CHICAGO: When it comes to cannabis regulations, it’s easy to get lost in the weeds. Enter Fyllo, a marketing technology platform for the cannabis industry.
Cannabis regulations differ not only state-to-state but municipality-to-municipality. This lack of clarity increases the risk of cannabis brands and publishers running afoul of the law if their programmatic ads don’t abide by local regulations, explained Aristotle Loumis, cofounder and chief innovation officer of Fyllo.
„There’s no handbook to allow you to navigate this landscape,” he said, adding that the company wants to help cannabis companies avoid getting burned by the law, which could result in fines or licenses being stripped. „What we do is allow compliance at scale.”
The platform is powered by Fyllo’s proprietary data and analysis technology, CannaBrain, which harvests information from sources including legislation, dispensaries, inventory and social media.
Its services include data analytics; ad campaign management, measurement and reporting; and creative management services, according to a statement from the company. For brands, Fyllo can be used for „better brand targeting and reach across all devices and channels.” Publishers can use Fyllo to „create and monetize data and inventory that is compliant with cannabis regulations,” according to a statement from the company.
Fyllo launched after securing $16 million in a seed-funding round led by JW Asset Management and K2 & Associates, whose portfolios include prominent cannabis companies Aurora and Canopy. With this investment, Jason Wild, JW president and chief investment officer, will join Fyllo’s board of directors.
The funding round will help Fyllo to expand tech platforms and add staff. These personnel hires would work in sales, engineering and compliance, Loumis added. Without revealing the company’s headcount, he said Fyllo will double its staff and noted that it has „just as large of a legal arm as engineering.”
Fyllo has offices in Los Angeles, Denver and New York, with plans to expand to Toronto, Tel Aviv, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Cleveland.