PHOENIX — October 11, 2021 — The Southwest desert has been fertile ground for Leaf Trade’s continued expansion in the US, and today Leaf Trade is the leading wholesale platform in the US cannabis industry used by more wholesalers than any other in Arizona.
Leaf Trade strengthened its foothold in Arizona’s robust and growing cannabis market by expanding its partnerships with vaunted operators in the state, including Verano Holdings, aerīz, Abundant Organics, Select by Curleaf, and Item Nine Labs.
“These cannabis operators have shown a commitment to elevating the industry and its consumer expectations,” said Michael Piermont, President and Chief Revenue Officer of Leaf Trade. “Leaf Trade is looking forward to working alongside these businesses as the state’s newly expanded legal industry continues on its meteoric path.”
Arizona is on track to sell well over $1 billion in medical and recreational cannabis this year and collect more than $150 million in taxes. The state’s adult-use market launched in January, and its medical-cannabis program has been in operation since 2010. Leaf Trade is used by more than 150 cannabis sellers and retailers in the state.
The move into Arizona’s cannabis market comes at a time when many of Leaf Trade’s new clients say they were disappointed and underserved by Leaf Trade’s competitors, who are unable to provide the same level of integrative B2B solutions.
“Leaf Trade has expanded so quickly in Arizona because the state’s cannabis market is one the company understands well,” Piermont said. “Leaf Trade first found success in highly regulated East Coast and Midwest markets, in which states had to grapple with first medical and then adult-use markets, just as Arizona is doing now.”
“Leaf Trade succeeded in its first markets because we knew how to best work with our partner clients to get ahead of demand that is unique to the different markets,” Piermont said. “And the same goes for strategies we’ve helped develop to address everything from taxes to compliance.”
Leaf Trade, a technology company whose platform facilitates wholesale ordering and fulfillment for cannabis cultivators and retailers, earlier this year launched its integrated payments platform, Leaf Pay, which provides seamless, end-to-end order processing and payment for all transactions. As an integrated feature on the Leaf Trade market platform that utilizes compliant bank-based payment processing, Leaf Pay is not only the easiest one-step payments tool for cannabis companies nationwide, but is also the lowest cost. Designed to be more cost-competitive than credit card or wire payments, and easier to manage and track than check or cash invoices, Leaf Pay is positioned to become the dominant payment avenue for all wholesale cannabis transactions.
Leaf Trade has been a solid player in the FinTech vertical as it grew to first dominate wholesale transactions in the company’s home state of Illinois, to now being the wholesale marketplace of choice in the fastest growing and most dynamic US cannabis markets. With over $1 billion in annualized net GMV, Leaf Trade is among the largest national players in its category and is definitively the most competitively positioned player in the markets in which the company operates.
About Leaf Trade
Founded in 2016, Leaf Trade is a technology company whose platform facilitates ordering and fulfillment in the cannabis and hemp markets. Using the features on Leaf Trade’s platform, vendors can streamline all order fulfillment processes, increase sales through custom storefronts, and generate powerful reports and analytics. Retailers can leverage Leaf Trade’s tools to discover trending products through its data-driven shopping process, easily request samples and marketing materials, and manage orders from start to finish. Headquartered in Chicago, Leaf Trade is partnered with the majority of multi-state cannabis operators and operates in 24 states and counting. To learn more about Leaf Trade, visit LeafTrade.com or follow @Leaf Trade on Linkedin, @leaf_trade on Twitter.