Entrepreneur lays out how Cirona Labs broke into CBD emulsions space
“I started this company while I was a student at Cornell. A couple people in my life were involved in this industry and I started to gain a lot of interest in it. I ended up applying for a license to process hemp for New York--this is all pre 2018 Farm Bill, so in the pretty early days of this industry. I started working with the university, applied for a license, created a relationship with both the food and ag science department, in particular the emulsion science lab as well as their hemp research department. So I started working with the university, ended up winning a license, started building a team after we won the license and since then we've grown to eight people and I've been in market for about six months.”
The increased interest in cannabinoid use in food and beverage manufacturing has compelled Friedland to explore all his options.
“Particularly as regulations start to evolve in this space, I see the dietary supplement market being a major market in this industry. And we've started to get a lot of attention in that space. So we're looking to explore that category and see how we can work with some established players to bring best ingredients to market through their brands," said Friedland.
In June the company announced it raised $1.5M in an oversubscribed seed round to help grow the team, expand its facility and further research & development.
