Microsoft has built a new type of software that tracks marijuana ‘from seed to sale’ in various states in the US.
Working alongside Los Angeles-based weed company Kind, the tech giant has created the software product to help facilitate and track sales.
Think of it as a joint partnership.
“We do think there will be significant growth,” Kimberly Nelson, the executive director of state and local government solutions at Microsoft told the New York Times .
“As the industry is regulated, there will be more transactions, and we believe there will be more sophisticated requirements and tools down the road.”
Microsoft is the first big-name tech company to get involved in the cannabis market and the move could be seen as a risky venture.
Although legal for medical and recreational use in a handful of states, cannabis is still classed as illegal by the federal government.
At the moment, Microsoft is only providing software solutions for tracking the produce – but it’s involvement is still a big win for the legal weed business.
It remains to be seen whether other big US companies will invest in growing the green stuff. We don’t have high expectations.