International
Seattle marijuana startup Leafly raises $23M as recent legalization boosts cannabis market
Seattle-based online cannabis marketplace Leafly has closed $23 million in new funding, GeekWire confirmed with the company. The fresh cash infusion comes as the cannabis market sees an increase in sales as more states legalize pot and dispensaries were..
Seattle-based online cannabis marketplace Leafly has closed $23 million in new funding, GeekWire confirmed with the company. The fresh cash infusion comes as the cannabis market sees an increase in sales as more states legalize pot and dispensaries were declared essential businesses during the pandemic.
The startup plans to expand its online marketplace that lets customers and retailers buy and sell cannabis. Leafly also serves as an educational resource. The platform has 120 million annual visitors.
The funding will be used to add to the company’s 160-person workforce and follows a series of layoffs over the past few years.
In January 2020, Leafly cut 18% of its staff, or 54 positions, which then-CEO Tim Leslie attributed to “market realities of the technology and cannabis sectors.” It cut 91 more employees two months later, citing the uncertainties caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Leafly is currently under the leadership of CEO Yoko Miyashita, a former Getty Images exec who was previously the company’s general counsel after joining in 2019.
Leslie, a former Amazon exec who was Leafly’s CEO for less than two years, is now a founder of a farming nonprofit called Living Roots.
Leafly spun out of Seattle marijuana investment firm Privateer Holdings in 2019.
The company’s revenue primarily comes from a monthly subscription fee paid by cannabis retailers to be listed on the platform and to access e-commerce tools. It also makes money from advertising.
The cannabis industry saw a 71% increase in sales in 2020, according to Leafly’s report based on marijuana state tax and revenue records. Americans spent about $18.3 billion on cannabis products last year.
Leafly said marijuana legalization trends are accelerating the cannabis market. The company will use the new funding to fuel marketing on the east coast, where several states have legalized marijuana recently.
Recreational marijuana is legal for adults in 16 states and the District of Columbia. Medical marijuana is legal in an additional 20 more. Some of these changes were made this year, with New York legalizing pot on March 31, and both Virginia and New Mexico passing similar legislation, which will take effect this summer, according to Insider.
Other companies are responding to the trend — tech-giant Amazon just announced it would stop screening certain job applicants for drug use, and it backed federal legislation that would legalize and decriminalize pot.
Investors are also getting on the cannabis boom. Dutchie, an Oregon-based cannabis e-commerce platform, announced $200 million in new funding in March. The company was valued at $1.7 billion.
Another cannabis company, Weedmaps, went public and officially began trading on Wednesday.
Leafly has raised $38 million in total funding. The recent round was led primarily by existing investors, but Leafly didn’t disclose specific firms or individuals.
mexico pandemic coronavirusInternational
You can now enter this country without a passport
Singapore has been on a larger push to speed up the flow of tourists with digital immigration clearance.
In the fall of 2023, the city-state of Singapore announced that it was working on end-to-end biometrics that would allow travelers passing through its Changi Airport to check into flights, drop off bags and even leave and exit the country without a passport.
The latter is the most technologically advanced step of them all because not all countries issue passports with the same biometrics while immigration laws leave fewer room for mistakes about who enters the country.
Related: A country just went visa-free for visitors with any passport
That said, Singapore is one step closer to instituting passport-free travel by testing it at its land border with Malaysia. The two countries have two border checkpoints, Woodlands and Tuas, and as of March 20 those entering in Singapore by car are able to show a QR code that they generate through the government’s MyICA app instead of the passport.
Here is who is now able to enter Singapore passport-free
The latter will be available to citizens of Singapore, permanent residents and tourists who have already entered the country once with their current passport. The government app pulls data from one's passport and shows the border officer the conditions of one's entry clearance already recorded in the system.
More Travel:
- A new travel term is taking over the internet (and reaching airlines and hotels)
- The 10 best airline stocks to buy now
- Airlines see a new kind of traveler at the front of the plane
While not truly passport-free since tourists still need to link a valid passport to an online system, the move is the first step in Singapore's larger push to get rid of physical passports.
"The QR code initiative allows travellers to enjoy a faster and more convenient experience, with estimated time savings of around 20 seconds for cars with four travellers, to approximately one minute for cars with 10 travellers," Singapore's Immigration and Checkpoints Authority wrote in a press release announcing the new feature. "Overall waiting time can be reduced by more than 30% if most car travellers use QR code for clearance."
More countries are looking at passport-free travel but it will take years to implement
The land crossings between Singapore and Malaysia can get very busy — government numbers show that a new post-pandemic record of 495,000 people crossed Woodlands and Tuas on the weekend of March 8 (the day before Singapore's holiday weekend.)
Even once Singapore implements fully digital clearance at all of its crossings, the change will in no way affect immigration rules since it's only a way of transferring the status afforded by one's nationality into a digital system (those who need a visa to enter Singapore will still need to apply for one at a consulate before the trip.) More countries are in the process of moving toward similar systems but due to the varying availability of necessary technology and the types of passports issued by different countries, the prospect of agent-free crossings is still many years away.
In the U.S., Chicago's O'Hare International Airport was chosen to take part in a pilot program in which low-risk travelers with TSA PreCheck can check into their flight and pass security on domestic flights without showing ID. The UK has also been testing similar digital crossings for British and EU citizens but no similar push for international travelers is currently being planned in the U.S.
stocks pandemic link testing singapore uk euSpread & Containment
This country became first in the world to let in tourists passport-free
Singapore has been on a larger push to speed up the flow of tourists with digital immigration clearance.
In the fall of 2023, the city-state of Singapore announced that it was working on end-to-end biometrics that would allow travelers passing through its Changi Airport to check into flights, drop off bags and even leave and exit the country without a passport.
The latter is the most technologically advanced step of them all because not all countries issue passports with the same biometrics while immigration laws leave fewer room for mistakes about who enters the country.
Related: A country just went visa-free for visitors with any passport
That said, Singapore is one step closer to instituting passport-free travel by testing it at its land border with Malaysia. The two countries have two border checkpoints, Woodlands and Tuas, and as of March 20 those entering in Singapore by car are able to show a QR code that they generate through the government’s MyICA app instead of the passport.
Here is who is now able to enter Singapore passport-free
The latter will be available to citizens of Singapore, permanent residents and tourists who have already entered the country once with their current passport. The government app pulls data from one's passport and shows the border officer the conditions of one's entry clearance already recorded in the system.
More Travel:
- A new travel term is taking over the internet (and reaching airlines and hotels)
- The 10 best airline stocks to buy now
- Airlines see a new kind of traveler at the front of the plane
While not truly passport-free since tourists still need to link a valid passport to an online system, the move is the first step in Singapore's larger push to get rid of physical passports.
"The QR code initiative allows travellers to enjoy a faster and more convenient experience, with estimated time savings of around 20 seconds for cars with four travellers, to approximately one minute for cars with 10 travellers," Singapore's Immigration and Checkpoints Authority wrote in a press release announcing the new feature. "Overall waiting time can be reduced by more than 30% if most car travellers use QR code for clearance."
More countries are looking at passport-free travel but it will take years to implement
The land crossings between Singapore and Malaysia can get very busy — government numbers show that a new post-pandemic record of 495,000 people crossed Woodlands and Tuas on the weekend of March 8 (the day before Singapore's holiday weekend.)
Even once Singapore implements fully digital clearance at all of its crossings, the change will in no way affect immigration rules since it's only a way of transferring the status afforded by one's nationality into a digital system (those who need a visa to enter Singapore will still need to apply for one at a consulate before the trip.) More countries are in the process of moving toward similar systems but due to the varying availability of necessary technology and the types of passports issued by different countries, the prospect of agent-free crossings is still many years away.
In the U.S., Chicago's O'Hare International Airport was chosen to take part in a pilot program in which low-risk travelers with TSA PreCheck can check into their flight and pass security on domestic flights without showing ID. The UK has also been testing similar digital crossings for British and EU citizens but no similar push for international travelers is currently being planned in the U.S.
stocks pandemic link testing singapore uk euGovernment
Analysts issue unexpected crude oil price forecast after surge
Here’s what a key investment firm says about the commodity.
Oil is an asset defined by volatility.
U.S. crude prices stood above $60 a barrel in January 2020, just as the covid pandemic began. Three months later, prices briefly went negative, as the pandemic crushed demand.
By June 2022 the price rebounded all the way to $120, as fiscal and monetary stimulus boosted the economy. The price fell back to $80 in September 2022. Since then, it has bounced between about $65 and $90.
Over the past two months, the price has climbed 15% to $82 as of March 20.
Bullish factors for oil prices
The move stems partly from indications that economic growth this year will be stronger than analysts expected.
Related: The Fed rate decision won't surprise markets. What happens next might
Vanguard has just raised its estimate for 2024 U.S. GDP growth to 2% from 0.5%.
Meanwhile, China’s factory output and retail sales exceeded forecasts in January and February. That could boost oil demand in the country, the world's No. 1 oil importer.
Also, drone strokes from Ukraine have knocked out some of Russia’s oil refinery capacity. Ukraine has hit at least nine major refineries this year, erasing an estimated 11% of Russia’s production capacity, according to Bloomberg.
“Russia is a gas station with an army, and we intend on destroying that gas station,” Francisco Serra-Martins, chief executive of drone manufacturer Terminal Autonomy, told the news service. Gasoline, of course, is one of the products made at refineries.
Speaking of gas, the recent surge of oil prices has sent it higher as well. The average national price for regular gas totaled $3.52 per gallon Wednesday, up 7% from a month ago, according to the American Automobile Association. And we’re nearing the peak driving season.
Another bullish factor for oil: Iraq said Monday that it’s cutting oil exports by 130,000 barrels per day in coming months. Iraq produced much more oil in January and February than its OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) target.
Citigroup’s oil-price forecast
Yet, not everyone is bullish on oil going forward. Citigroup analysts see prices falling through next year, Dow Jones’s Oil Price Information Service (OPIS) reports.
More Economic Analysis:
- Bond markets tell Fed rate story that stocks still ignore
- February inflation surprises with modest uptick, but core pressures ease
- Vanguard unveils bold interest rate forecast ahead of Fed meeting
The analysts note that supply is at risk in Israel, Iran, Iraq, Libya, and Venezuela. But Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, and Russia could easily make up any shortfall.
Moreover, output should also rise this year and next in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, and Guyana, the analysts said. Meanwhile, global demand growth will decelerate, amid increased electric vehicle use and economic weakness.
Regarding refineries, the analysts see strong gains in capacity and capacity upgrades this year.
What if Donald Trump is elected president again? That “would likely be bearish for oil and gas," as Trump's policies could boost trade tension, crimping demand, they said.
The analysts made predictions for European oil prices, the world’s benchmark, which sat Wednesday at $86.
They forecast a 9% slide in the second quarter to $78, then a decline to $74 in the third quarter and $70 in the fourth quarter.
Next year should see a descent to $65 in the first quarter, $60 in the second and third, and finally $55 in the fourth, Citi said. That would leave the price 36% below current levels.
U.S. crude prices will trade $4 below European prices from the second quarter this year until the end of 2025, the analysts maintain.
Related: Veteran fund manager picks favorite stocks for 2024
stimulus economic growth pandemic dow jones stocks fed army trump gdp stimulus oil iran brazil canada european russia ukraine china-
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