Dr Florian Holzapfel founded German cannabis company Cantourage GmbH in September 2019 together with industry veterans, Patrick Hoffmann and Norman Ruchholtz. Since then, Cantourage has grown significantly and managed to achieve double-digit market share in the dronabinol segment in Europe
What are the top challenges for cannabis cultivators at the moment?
With over 25,000 licensed cannabis cultivators across the globe, we at Cantourage see two main challenges:
• How to differentiate your offering
• How to navigate the regulatory requirements necessary for different medical cannabis jurisdictions.
How does the Cantourage Fast Track Platform work? How can Cultivators profit from the Cantourage platform?
Cantourage accelerates its cultivation partners’ route to market. We guide them through all the necessary regulatory and compliance hurdles to enter the European ecosystem. Our innovative path allows for a faster and more cost-efficient market entry for cultivators from around the globe, as opposed to the traditional route to market. Cantourage acts as the link between cultivators and patients, working closely with our partners and distribution network to streamline medicinal cannabis supply chains for patients.
We support the cannabis ecosystem by providing cultivators a turnkey solution to distribute their products in Europe. It is a market with a large population as well as an increasing number of medical cannabis patients and therefore holds the largest potential growth. Our goal is to bring a wider variety of medicines and more affordable prices, lowering the barrier to entry for patients and accelerating the uptake of legal medical cannabis consumption in Europe.
What kind of additional services do you provide for your partners?
In addition to the regulatory and manufacturing aspect of the business, we support all our partners in sales and brand activation to drive sales. Our experienced team works with our partners to identify, develop and launch best-in-class medical cannabis brands. Cantourage provides assistance in creating educational and communication materials for patients and prescribers. We see this as a key component to building trust in medical cannabis as a viable treatment option and to further develop the industry. Leveraging our years of firsthand experience and long-standing networks, we register and distribute cannabis medicines in various jurisdictions across Europe.
How many partnerships does Cantourage have to date? Where are the cultivators you work with based?
To date, we have onboarded over 15 producers onto the platform and several more are currently undergoing our vetting processes. Our supply network spans every continent excluding Asia and Antarctica. We pride ourselves on sourcing producers from all around the world, each with their own USP: whether it be their cultivation techniques in ideal climates, a genetics programme or highly specialised indoor facility. We want their products to be available to patients in Europe.
What does the product roadmap for 2022 look like?
To the disappointment of patients, the overall market still has some issues with the consistent supply of high-quality cannabis flowers. Our main focus is on tackling this problem. Over the
next couple of months, we will introduce new dried flower products as well as extracts from around the globe. That being said, our R&D teams are keeping a close eye on alternative delivery methods outside of the existing monograph. Suffice to say that Cantourage always
aims at being a disruptor in all current and future segments of the medical cannabis industry.
To find out more about Cantourage, visit the company’s website here.
Cantourage are Gold Sponsors of The Global Cannabis Report: Second Edition, which provides an overview of the development of cannabis markets at the international level, and considers how they might develop in the near future. It also covers some of the most interesting and pertinent global trends in the industry.
