm’s length transaction, with a 15% rate based on 80% of the retail price and not the wholesale price, effectively truly making the rate 27%. These onerous taxes aren’t levied on any other industry except for cannabis and business owners are crying out for mercy.  Legislators on the state and local levels are looking to provide band-aids to the situation, but so far only Senate Bill 1281 is offering long-term solutions.

The legislation introduced by Senator Steven Bradford (D-35) amends the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA) would eliminate the cultivation tax altogether and lower the “15%” excise tax to 5%. It would also have the excise tax paid by the retailers, not the distributers. Currently, retailers are paying the excise tax to distributors for products that have yet to sell. This new provision would have retailers pay the tax directly to the state after the product has been sold and when they have the money to pay it. SB 1281 just makes sense.

There are other pieces of legislation that have been introduced to help alleviate the tax burden, Assembly Bill 2792 and AB 2506, but all they do is suspend the cultivation tax until 2028.  While businesses could benefit from these suspensions right now, what happens in 5 years? They are all back in the same place where they started, struggling to stay afloat under the crushing tax burdens.

California brought in nearly $1 billion in tax revenue last year for the first three quarters, but the illicit market is rampant, and legal businesses can’t compete.  A group of cannabis executives banned together and wrote to Governor Gavin Newsom about the situation, “The opportunity to create a robust legal market has been squandered due to excessive taxation,” they added. “75% of cannabis in California is consumed in the illicit market and is untested and unsafe.”

Newsom needs to address this massive problem that paralyzes the growth and stability of the California market. He has promised tax relief, but has been vague in how he would actually accomplish it. Eliminating the cultivation tax and vastly reducing the excise tax would be a good start. SB 1281 is the legislation that needs to cross his desk that is chocked-full of long-term solutions and common sense. No other industry is burdened with these kinds of taxes, and cannabis shouldn’t be either. Support SB 1281.

original article on GreenMarketReport

#notjustvapor

With a small reduction in the new daily cases, Shenzhen has lifted restrictions in 5 districts on Friday 18th of March and for the rest of the city on this Monday, March 21st . A few exceptions still exist, like a South Futian and a number of singled-out residences.

This news comes as the Chinese Officials have focused on mitigating the economic impact of Covid and adopted a more pragmatic approach to managing the spread; “The next step for Shenzhen is to control the pandemic with scientific and precise methods, while ensuring the stability of production and the supply chain” Huang Qiang, deputy secretary general of the Shenzhen government, said in a press conference on Friday. Controls via QR code from residence and business buildings are still enforced with compulsory daily testing.

The Blinc China office was able to open today, and with full staff on site we are happy to be back to normal operations. Even better and most important – all Blinc suppliers have resumed 100% activity allowing Blinc China to be fully operational. Blinc will still monitor the evolution of the situation and will report on any potentiation production impact. For now we are happy to say that business is back to normal!

#notjustvapor

As the director of customer success for the Blinc Group, one of the great pleasures of the job is getting out on the road and visiting manufacturing facilities and dispensaries. Vaping is such an important part of the cannabis market that the more knowledge and experience shared, the better.

But recently, in my efforts to orchestrate a road show on the importance of quality, safety and compliance in the manufacturing of vape cartridges, I had a dispensary owner tell me that he would not be interested in me coming in to discuss these topics with budtenders as he did not see it as directly benefiting sales.

This was obviously disappointing to me. After all, it is a fact that the cartridge chosen will determine the safety and overall performance of the vape experience. Spit back, clogging, leaking, harshness and contamination are all real problems that a user can and does experience as a result of cannabis brands pairing their oil with the wrong hardware or, even worse, choosing hardware based on price alone.

This rejection got me thinking that if this dispensary is not questioning the vape hardware it is purchasing from its distributors and if these distributors are not demanding the best hardware from their processors, then we have failed as an industry to protect the consumer. 

Sadly, there is great demand in the cannabis industry for cheaper and cheaper cartridges. As margins get squeezed and retail prices begin to fall, saving a few dimes on a cartridge seems to make sense. However, the health and reputational risks are enormous.

An example of what separates some low end cartridges from others is the use of glass or plastic in the construction of the tank. Despite the obvious manufacturing and cost advantages of plastic over glass, the safety of the material has been a constant source of controversy for years. Health effects of bis-phenol A (BPA), warnings from the American Academy of Pediatrics, debates over the safety of microwavable plastics to water bottles to Keurig coffee pods have been a constant theme in our lives for decades. 

Science has taught us that as acidity and temperature increase, so do the health risks of using plastics. Granted, not all plastics are the same, and no doubt there are many safe uses of plastics in the world, but consider this: Cannabis oil is highly acidic and temperatures within vaping devices reach 100 C to 400 C. Those two facts alone should be enough to convince cannabis brands, distributors, dispensary owners and state regulators to think twice about plastic vape cartridges. 

Why take the risk? The only answer to this question is the insatiable demand for profit over the safety of patients and consumers.

Since inception, the Blinc Group has resisted the temptation to supply the cannabis market with these highly sought after plastic cartridges and has insisted on only bringing cartridges to market that use borosilicate glass, with exceptional chemical durability and high heat resistance. This sentiment is deep rooted in the culture of the company beginning with Arnaud Dumas de Rauly, co-founder, CEO and also chairman of ISO/TC 126/SC 3 on vape and vapor products: 

“All in all, the precautionary principle states that if a product, an action, or a policy has a suspected risk of causing harm to the public or to the environment, protective action should be supported before there is complete scientific proof of a risk. In this case, we know that  polycarbonate contains BPA, so why take the risk of using a poly based cartridge if it contains a possibly toxic component?” – Arnaud Dumas De Rauly

When Blinc set out to create a low cost cartridge, we did so by redeigning the cartridge itself to use less parts, rather than looking at lower cost materials. Our entry level cart, the XPro V1 is still powered by a ceramic core and is still made of quartz glass. Granted it doesnt have all the customization flexibility and bells and whistles of our higher end carts, but it checks all the boxes on safety, compliance and consistency – ensuring the absolute safety and satisfaction of the end user. 

As the vape segment of the cannabis market continues to grow exponentially, it’s important the safety education keeps up. The glass vs plastic debate is only one of many differentiating variables in the design and manufacturing of vape hardware. Patients and consumers should be aware of the risks. Budtenders should be stearing patrons towards higher quality vape products and that starts with an understanding of the cartridge itself, not just what’s inside.

#notjustvapor

PRESS RELEASE

 

New York — The Blinc Group, Inc., the regulatory-focused designer and provider of premium, customized and bespoke vaporizer technologies, has partnered with Green Revolution, a highly acclaimed, multi-award-winning cannabis producer/processor to develop their first vape line which delivers experience driven flavors – Relief, Elevate, Fly, and Chill.

“I am excited to partner with the Blinc Group and leverage our creative product development synergies to bring to market a next-generation vape cartridge that meets and surpasses the expectations of the most demanding vape users,” said Leo Shlovsky, co-founder, and CEO of Green Revolution.

“Green Revolution and its team are dedicated to developing the highest quality, innovative products to better the lives of their consumers for years and it only makes sense that they would take that same approach with their first vape line,” said Arnaud Dumas de Rauly, co-founder, and CEO of the Blinc Group.

Green Revolution vaporizers make the most of flavor and effect in a ceramic cartridge. Available in classic strains with our expertly curated terpene blends – Ensemble Effect Approved. All cartridges are terpene-enhanced, pesticide-free and are powered by a 100% ceramic heating element for consistently remarkable flavor. The Green Revolution vape line is offered in four signature experiences:

RELIEF/CBD
The RELIEF experience features classic CBD strains of cannabis. Known for gentle, calm, and relieving effects. Pairs well with: A yoga flow, a coffee break, or a walk in the park

FLY/Sativa
The FLY experience features classic sativa strains. Known for uplifting, euphoric, and joyful effects. Pairs well with: A pre-workout stretch, a night on the town or a hike.

ELEVATE/Hybrid
The ELEVATE experience features classic hybrid strains. Known for balanced, creative, and tranquil effects. Pairs well with: A good book, your favorite record, or a day at the beach.

CHILL/Indica
The CHILL experience features classic indica strains. Known for relaxing, peaceful, and dreamy effects. Pairs well with: A Netflix binge, your bedtime routine, or a day off.

“‘Powered by Blinc’ is more than just branding, it’s a guarantee to bring you the best in class vape technology available and that’s just what we’ve done for Green Revolution,” added Dumas de Rauly.

About the Blinc Group
Headquartered in New York City, the Blinc Group designs, develops, supplies, and supports premium cannabis vaping hardware. The company offers a curated collection of proven cartridges, batteries, ready to use vaporizers and complete bespoke device development to multi-state operators, licensed producers, and brands. Blinc completes the value chain by providing its clients access to a suite of support services ranging from research and development, production, testing, standard operating procedures, training and all the way to go-to-market strategy and brand communications consulting. With full control of the supply chain, the company’s unique “Powered by Blinc” process enables clients to provide innovative, safe, and quality-controlled products to cannabis consumers worldwide. 

About Green Revolution
Green Revolution has bult a reputation as Washington’s most trusted cannabis wellness brand and is now taking the California market by storm. They offer a variety of products formulated with four consistent cannabinoid-terpene profiles for reliable results across product applications. As a pioneer of nanotechnology in cannabis edibles, Green Revolution is proud to use the best of science and nature to chart a clear path to wellness.

Media Contact:

Gretchen Gailey

ggailey@panoptic-strategies.com

202-489-3821

As the world struggles to return to normal life, COVID-19 has a tendency to return for a grim reminder of its existence. Originally one of the hardest-hit territories, China has instituted a zero-tolerance policy on COVID-19 to ensure it never spreads again. The country leverages local lockdowns, mass testing, and population control through tracking on mini apps via WeChat that are necessary to go almost anywhere and do almost anything in China.

Last month, there was a small spike in cases, causing the government to institute a local shutdown in Shenzhen. While Blinc China offices were closed for a week and everyone worked from home, our factories and suppliers were not affected.

On Sunday, March 13, around 3,400 new daily cases were recorded in mainland China, with 121 cases in Shenzhen.

With very short notice, the government announced yesterday (i.e.: 03/13/2022) that 17.5 million residents of Shenzhen are being placed on lockdown for at least a week. The lockdown, which came after virus cases doubled nationwide, will be accompanied by three rounds of citywide mass testing. The lockdown order followed earlier restrictions placed on Shenzhen central business district, and will last at least until March 20, 2022.

The Blinc China team will continue to work from home while our suppliers and assemblers are closed. It is the same for most raw material suppliers, and clearly, any products in ongoing production will suffer at least a week delay.

We will continue to monitor the situation closely and will report in full transparency. For those of our clients in need of cartridge supply to weather this storm, we do offer blank inventory that has already passed U.S. customs and is in our warehouse, ready to ship. To all of our clients, we thank you for your support and will continue to bring you the best in vape technology “Powered by Blinc.”

#notjustvapor

Scaling up is challenging for any business, but in the cannabis industry, MSOs looking to scale their vape operations have a particularly difficult time planning. Vape cartridges are ordered eight weeks or more in advance and strain specific customizations are made to those cartridges in China. Many times the end result is a projection mismatch between the number of customized cartridges delivered and the number of customized cartridges to serve demand. In other words, the cannabis company ends up sitting on cartridges that cannot be repurposed because the colors, logos or other custom design elements are strain or brand specific. There are a variety of reasons for this misalignment. It could be that sales projections were way off due to the speed with which consumer preferences and prices fluctuate. Or, it could be that a particular batch of a vape formulation was larger or smaller than anticipated.

So the question is, how can this supply chain process be better managed? Perhaps ordering blank cartridges with no differentiating factors is the answer? Well then how does your brand differentiate itself in an increasingly competitive space? And how will consumers tell the difference between your vape SKUs?

Recognizing that this was a serious pain point for its MSO and LP clients, The Blinc Group began researching how to solve this problem. In 2021, the RingSystem was introduced by Blinc at MJBiz. Its reception was nothing short of jaw dropping as client after client soon realized that this could be a game changer for them.

The RingSystem is an innovative derivative of the 510 thread cartridge that gives cannabis vape brands better control of their inventory. The Ring System consists of a slender metal ring that slips over a portion of the mouthpiece (Tip Ring) or slips over a portion of the base of the tank (Base Ring). Each ring is branded using soft touch, etching or a wrap. Instead of custom cartridges that cannot be repurposed, custom rings are produced to identify each specific vape SKU. Those rings are then shipped with the blank cartridges to the client. The client is now in control of exactly how many cartridges are branded given their immediate manufacturing needs and if those needs change, the rings are easily swapped out so the cartridges can be allocated to another SKU.

Putting this inventory control back in the hands of the producer allows for great flexibility and market experimentation as even small test batches can be branded State-side quickly and easily. But having such control requires the ability to install these rings onto the blank cartridges at scale. Thankfully Blinc’s engineering team has been forward thinking and designed a tray and jig system that now allows for 50 rings to be installed on 50 cartridges at a time. This semi-automatic process has now made the RingSystem concept a complete solution for managing this supply chain headache.

Vape cartridges are one of the largest ancillary expenditures an MSO or LP makes. The industry is spending hundreds of millions of dollars on these hardware SKUs because the vape segment of the industry continues to grow exponentially. With the RingSystem now available, we expect to see those early adopters save considerable money as no longer will unused branded cartridges be left to rot and collect dust in warehouses across North America.

#notjustvapor

New York, Jan. 25, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Blinc Group, Inc., the regulatory-focused designer and provider of premium, customized and bespoke vaporizer technologies, in partnership with Canada’s leading independent third-party cannabis testing company Labstat International Inc. have conducted the first North American Cannabis Vape Consumption Survey aimed at better understanding how consumers use vaping devices. The study, Cannabis Puffing Regimes: A first step in developing standardized testing for cannabis vape products, found that cannabis consumption through vape devices is vastly different than nicotine and varies across borders.

“We set out to better understand how consumers use vape products to create a puffing regime to help inform policy. As expected, we found that the vape consumer is quite different from your traditional nicotine user, but we also found it interesting to learn that there were also many differences between an American consumer and a Canadian consumer,” said Arnaud Dumas de Rauly, CEO and co-founder of the Blinc Group.

Administered by Abacus Data, the Cannabis Vape Consumption Survey collected information from both medical and adult-use consumers across North America to understand how they use cannabis vape devices. More than 2,000 medical and adult-use cannabis consumers across North America answered questions pertaining to their vape consumption habits.  The Blinc Group and Labstat used the data to create a baseline “puffing regime” for cannabis vape testing.

To develop the regime the survey examined participants vaping frequency, formula preferences, length of vaping sessions, number of puffs inhaled, the intensity of those inhalations and the life of a vape cartridge.

“Our survey first found that American consumers use vape pens as their #1 method of consumption while Canadian consumers prefer joints and edibles. We also found that there is a significant difference between the number of cannabis vaping sessions per day in Canada versus America,” added Dumas de Rauly.

“A consumer’s smoking behavior influences potential exposure to harmful or potentially harmful contaminants and the puffing regime is an important aspect of risk assessment. This newly defined cannabis puffing regime will further inform the standardization of quality and safety testing protocols designed for today’s complex cannabis vape devices,” said Peter Joza, Chief Technical Officer of Labstat.

The 2019 EVALI crisis in the United States has led to great debate over how to protect cannabis vape consumers and illustrated the need for more research into the issue.  The Colorado Marijuana Enforcement Division has put in place new regulations that go into effect by January 2022 making it one of the first in the world to require aerosol testing for cannabis vaping products. The regulations state “all cannabis concentrates in vaporized delivery devices must be tested for heavy metal contaminants in the emitted aerosol by an authorized testing facility.”

“The industry has put all its emphasis on testing the oils and concentrates that go into vape pens but have neglected to test what actually comes out of them and is inhaled into our bodies. The heating of the cannabis changes its chemical composition, it stands to reason that this could have a different impact upon one’s health,” said Dumas de Rauly.

“Very little information is known about the consumption habits of vape consumers. Their vaping behavior influences potential exposure to harmful or potentially harmful contaminants and the puffing regime helps us to assess that risk and inform regulators of those risks,” added Joza.

If you would like to speak with our team about the findings or the survey, please contact our media contacts below and download the study here, Cannabis Puffing Regimes: A first step in developing standardized testing for cannabis vape products.

 

—

Original Press Release: https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2022/01/25/2372346/0/en/The-Blinc-Group-Labstat-International-Inc-Study-Finds-Vape-Habits-Don-t-Cross-Borders.html

I think something is happening on the road. Carl and I are turning into an old married couple. We started off the day at our homebase at the Courtyard Marriott where we shared an egg frittata. What grown men wake up and get there day started sharing an egg frittata?  I’ll tell you who, two very secure, banging vape technology salesmen, that’s who.

Properly lubed up with two coffees we planned out the rest of our day and got moving. We handled a few of our daily meetings at the hotel and then we got on the road to Green Meadows in Southbridge. They are an amazing operator founded by the family of General George Patton who works tirelessly to provide their customers with organic grade cannabis, support their community and gives back to the veteran community.

Our first order of business was to provide the budtenders with some treats from the Blinc Family inventory, our Puffmod and Puff Stiks, some of our best-selling batteries that offer a great charge and various heat settings, they truly put the user in the driver’s seat.  They loved them and we promised to send more.

It was also great getting a chance to reconnect with Ramzi Moushabeck, their wholesale manager, that we met last year at a Lemon Haze golfing tournament in Boston where we had a blast playing and getting to know each other. He gave us a tour of the facility and it’s so awesome to see how well they are growing and prepping to enter the vape space with their own line.

We were able to keep the day going with lunch with Ramzi and some of the other team members, talked about local businesses and also about getting involved with the Summit Lounge, to do some local events. Whenever we have the opportunity to get involved with the local community, the Blinc Group likes to see how we can jump in and help to educate more about the vape space.

Carl navigated us terribly back to the hotel, he always gets us lost. I’m not quite sure how he does that with all the technology in the world, but he does. At least he braved the cold to fill up the gas tank of Herbie, (we did promise you that we would name our Nissan Kick) while I was on our team managers meeting. Herbie has been a great, reliable car, just like his namesake Herbie, the Love Bug, I love that movie.

We finished up the day with a quaint dinner back at the Courtyard Marriott, share a lovely Blinc vape and bunked down early, all tuckered out after our great day with Green Meadows.

Today we are headed off to meet with Resinate about their vaping needs and then we will be headed back to the Big Apple.  We can’t wait to see our friends at Resinate and finish up this trip with a bang, stay tuned, hopefully Carl won’t get us lost on our way home.