A series of technology initiatives will sit at the heart of an Australian company's expansion plans as it gears up to launch a capital raise through crowdfunding platform Birchal.
Byron Bay Bio is seeking to raise A$1.5 million through the campaign, while also pursuing the registration of a CBD muscle balm with the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).
The company's non-alcoholic, hemp-infused beer brand, Mary Jane, is also set to launch in Australia.
Other Byron Bay Bio ventures — including flower and rosin brand Pheno Hunts — are targeting the US recreational market.
The company was co-founded by father-and-son pair Adrian and Will Stolk — the latter well known for his cannabis advocacy work in Australia — though the technology push is being driven by Jeff Lang, Byron Bay Bio's chief executive and a former defence and aerospace scientist.
The three technology initiatives cover the ability for cultivators to patent seeds, testing cannabis products to verify labelling accuracy, and developing a handheld device for use in settings such as dispensaries — or by recreational users at home — to identify what is in their cannabis.
Lang said the company is working on a Victoria-based project to develop advanced technology capable of testing the DNA genome sequencing of a seed, which can then be patented.
"It uses very high-level applied science to look at the DNA sequencing of cannabis plants, and what is significant about this is that genotyping doesn't lie," he said.
He described the existing system for protecting seed uniqueness as "shockingly bad".
"It talks about what the visual characteristics of the seed are. Does it have any marks on it? What is the colour?
"But in order to patent them, you have to have a level of novelty, what differentiates one seed from another. And we can do that with DNA sequencing. Someone gives us a typical seed strain, we get some of the flower, isolate it and run it through a series of screening and testing to determine the DNA of that particular seed variety. It's a service we will [provide] in a very sophisticated way."
Lang added: "We believe it will protect the industry from the big boys who everyone knows are going to come in and swallow up the cannabis industry. Introducing this IP around the seeds is going to restrict that to a certain point."
Separately, Byron Bay Bio plans to submit a dossier to the TGA in pursuit of registering its CBD sports balm as an over-the-counter S3 product.
Lang said the company has already compiled research demonstrating the product's efficacy, though he acknowledged the regulator will require additional clinical data before an OTC registration can be approved.
He said the company intends to work alongside specialists in TGA registration to see the application through.
The Birchal crowdfunding offer had been expected to open within days, but has been pushed back to next week following changes to director shareholdings.
