A new website wants to be 'CNBC for cannabis,' a one-stop shop for financial reporting on marijuana
A new website launched Tuesday aims to be the cannabis industry's preeminent source for in-depth financial reporting.
The Green Market Report will publish news briefs on all facets of the cannabis business, including banking issues, investment, cultivation and extraction, as well as cannabis stock prices and wholesale prices.
Debra Borchardt, a financial journalist and former Forbes contributor who will serve as the site's CEO, said The Green Market Report is specifically designed to fill a gap in cannabis coverage and provide a one-stop shop for in-depth financial reporting about the cannabis industry to an audience of industry insiders and investors.
"I feel that this is the biggest business story of the decade. It reminds me of the emergence of the telecom and dot.com eras," Borchardt told Business Insider. "I recognized that the cannabis industry needed a website dedicated to just reporting the business and financial news."
"I want to be the CNBC of Cannabis!" she added.
The site will provide only stories relevant to the cannabis business, Borchardt said, allowing investors and insiders to get targeted information without sifting through other topics like science and politics unless it directly impacts business.
A quick scan of the site's offerings on Wednesday found features - many of them written by Borchardt herself - like, "Is CannaCloud Worth $6 Million?" and "Weed Retailers Breathe Life Into Brick and Mortar Retail" along with more boilerplate stock updates and quarterly earnings write-ups.
The Green Market report will also partner with big data firms, including Arcview Market Research, Headset, Viridian Capital Advisors, and others to provide investors and industry insiders with up-to-date market analytics about the industry.
"The industry has finally reached a point of maturity where it is no longer an alternative investment, but a true emerging market," Cynthia Salarizadeh, a public relations veteran and the site's chief strategy officer, said in a statement.
Salarizadeh added that The Green Market Report is a "strategically-built minimal viable product," and hasn't yet raised any outside funding.
"Debra and I decided from the start that we wanted to have a quality product and substance before we raise," Salarazideh told Business Insider, adding that they've seen numerous companies raise "a lot of capital" for businesses that eventually fail.
"We wanted to build and organically grow before our raise," she said.
She added that they plan to raise between $1.5 and $2.5 million in the next six months as the site gains traction. The site's revenue will be generated through advertising, and a mix of events and video offerings. Salarizadeh stressed that they won't be basing their business model on sponsored content or native advertising, two popular monetization strategies for digital media startups.
The site also plans to experiment with newsletters, and a weekly video series hosted by Borchardt called "Marijuana Money."
The site has four full-time employees and is working with six freelance journalists. The main office will be based in New York City's Financial District, with a second office in Los Angeles, and a satellite office in Denver.
The Green Market Report is yet another example of the wave of professionalization in the cannabis digital media landscape.
Buzzfeed hired a national cannabis reporter, Alyson Martin, in February, and a veteran Denver Post editor, Ricardo Baca - who also founded The Cannabist - started his own cannabis content agency, called Grasslands, earlier this year.
Business Insider also reported on HERB, a Canadian cannabis digital media company that raised millions to develop original video content and expand to US markets. Other digital-first publications, like Civilized, The Fresh Toast, and Merry Jane, focus on the cultural aspects of the cannabis world.