Denver-based cannabis tech firm MassRoots to buy CannaRegs for $12 million

By Alicia Wallace, The Cannabist Staff

MassRoots Inc., a Denver-based marijuana tech and social media firm, plans to snap up web-based rules and regulations company CannaRegs Ltd. in a $12 million stock transaction, the companies announced Wednesday.

The deal for Denver’s CannaRegs, which developed a database of cannabis rules and regulations, marks another move by MassRoots to bulk up its software offerings. In the past eight months, MassRoots announced plans to buy Odava Inc., a regulatory compliance and point-of-sale software firm, for $1.75 million, and DDDigital Inc., the company behind cannabis ordering platform Whaxy, for $100,000 in cash and 2.6 million shares of stock.

“This acquisition expands MassRoots’ compliance offerings, consolidating the most important operations for cannabis businesses into one central platform,” MassRoots CEO Isaac Dietrich said in a news release about the acquisition. “We expect with MassRoots’ resources and relationships, we can grow the number of businesses utilizing CannaRegs and significantly increase MassRoots’ contractually-obligated monthly recurring revenue.”

The combination could allow for CannaRegs, which has more than $450,000 in contractually obligated annual revenue, to expand deeper into the California market, founder Amanda Ostrowitz said in the announcement. Ostrowitz is expected to continue as an executive at MassRoots, company officials said.

Watch: Amanda Ostrowitz of CannaRegs on the #CannabistShow

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Alicia Wallace joined The Cannabist in July 2016, covering national marijuana policy and business. In her 14 years as a business news reporter, her coverage has spanned topics such as the economy, natural foods, airlines, biotech, retail,…