Drake is launching a new cannabis company with Canopy Growth Corp.
The new company, More Life Growth Co., will be 60 per cent owned by Champagne Papi. Canopy Growth holds the remaining 40 per cent.
More Life will be based in Toronto.
The day-to-day handling of More Life will be done by Canopy, which will also hold the operations and maintenance of the rights to distribute the product.
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Canopy is the largest of Canada’s new brand of marijuana producers. The Globe and Mail reported that U.S.-listed shares of Canopy, which last year drew a major investment from Corona-brewer Constellation Brands, rose around 3 per cent in early trading Thursday.
A Canadian Press report says Drake has given More Life the right to "exclusively use certain intellectual property and brands in association with the growth and sale of cannabis and cannabis-related products, accessories, merchandise and paraphernalia in Canada and internationally."
The maintenance of the non-Canada rights after 18 months is contingent upon certain performance targets being met.
Under the agreement with Drake, Canopy Growth has the right to nominate two directors to the More Life board as well as a pre-emptive right to maintain its ownership interest in the company.
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Lifestyle guru Martha Stewart and Rapper Snoop Dogg also have deals with Canopy.
On Tuesday, people across the city were mysteriously greeted with flower bouquets from Drizzy, reported Toronto Storey's Deidre Olsen. Turns out this was a marketing effort by the rapper as he prepares to launch his new company that's aptly titled after his 2017 mixtape 'More Life.'
Staying well within the realm of the cryptic, Drake released a teaser video for his brand via Instagram. The words "Welcome to More Life Growth Co." spin over top of what appears to be a greenhouse.
BlogTO reported that, on Oct. 21, an application to register a trademark for "MORE LIFE GROWTH COMPANY" was filed with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office. As well, on Oct. 18, an almost identical application was filed by the same company based in Hollywood California — Dream Crew IP — with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
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In Canada, Drake had to file his application on the "cannabis products and accessories, medical cannabis, THC and CBD" list under the category of "goods." Additionally, in the United States, the rapper must trademark his brand as relating to "herbs for medicinal purposes," "dried plants," and "smoking pipes." This is because cannabis is currently illegal on the federal level.
As of Nov. 4, Drake's new company was marked as "formalized" on the Canadian Intellectual Property database.
Drake has been the talk of the town in Toronto for weeks now, after gifting the entire Raptors team customized jackets and donning his own $150k customized ring. He's also shared photos on Instagram of his son, Adonis Graham, and has been rumoured to be dating Kylie Jenner.
