The Canadian company began as a dealer in medical marijuana but wasted no time positioning itself for the world beyond October 18, 2018, the day when smoking ganja for fun became legal in Canada.
Since 2016, Aurora has gobbled up CannaMed, Pedianos, Urban Cultivator, and eight other marijuana businesses – mostly recently MedReleaf, for which it paid $2.5 billion.
Aurora also has invested in CannaRoyalty, a holding company investing in research, marketing, and cannabis “infrastructure”; marijuana retailer Choom; and Hempco Food and Fiber. When it can’t buy, or buy in, it partners – so far, with the likes of Shopify and Evio Beauty Group, which is making beauty products using hemp oil.
TRENDPOST
Analysts see cannabis drinks and snacks, cannabidiol beauty products, and cannabis oil as a commodity quickly gaining market share as reefer becomes more widely legal. Aurora and similar publicly-traded companies that take broad positions early will vie to become the Amazon of weed.