Helix TCS becomes largest single shareholder in MJ software firm

Colorado-based Helix TCS, which has been expanding its holdings in the marijuana trade, announced Monday it has become the largest shareholder in Florida-based BioTrackTHC, a longtime manufacturer and supplier of seed-to-sale cannabis tracking software.

Specific terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Helix and its capital partner, Rose Capital Advisors of Miami Beach, agreed to purchase the shares from BioTrackTHC founders Steven Siegel and Brian McClintock for a combination of cash and stock, making Helix and Rose the largest BioTrackTHC shareholder, according to a news release. However, the share purchase doesn’t represent a majority of BioTrackTHC’s outstanding stock.

Zach Venegas, the CEO of Helix TCS, will be appointed to the board of BioTrackTHC.

Venegas said in a statement the purchase provides “a key link in Helix TCS’s fully developed integrated operating environment for the legal cannabis industry.”

Siegel and McClintock said in a joint statement that the deal is a “game-changer for both firms,” and that finding a buyer was a “painstaking process with many suitors making a case.”

Helix is a public company that trades on the over-the-counter market under the ticker symbol HLIX. Helix provides such services as armed security, consulting on banking and compliance and logistical support.

The BioTrackTHC purchase follows Helix’s acquisition of online wholesale cannabis platform Cannabase in July and a data partnership with BioTrackTHC and MJ Freeway – one of BioTrackTHC’s competitors – announced in August.

BioTrackTHC has won government contracts to develop and maintain seed-to-sale inventory tracking systems, including in Hawaii, Illinois, New York, New Mexico and Washington State.