Marijuana Business Magazine August 2019

August 2019 | mjbizdaily.com 115 Bubby’s restaurant—Azuca markets itself as “a culinary technology cannabis company.” “Ron Silver reinvented cannabis edibles so that it’s easier for customers to understand the effects they’re going to have on them and handle their own dosing,” said Kim Rael, Azuca’s CEO and co-founder. The company is partnering with other manufactures to expand its brand. The startup recently trans- ferred its manufacturing operations from New Jersey to Colorado to capi- talize on more established, favorable rules for infused product makers. Azuca’s product lineup includes: • Artisan-crafted chocolate coins made from 61% cocoa. • Pate de Fruit candies that are vegan- and vegetarian-friendly. • Shortbread cookies made in small batches. According to Rael, Azuca started with a seed funding round of roughly $1.5 million. The company declined to provide financial information or projections but expects its THC products will be in at least 10 states by year-end and in Canada in 2020. Culinary and Tech Expertise Rael describes Azuca as a technology cannabis company developed to solve edibles’ main problem: the difficulty of proper dosing. “We have patents pending on the formulations that make our edibles and ingredients fast acting,” she said. “We like to say size matters and smaller is better. If our molecule was the size of a marble, the competitive technologies out there are the size of a large beach ball.” The three patents filed in 2017—as well as a fourth the company filed this year—center on making the cannabinoid molecules small and water friendly, or hydrophilic, so the body can quickly absorb the chemicals and start to feel the effects of CBD or THC. Azuca said part of its secret sauce is the ability to have the cannabinoids bypass the lengthy trip through the liver required by oil- based carriers. Quicker absorption means consumers won’t have to wonder when they’ll start to feel the effects of edibles. That could help reduce the risk people will consume more CBD or THC than they expected. Azuca trademarked its technology as TiME, or Thermodynamic individ- ual Molecular Encapsulation. The company promises the rapid release and high bioavailability hasn’t come at the cost of taste. “We didn’t start with a chemist. We started with a chef,” Rael said. “Ron Silver created the technology. He approached it from a chef’s perspective.” Growing the Brand The result of Azuca’s technology— infused syrup, sugars and flakes—can easily get lost inside the edibles that are created. Other manufacturers, for example, could be tempted to treat Azuca’s star products as simple ingredients. When discussing the challenge of building a brand around products that will be hidden inside their final destinations, Rael pointed to two well-known brands: the sugar substi- tute Splenda and semiconductor chip maker Intel Corp. Splenda is sold as a stand-alone product for those looking for a sugar substitute for their tea or coffee. But the Heartland Food Products Group—the maker of Splenda— also partners with brands that include Coca-Cola on products such as Diet Coke with Splenda, where the sweetener logo appears on the can. Similarly, Intel, where Rael previously managed a $200 million capital budget, has built a brand on ensur- ing consumers know their Lenovo, The team at New York City-based Azuca believes it found a sweet strat- egy for creating a multimillion-dollar culinary technology company: Sell fast-acting CBD- and THC-infused sugar and other products to manufac- turers and consumers. Here’s what you need to know: • Azuca was started by Ron Silver, the chef and owner of Bubby’s restaurant in Manhattan. Silver pairs his culinary expertise with science to create infused products that take effect in two to 15 minutes. • The startup, which launched in 2018 with about $1.5 million in seed funding, is on pace to have THC products in at least 10 states by year’s end and in Canada in 2020. • Azuca partnered with Boston-based Mayflower Medicinals on an infused edibles line created in Mayflower’s commercial kitchen and sold in Massachusetts. Other partnerships will likely be announced in the future. • The company recently moved its manufacturing operations from New Jersey to Colorado, hoping to bene- fit from the latter’s more predictable regulatory framework governing infused products. Kim Rael is the CEO of Azuca. Courtesy Photo