To tell this story in 25 words or less would be to do it a terrible injustice, so I’ve sat on it for a bit, letting the dust settle, seeing how the market would accept it without my help.
The answer to that is, meh, the market is a bit distracted right now, it’ll get back to you in the morning. Maybe leave a message.
Trackloop is one thing to the market, and another thing to the rest of the world, and I’m going to say the market should get its shit together.
When you look at this stock’s chart, here’s what you see:
And that’s a horror show. Nobody wants that. That’s German tourist in Speedo’s bad. It’s Republican Congressman dick pic bad. It’s grandma’s been in the plum wine and now we need to change the couch cover bad.
Here’s the thing though: That ain’t Trackloop.
This is Trackloop.
Until about a month ago, this public company was Blackchain Solutions (BIS.C), and before that it was Blackice Enterprises. Both had come to fruition to take advantage of the blockchain revolution, which every investor (myself included) was grabbing at just before it all ran off a cliff in January.
Blackchain lost 90% of its value from January to September. Others – almost all of them – did likewise. Blackchain, however, was smart enough to know they had to pull the rip chord and do something new (what’s up, Hashchain), and Trackloop is an interesting way to find something new to hump while still keeping blockchain’s number in your contacts list.
Still, the transition hasn’t been seamless. Here’s the Extraordinary Future conference company bio from last month.
The title is the current company, the logo is the old company, the ‘about’ title is the new company but the actual about text is the old company. You can see how folks could get confused.
SO WHAT IS THIS COMPANY?
Glad you asked. Trackloop is a logistics company. That is, they help goods get moved from one place to another.
Boring? Not even a little, because though the market has invested literal billions into weed companies that grow agricultural products and sell them to government wholesalers, with no marketing allowed, that same market hasn’t yet thought about how the product moves from one point to the next.
I have, because of a story told to me by a licensed producer involving how they got their start.
You see, when you get a grow license from Health Canada, you need something to actually grow, and quick. This particular LP needed a truck loaded with new young plants to kickstart their plans, because patients were waiting for product and they’d be public soon.
So they called another licensed producer. We’ll call them SchmeedMD.
SchmeedMD’s personable contact promised to sell a truck load of plants, all healthy and happy, to this LP, for a good price.
“Great!” said the LP. “How are you getting it here?”
“In a truck!” the helpful rep said.
“A truck? But you’ll be driving them across country for days. Is it refrigerated or something?”
Nope, said the helpful rep. “But we know what we’re doing. We’ve done this a lot.”
A week later, said LP took delivery of their plants, which had been bagged in trashbags, then placed in boxes, and then sent on their way with no air, no water, no light, and in what amounted to a giant composting bin traveling 120kph. When those plants arrived, the heat emanating from the back of the truck threw employees back. 80% of the plants were dead. What could be salvaged was almost more work to save than it would repay in product.
So what have we learned here?
That SchmeedMD is terrible, but that’s not a great secret. We’ve really learned that there’s something lacking in our transport network, and Trackloop aims to fix it.
There are three sectors of the logistics world that are desperately missing out on tech evolutions.
- Cannabis.
- Pharmaceuticals
- Food
The reason your bananas turn black about eight minutes after you get them home is because, when they’re stuffed in a shipping container in Ecuador, they’re covered in a chemical that stops them ripening. when they get here, they get another spray, this time with a chemical that makes them ripen quickly.
Then you buy them, then they turn to sludge.
That’s the highest tech transport system we have right now, and it’s stupid.
40% of edible food is wasted in the USA every year. Why? Because moving food and pharma products long distances is a logistical nightmare. Conditions have to be just so for the products to stay edible and usable.
Even if you have a refrigerated truck, the refrigeration is usually connected to the engine running, so if you’re dropping a crate of bananas to Safeway for half an hour, your load starts to rise in temperature. If you keep the engine going, you’re running afoul of anti-idling laws, and running up your gas bill. So, instead, the food suffers.
In the pharmaceutical world, this goes double, because some medicines have very strict temperature needs. If the meds get too hot, they cease to be as effective and, in a worst case scenario, people die.
There are systems to make this process better. There’s better refrigeration. There’s tracking equipment, to help drivers take the best route. There’s security measures that track opening and closing of doors, and time in one location or another. There’s AI that can look at delivery routes and choose the best option. There’s temperature equipment – the coldchain – that measures conditions in the truck and adjusts to suit.
But if you think the average fruit and veggie carrier company is going to invest $100k per truck into data analytics, supply chain management, artificial intelligence, refrigeration and power upgrades, and the Internet of Things tech needed to tie it all together, you crazy.
Dude barely bothers with brakes as it is.
Trackloop’s environmental regulation technology is looking to help solve the food waste issue, and that’s a company maker to start with. Especially since SPUD.CA/Walmart, among many others, are testing their systems right now.
The company is also interested in pursuing opportunities in the cannabis industry as well.
Revenue streams
Trackloop recently purchased ChainTrack Technology, a software platform sold to hardware manufacturers and businesses, which allows operators to track every detail of the delivery process throughout the supply chain. This tech is creating revenue right now.
One of Chaintrack’s sales channels is the Richmond, BC company Volta Air, which retrofits cargo vehicles enabling refrigerated delivery. Volta Air also installs GPS systems and real time dashboard analytics, and has many good sized customers to sell Trackloop products to.
ChainTrack is currently looking to expand by actively seeking independent cold chain tracking contracts within the food and urban delivery sector. Going forward, the company has planned expansion with large grocery chains but, hey, who doesn’t? The proof would be in deals actually being agreed to with Walmart sized operations of look they’ve got Walmart.
Trackloop has partnerships – today – with:
- Walmart
- The Canadian Blood Services
- Save-On-Foods
- SPUD.CA
- BC Ferries
- FOOD-X
- California Air Resources Board
Check it – that’s two of Canada’s largest grocery chains, one of the largest home delivery outfits, one of the larger transit companies, and the organization responsible for ensuring donated blood gets where it needs to go, stat.
If Trackloop had been in business for five years and had that track record, you’d kiss the feet out from under them. But itsI still early days for Trackloop. Their recent acquisitions brought in major clients which gives them massive credibility, not only to smart investors but also to future potential clients.
Currently, they have a $7 million market cap, which is microscopic, considering how much money they could be saving their clients, and what it costs to build a comparable network of systems, and make them talk to one another.
Heat can change or ruin the chemistry of a cannabis plant
If you roast tobacco before you put it in a product, you give it some aroma. If you roast cannabis, it’s ability to make you healthier, or happier, or stoned, can be radically compromised.
According to Colorado Pot Guide, as cannabis grows, it produces a substance called cannabigerolid acid (CBGA) which is then synthesized into one of three major cannabinoids: CBDA, CBCA or THCA. Through a process called decarboxylation (heating the product), these cannabinoids are transformed into CBD, CBC and, of course THC. Cannabinoid potency largely depends on the strain profile and harvest/curing methods.
Should the cannabis be exposed to excessive heat or sunlight, THCA may be converted into a different cannabinoid, CBNA, which will be converted to CBN once heated.
So the sales proposition for Trackloop isn’t ‘buy our product, you’ll save a few bucks on gas and stop your drivers from spending half the day on the rail at Brandi’s,’ it’s ‘buy our product so your weed doesn’t turn to oregano and your drivers don’t get a gun in the face in Whalley and you can see truck 43 is running a bit hot and cool that brother down, and traffic sucks for truck 14 so he should take the interstate …Also, the Brandi’s thing.’
“In the cannabis industry, as with the food industry, many of the companies out there still rely on paper and faxes as a method of documentation, while the majority of ERP systems don’t integrate,” says Trackloop CTO Zayn Kalyan. “ChainTrack’s platform solves this problem which presents significant cost savings and efficiencies to the supply chain and expands a client’s existing product offering with financial analytics solutions.”
I’ll admit, a blockchain cannabis trucking play seems like what would come if you tried to ‘Weird Science’ the markets in 2018, putting together all the things that make money and wedging them into an Apple II to make the perfect girl.
It’s early. People are scared of blockchain. There’s a ‘services’ component to it all that frightens market guys desperate for a 20x. It’s trailing the aroma of Blackchain like an over-trusted fart tracking me to my girlfriend’s in-laws’ front door.
But, also, it’s tiny. And it’s got real partners doing real business. And people aren’t seeing it yet, which means you get to play cheap.
Get it on your watchlist. One deal with an LP and this thing goes public markets nutty.
For more info on Trackloop, register here.
— Chris Parry, with file by Taylor Gavinchuk
FULL DISCLOSURE: Trackloop is an Equity.guru marketing client
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