BCBusiness

BOttOm: pOOYa naBEi For pete patterson and his Vitalis Extraction Technolo"y co-founders, James Seabrook and Joel Sherlock, what interested them about the cannabis industry wasn't nec- essarily the plant itself. It was the diversity of products or, more accurately, the process that could churn them out. Kelowna-based Vitalis incorporated in early 2016 and had 50 sta˜ as of late Sep- tember; Patterson estimates it will hit 75 by Christmas. But not a single employee touches cannabis (at least while they're working). Patterson and his partners were private investors in the legal marijuana space through a private equity fund when they saw a big demand for manufacturing equipment to extract cannabinoids from the plant. "Rather than just smoking a joint, extracts are used for basically everything else," he explains. "Whether it's patches or pills or dissolv- ing strips you can take orally or vaporizing pens, there are myriad di˜er- ent products that can be made with extracts." When the trio ƒrst tried to get into the extraction market, they noticed that all the machines that companies were buying were quite small. So they took a page from Blue Ocean Stratey, a popular 2004 book by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, who argue that businesses can succeed by creating uncontested market space. "We decided to make much larger equipment than what everyone else was mak- ing," Patterson recalls. "Our big, commercial/industrial- scale extraction system has given us really good position in the market. We were doing one machine a week; now it's two a week. We just picked up another 10,000 square feet of space so we can continue to manufac- ture more, and doubled our ¥oor sta˜." The business now serves customers on three continents. For companies like Vitalis, being in the cannabis industry is much like any other line of work, Patterson insists. "If you look at the fundamentals, 80 percent of our business is manufactur- ing, marketing, sales; it's quite standard. It's just that last 20 or 15 percent that's cannabis nuances." —N.C. T H E E x T R A C T O R Pete PAtterson Co-founder and COO, Vitalis extraction Technology T H E R E s E A R C H E R JonAthAn PAge CeO, anandia laboratories T H E R E A L T O R s AlAn Johnson + BiAnCA gilBert Vice-president, unique prop- erties; associate, industrial sales and leasing, Colliers International Canada as one of Canada's top com- mercial real estate services firms, Colliers took a risk by entering the cannabis industry. But the company upheld its standards while taking on clients looking for space to set up their growing and extraction operations. "if they've got a business plan that's ready to go, that's usually a key indicator that they've actually planned for success and not just, hey, i heard weed is becoming legal and i'm going to try and become a millionaire here," says Colliers associate Bianca gilbert. asked if cannabis companies are different from other clients, Vp alan Johnson admits there are still plenty of unknowns. "it's an education process on both sides," he says, on his way to visit BlueVault Organic marijuana's farm in pemberton. in July, BlueVault enlisted Colliers to sell the property, becoming B.C.'s first cannabis operation to be publicly marketed through a commercial real estate outfit. "Certain municipalities have tried to stop cannabis use, even thwarting cannabis users who already have a permit in place, and trying to prevent that from going through," Johnson says, "or putting in different zoning bylaws to make it a little less attractive, things like that." in any case, the pair feel well prepared for what's to come. "We've established at Colliers that we are the only firm that has an actual cannabis platform," gilbert says. –N.C. T he first scientist to sequence the cannabis genome, Jonathan page was born in Victoria and spent his childhood in the Comox Valley, poking about the countryside for interest- ing plants. he was especially fascinated by those with hallucinogenic, medicinal and cultural qualities. after graduating from UBC with a Bsc in plant biology, page studied chimpanzees' use of medicinal plants in tanzania and completed a phd in botany, also at UBC. he did post- doctoral research into opium and cannabis in germany, then headed the national Research Council's plant Biotechnology institute in saskatoon. in 2016, back in B.C., page co-founded anandia Labs with chemist John Coleman on the UBC campus to develop new varieties of cannabis for medical and non-medical use. the company has also tapped into a lucrative source of revenue, testing other producers' cannabis for potential contaminants before going to market, as required by federal regulations. the 2017 Lift Canadian Cannabis awards named anandia top testing Lab in the country. in august, anandia was acquired by Edmonton-based aurora Cannabis for about $115 million in stock, which will allow it to accelerate its activities. the original staff of four has grown to 42, including 31 scientists, and anandia expects to move into 12,500-square-foot headquarters in Vancouver's great northern Way neighbourhood by the end of the year. Legalization will increase the demand for certifying products for both the adult-use and medical mar- kets, and the new facility will enable anandia to expand its testing and tissue culture operations severalfold. the company will keep its original UBC lab but is also building a Cannabis innovation Centre in Comox, page's boyhood home. the 22,500-square-foot green- house and 10,000-square-foot laboratory will house a cannabis breeding and genetics program. the site, chosen because of affordable land, proxim- ity to an airport and a welcoming municipality, has obtained zoning approval for cannabis production and processing. it has the option to expand to more than 100,000 square feet. –F.S. to make it a little less attractive, to make it a little less attractive, things like that." in any case, the pair feel well prepared for what's to come. "We've established at Colliers that we are the only firm that has an actual cannabis platform," gilbert says. –N.C. testing and tissue culture operations severalfold. lab but is also nnovation Centre in Comox, page's he 22,500-square-foot green- house and 10,000-square-foot laboratory will house a cannabis breeding and he site, chosen because of affordable land, proxim- ity to an airport and a welcoming municipality, has obtained zoning approval for cannabis production and t has the option to expand to more than 100,000 square feet. –F.S.

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