Ontario-based cannabis technology company Weedbox has acquired Goodtimes through TokeText, its operating subsidiary.
Founded by Michael Kniazeff and Ian Delves in 2017, Goodtimes is the parent company to what it claims to be Canada’s first multi-retailer ecommerce platform for adult-use cannabis (Super Anytime) and alcohol (Boozer Delivery).
Goodtimes is a fully compliant operator geared with “tech-enabled assets” that allow the full integration of point-of-sale, real-time inventory, payments, and direct-to-consumer fulfillment through embedded ecommerce and marketplace offerings.
According to TokeText, the acquisition will see the addition of its proprietary instant-purchase shopping technology to the suite of consumer-focused features powered by Goodtimes’ iOS, Android, and web ecommerce platforms.
“The technology stack that comes with the acquisition provides many of the integrations that we were going to be executing on our roadmap for the next 12 to 18 months,” said Jeremy Potvin, CEO of TokeText. “It provides us a fast-forward in our roadmap and it also provides us relationships on the retail side and a lot of traction on the consumer side.”
TokeText claims it’s the first cannabis company to get a fully provisioned shortcode with the number ‘247420.’
As a serial entrepreneur for more than a decade, Potvin has led a number of startups in the ecommerce and staff management space.
In 2011, he founded Shifthub, a cloud-based social staff scheduling application. He later launched World of Angus in 2015, entering the dog lifestyle market.
Potvin then transitioned into retail cannabis by starting Weedbox in 2017, which also operates The Dopist, a weekly podcast that centers on the cannabis industry, and The Indica Institute, a free learning platform that provides education on marijuana.
He didn’t start working on TokeText until March 2020 as a “competitive advantage for [their] stores” and began a beta test with Corner Cannabis, one of its partner stores.
“After six months of beta testing…the numbers were quite clear that this is exactly what we should do,” Potvin said. Currently, TokeText has about 24 active partnerships with cannabis dispensaries and 110 contracts.
In an interview with BetaKit, Potvin said a lot of those contracts were put on hold while the startup finished provisioning a shortcode with telecommunication carriers and through the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA).
TokeText claims it’s the first cannabis company to get a fully provisioned shortcode with the number ‘247420.’
SMS marketing SaaS company Tatango reported that “leasing a shortcode provides a brand with access and ownership over the phone number, but to send and receive messages, they have to activate the number.”
This process is called shortcode provisioning, allowing companies to communicate with their customers.
With hopes to fully complete the process by January, Potvin noted the Goodtimes acquisition is a “full loop back” that provides the company with opportunities to still go to market with its provision shortcode while it waits for final decisions.
“While [customers] can’t perform shopping functionalities from ‘247420’ they can use the app in the Apple store to allow them to purchase a specific cannabis store,” he added.
The SMS cannabis delivery service is currently being offered within the GTA. Potvin told Betakit that TokeText intends to expand to Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia in January. By March, it plans to serve California, Nevada, and Michigan.
Image courtesy Unsplash.