Entrepreneurs Looking for Business Opportunities in Marijuana Industry

Entrepreneurs are moving forward with new business strategies as legal sales of recreational marijuana get underway in Colorado, CNBC reports. Washington state will begin selling marijuana later this year.

The legal marijuana industry could develop like the beer industry, with both small and large brands, the article notes. Some small business owners are working within state guidelines to develop business strategies, because they believe there is the potential for large profits.

Currently, banks and credit card companies cannot process marijuana business transactions, because marijuana remains illegal under federal law.

A marijuana-focused private equity firm, Privateer Holdings, says their investors are from all over the political spectrum. “Our investors are from the far left and the far right,” said Chief Executive Brendan Kennedy. “There’s old money and new money. You put them in a room and they wouldn’t agree on anything else but this issue.”

San Francisco angel investor network ArcView Group forecasts a 64 percent increase in the legal marijuana market, to $2.34 billion this year. The five-year national market could grow to $10.2 billion, the company predicts.

Products that have growth potential include marijuana concentrates, nonsmoking technologies such as vaporization, edibles and capsules, and oil extracted from raw cannabis. Ancillary businesses are emerging to support the legal marijuana supply chain, such as insurance, security and e-commerce companies.