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David Dinenberg, Founder & CEO Fluttering leaves in hues of orange, red, and brown race down to the ground; breaking their ties with the branches; taking a free fall to mark the beginning of a celebration. Rejoicing the cozy, lived-in air, David Dinenberg is relaxing on a couch, watching television. As Dinenberg is maneuvering through different channels, he stops at one channel broadcasting a fascinating episode on the evolution of the marijuana industry. For the next hour, experts on TV share their insights on the challenges facing this industry. One of the experts on the panel highlights the worst nightmare for the marijuana industry: the lack of banking. Engrossed in the show, Dinenberg doesn’t blink his eyes even for a split second; fully immersed into the expert-level conversation at play. “Eureka!”— Dinenberg just found his calling. For the next few days, he does research, digging deeper into the maladies of the industry, and observes there was no financial background. Without much ado, he decides to take a plunge into this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. With a deep understanding of the heavily regulated industries such as tobacco, alcohol, and pharmaceuticals, Dinenberg shifts the gears and jumps on the Cannabis business bandwagon and establishes a company to that end. “The company will provide financing and other services, including armored car and equity investments, to the ’underserved’ marijuana industry,” says Dinenberg, Founder and CEO of KIND Financial. "KIND Financial's direct third-party integrations and simple API make Agrisoft the only seed-to-sale solution to manage all areas of the business, including financial and tax reporting with complete transparency"
Founded in 2014, KIND Financial was built with the idea of facilitating loans and other financial services to marijuana growers and sellers. The firm was incepted at a time when commercial banks were scared to work with any business operating in the marijuana industry. Going beyond the realms of financials, the company also aids cannabis growers to comprehend the complex ways in which the cannabis industry works within byzantine federal banking rules and marijuana policies. Its real-time software enables regulators to know where and how much marijuana is being grown, sold, or produced. On the one hand, KIND Financial provides real-time inventory facility for marijuana growers all over their state, while on the other hand, it delivers information on how much sales tax or other tax the government must collect. This is not all; KIND Financial increases the transparency in the operations through a validation process. For example, if the cultivator has planted 1,000 seedlings, the Police department or the regulatory agency can then send one of their inspectors for validation.
KIND Financial was incepted at a time when commercial banks were scared to work with any business operating in the marijuana industry
KIND Financial’s seed to sale platform, Agrisoft, manages the entire cannabis business lifecycle from the cultivation and manufacturing to the point of the sale process. The value that Dinenberg’s solution brings to the industry is it allows businesses to operate safely, securely, and in compliance with state marijuana laws. Developed particularly for the cannabis industry, the cloud-based Agrisoft platform helps the stakeholders track plants from seed to sale with unique bar code identifiers or RFID tags to provide a full audit trail required for compliance with applicable laws, rules, and regulations. As part of plant management, Agrisoft empowers owners and operators to monitor employee movements using video and active RFID technology, providing them the ability to create user-level access for different areas of the business.
At the point of sale, Agrisoft can verify customer identity using biometric technology or Card IDs and handle all payment transactions through its seamless connection to KIND Financial Kiosks embedded with automated processing software. Agrisoft even provides tools for the monitoring and tracking of the production of cannabis-infused products with an advanced formula system. Using these tools, the user can seamlessly supervise the recipes, dilution, and the extraction process. Also, Agrisoft uses an advanced labeling system to use the medicinal and nutritional data directly from the producers’ recipes.
Interestingly, KIND Financial allows businesses to integrate with any third-party applications, and the simple API makes Agrisoft the only seed-to-sale solution to manage all areas of the business, including financial and tax reporting, with complete transparency. Needless to say, KIND Financial’s customer service team is dedicated to the success of growers with 24/7 support. Whether it is a producer or retail owner, KIND Financial aids in transacting safely and securely while complying with the regulatory laws. However, there are many cannabis businesses operating on cash transactions, and they need security to protect their data. Citing the potential for “major” public safety concerns over the vast amount of cash marijuana retailers have on-hand every day, Dinenberg says, “Our company ensures safe cash storage options while overcoming logistical and operational challenges as well.” He continues, “With the first two locations planned in Seattle and Denver.”
Global Data Security and Privacy
At KIND Financial, data security and customer trust have always been a top priority. Having built the market equity of being the most trustworthy partner in the cannabis business management arena, KIND Financial has earned the trust of government agencies, cannabis businesses, and financial institutions. While retaining the trust it has earned is a continuous effort, KIND Financial has crafted pioneering controls in the platform that prevent unauthorized access to data. Further, the company ensures the data is only used in a way that is comfortable and consistent with the expectations of its clients. To ensure safety and security, KIND Financial stores its business data in the Azure cloud. Security and privacy are embedded in the development of Azure, and it conforms to global standards and best practices. The platform resides on the trusted Azure cloud, ensuring the most redundant data storage and security available.
According to Section 280E of the tax code, marijuana businesses are not allowed to avail the benefits of tax deductions available to other businesses. As opposed to other businesses in various sectors, a cannabis business owner needs to pay a high tax rate. To support the social welfare of the cannabis industry and bring criminal justice reform, KIND Financial has established a corporate social welfare program—“beKIND.” The company accomplishes these goals by giving back to the communities through outreach and local sponsorships, making efforts to ensure global access to patient medicine and providing support for social reform and education.
KIND Financial has crafted its own banking solution, KindBanking, to make the legal cannabis business financially sound. Dinenberg Says, “KindBanking will provide financing and other support to the underserved legal cannabis industry allowing businesses to realize their full potential and grow in line with the speed of other industries.” With an aim to expand worldwide, KindBanking will set up a global investment fund to encourage investments and cash flow in the legal cannabis business in the U.S and international markets. The objective of the fund is to make equity investments and convertible debt in businesses of various sizes ranging from startups to large corporations.
