Staff
Fire & Flower Holdings Corp. (TSX: FAF) (OTCQX: FFLWF) is buying Pineapple Express Delivery Inc., Canada’s largest delivery and logistics company serving the cannabis sector in a deal valued at $5.3 million. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2022. Pineapple Express said that its revenue for the trailing 12-month period ending October 31, 2021 was approximately $10 million.
“The Acquisition of Pineapple Express will complete our proprietary technology stack and allow us to deliver a seamless customer experience from online customer acquisition and discovery at our top-of-funnel sites such as PotGuide.com and Wikileaf.com, through a personalized online or in-store shopping experience powered by Hifyre and our Spark Perks program and now culminating in best-in-class fulfillment service right to our customers’ doors through Pineapple Express. To our knowledge, this complete cannabis consumer technology platform is the first of its kind in the legal cannabis industry and will power our asset-light retail strategy, not just in Canada but across North America. We see this as an example of the advantages of building, testing and hardening technology and systems in the federally legal Canadian market before deploying them to the U.S. and other emerging markets,” said Trevor Fencott, Chief Executive Officer of Fire & Flower.
Once the deal is complete, Fire & Flower said it will have all the necessary pieces in its business to deliver a full consumer technology platform experience, supported by a network of more than 100 retail stores and full same-day delivery to cannabis consumers.
Fencott continued, “Cannabis customers shopping in the illegal market are accustomed to purchasing products online which are delivered directly to their door, often in the same day. The Acquisition of Pineapple Express will provide a clear value proposition to cannabis customers who are shopping in the legal market and offer a better solution and experience for those still purchasing from the illegal market. With our cannabis consumer technology platform in place and our strategic partnership with Alimentation Couche-Tard that includes existing in future licensed co-located stores, we are well positioned to successfully execute on our asset-light strategy in new markets we enter, further driving shareholder value.”
Pineapple Express was founded by seasoned delivery pioneer, Randy Rolph and has grown to become one of the largest players in the cannabis delivery space – completing more than 40,000 deliveries per month to recreational and medical cannabis customers across Canada. The addition of best-in-class logistics and delivery management expertise will enable Fire & Flower and Hifyre to provide delivery software and fulfillment technology to its existing network and in the U.S. and European markets.
“Pineapple Express is thrilled to be joining Fire & Flower and Hifyre and we look forward to working with the team to continue to scale our delivery capabilities across Canada and the U.S.,” said Randy Rolph, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Pineapple Express. “In looking at what was going to allow our company to grow in a way that fulfills our ultimate vision, it was clear that Fire & Flower, with its strategic partnership with Alimentation Couche-Tard, and its focus on building a global, future-focused, cannabis consumer technology platform was the right partner for us in our next evolution.”
