Aurora Cannabis Inc (NYSE:ACB) announced that it is exercising its license option for EnWave’s REV™ in the South American cannabis market. The announcement is in line with an exclusive commercial license agreement with a royalty provision signed by the two parties on April 26, 2019. The exclusive master license grants Aurora Cannabis the rights to use EnWave’s proprietary Radiant Energy Vacuum (REV™) technology for its operations, as well as receive royalties for all sub-licensing within the South American region excluding Peru.
The two partners will work jointly to secure other sub-licensing deals in the region. They did not, however, make public the royalty share each is entitled to from the sub-licensing of the futuristic dehydration technology in the territory.
The Europe and Canada Deal
The South American deal comes after other similar agreements inked by the two partners. A month ago, the companies signed a similar agreement under which Aurora gets exclusive rights to deploy the dehydration technology for its European operations. Further, Aurora will be entitled to royalty for all sub-licensing of the technology in the region. In the wake of the European deal, Aurora announced plans to purchase an additional 120KW REV™ machine for its operations in Europe. In Canada however, Aurora was given non-exclusive sub-license rights to use the technology for its operations. This followed a strategic investment of $10 million into EnWave for a share of the company’s intellectual property rights on the technology.
For its South American operations, Aurora signed a LOI to purchase an industrial-scale 60KW REV™ machine to revamp production at its facilities in the region.
The REV™ dehydration technology hopes to revolutionize the industry by speeding up production and helping companies save on drying space. Unlike existing drying options, REV™ technology maintains the integrity of the product including its terpene profile and natural flavor. The vacuum-microwave provision ensures uniform drying unattainable by other drying alternatives.
The technology reportedly cut drying time from almost a week to well under 2 hours resulting to significant savings in time and capital. The technology is suitable for industrial production especially with the growing demand for CBD products.