Small Business Award spotlight: Canadian Cannabis Exchange

The next Small Business Award in our spotlight series goes to Canadian Cannabis Exchange (CCX), founded by CEO Steve Clark. Recipient of the Helcim Emerging Growth award, CCX is a privately held cannabis exchange developed to facilitate transactions for cannabis in a transparent marketplace.

Cannabis is a booming industry in Canada. Its proven efficacy medicinally as well as recreationally convinced the Canadian government to become the second country after Uruguay to fully legalize cannabis in 2018. According to a report in Canada Cannabis Weekly, market sales are projected to double by 2027.

Enter the Canadian Cannabis Exchange, leading in innovation in Calgary by converting all cannabis products and services into standardized, marketable items. “With the ability to process trades and deliver products across Canada, the Canadian Cannabis Exchange (CCX) is the number one solution for buyers and sellers to ensure they are on top of the market,” says CEO Steve Clark.

A unique B2B platform

CCX differs from other exchanges because of its complete integration of services, handling deal origination, trade execution, payment processing, logistics—all in one place. An existing transportation and storage network creates their ability to deliver anywhere in Canada at discounted rates. “We assist in negotiations and focus on the end-to-end experience for our clients,” says Clark.

To date, CCX works with over 500 clients from micros to large cap corporations. “Our platform includes white labelling, contract growing, proprietary strains, facilities for sale and other services to all our members,” he says, adding that a micro producer could only grow up to 600kg per year, prohibiting them from potentially packaging their product, starting a brand and going to market.

“We recognized the need for a B2B business transaction to occur there. To compare, a lot of larger licensed producers would do a transaction on one-page agreements that didn’t really look out for the interests of both parties. We like to look at it that we’re representing the small guys in the industry, helping them get the pricing they deserve for their products.”

Real-time trading also distinguishes CCX from its competitors, allowing for increased price transparency which, in turn, represents the entire market more accurately. As a B2B platform, “we’ve brought a whole other level of standardization and transparency to the market that didn’t exist before,” says Clark.

CCX spent its founding year of 2019 creating advanced technology and the platform for their business. “CCX was founded on a lot of the premises used in other commodity markets,” he says. “We ported over a technology from the oil and gas business into the cannabis space. With my expertise in supply chain management, trading and logistics, as well as my passion for solving inefficiencies, I thought this model would transfer over really well for the cannabis business, especially since it was such a new industry. So, we had the first mover advantage. Transactions began in early 2020.”

Milestones pave the way

In a year, CCX has transacted over $50-million in product value, and the team now has a setup and live-trading platform in Malta in preparation for international expansion. “Right now, we have equipment and packaging on that and a website that is ready to be launched,” he adds.

The U.S., Mexico, Germany and Euro markets are next on the company’s radar.

“As markets emerge, they’re all going to need things like packaging, equipment, extraction machines and more, so that’s our first reach, to be followed by our importation of Canadian cannabis,” he says. “We still have that market-leader advantage as the first country being recreational, and obviously we’re looking at setting up domestic exchanges in every country.”

Clark is also developing cash flow solutions for short-term loans and lending to offset government pay schedules after sales, as well as implementing on-call professionals and master growers for 24/7 call services. “Our goal is really to solidify CCX as the go-to exchange for cannabis products.”

Calgary Chamber award validating

Clark is proud of winning the Helcim Emerging Growth Award. “Calgary is a great hub for a merger of technology but also commodity-based business,” he says. “Despite our pre-existing career connections and experiences, that recognition really puts us on the map.”

Although cannabis is legal in Canada, Clark notes that businesses are still finding it hard to overcome the stigma that banks attach to the industry. “But ATB is one of the banks available to us and we’re grateful for their support,” he says.

He also recognizes the Trade Accelerator program through Calgary Economic Development for helping them with their goal of expanding internationally. “When we started, we had no idea things would go this quickly,” he says. “But we’re poised and ready for the future.”

For more information, visit canadiancannabisx.com.