This article originally appeared in the Cannabis Confidential newsletter. You can subscribe here.
I had heard of Hall of Flowers for years, the cannabis industry’s hallmark event that has historically been held in California. They’ve been hosting large-scale fetes since 2018 and per their website,
Hall of Flowers is open only to exhibiting brands, licensed retail buyers, and tightly vetted entrepreneurs, investors, thought leaders and media. Allowing you to focus on networking, deal-making, product discovery and doing some serious market research.
And now, they were coming to New York for the first time.
This, to me, was a dream come true. As a native New Yorker who has a long history with the plant, I don’t know of many people who were more excited than I was when, back on March 31, 2021, my home state legalized adult-use.
And I don’t know many people who were more disappointed with how N.Y. rolled out the industry, other than the licensed medical operators who invested large sums of money to be in a position to service massive demand with safe and tested product.
^ instead, every corner store in NYC sells illicit, in many cases, dangerous products.
So, suffice to say, I was psyched to take a day away from my many screens to see for myself why the New York market has been so juiced. Per yesterday, in All Rise,
New York’s legal cannabis market posted its strongest month ever in August, with dispensaries bringing in $214M in sales. The new record was a sharp increase vs. July’s $162M and June’s $153M.
August 2024 totaled $104M, showing how quickly the state’s industry expanded year-over-year, and the OCM is projecting $1.8B in sales for 2025—but that figure could climb (much) higher if monthly numbers continue at this pace.
“We could be at $3 billion watch by the end of the year.” Kevin Brennan, OCM
Billy Ball is back in the Bronx? That’s nice to hear, but what I really wanted to do, if I’m being honest, was to have a taste. I love the plant and have often said the people and the products are the very best part. Bring them together and magic shall be made.
Yesterday, on the bell as I raced to watch our youngest play field hockey, I checked my texts to find my peeps were prepping to attend. Ann from Villy. Finkelshtein. Schultzy. Rosie. Chiovetti. Grossman. It was a cast of characters straight out of a familiar script.
As I’m not an exhibiting brand or licensed retail buyer, Dave Vautrin, the new CEO of Fluent, was kind enough to introduce me to Rama at HOF, who was gracious enough to offer a press pass. Score. I was all set, a rare day of socializing with other humans.
I made my way to Pier 36 early this morning in the rain, a hike from, and was among the first to arrive. Dave was meeting me there, but I beat him by a good hour, so I had time to wander around and soak in some of the early energy.
I don’t get out much these days—my circle of dogs has increased as my circle of people shrank, organically or otherwise—but I’ve been in canna a decade+, have a decent X following, push posts almost daily, and, you know, I do the media thing.
When I got a text from Dave that he had arrived, I walked to the front to greet him, but had to wait as he was hugging someone. We made eye contact, but as he stepped toward me, someone else grabbed him for another hug.
We finally shook hands—we’ve met a few times and talked a few more, but this was our first true hang. If I’m being honest, I was looking to impress him.
We didn’t get far. When I say that we couldn’t walk five steps without someone yelling out his name—to come in for, wait for it, a hug—I stood there, trying to play it off.
Still, I was excited to get to know Dave and aside from how annoying it was to take 45 min. to walk one row of booths, I found him to be extremely knowledgeable on a wide range of products and processes; this clearly wasn’t his first rodeo.
Plus, he had a nice way about him; I counted three people who referred to him as a mentor.
I knew he was president of Origin House when it was sold to Cresco for a windfall, but I didn’t know he was a serial entrepreneur prior to that. He sold his first company twice—the first time I’ve heard that—and had several successful endeavors since OH.
Now, all these years later, he’s not only choosing to return to the canna industry, he’s opting to do it through Fluent.
I’m not gonna lie, I didn’t know that much about Fluent né RIV Capital né Consortium, so I asked my team to pull together a quick top-line and this is what they spit back:
As of Mon Oct 6 closing price ($0.055)
MCap $31.4m; EV $132.5m; F/D MCap $34.6m; Cash $22.9m; Debt $78.1m; Taxes + UTP $52.8m; Net cash ($101.1m); 1.3x EV/LQA Revs – 8.9x EV/LQA EBITDA.
Geography – NY FL TX PA – 42 dispensaries – 8 cultivation/manufacturing locations.
New York
Dispensaries: 4 (Manhattan (Med+AU), White Plains (Med+AU), Kingston (Med+AU), Syracuse (Med; closed; being relocated). License allows 8 total medical dispensaries. Recently rebranded dispensaries to FLUENT brand.
Cultivation facilities: 2; 145k total sq ft; 40.7k canopy sq ft.; 20.8k indoor + 19.9k greenhouse. Recently onlined Buffalo (indoor) cultivation facility. Doubled cultivation capacity; added premium indoor capabilities. First harvests expected Q4. Previously lacked premium/indoor flower.
Partnership in NY with Connected International (Connected/Alien Labs/Smoken Promises) whereby Fluent will serve as exclusive cultivator / provider of all Connected brands in-state. Royalty structure.
Launched Entourage wholesale platform/ division. Curated portfolio of trusted and emerging brands.
Manufacturing facilities: 1
Florida
Dispensaries: 35 – Relocated / relocating a small # of dispensaries. Opening 3 new stores by YE.
Cultivation facilities: 5; 191k total sq ft.; 103k canopy sq ft./ 45k indoor + 58k GH.
Recently onlined Rosa (indoor) cultivation facility. Largest/most advanced Fluent cultivation facility. First harvests in Q3 / record crops.
Manufacturing facilities – 1
Texas
Cultivation facilities: 1 – 2.2k total sq ft.’; 1.3k canopy sq ft (all indoor)
1 lab, Delivery, Education Center
Pennsylvania
3 dispensaries (Hanover, Mechanicsburg, Annville).
Corporate
Dave Vautrin appointed interim CEO in Q225, succeeding R. Beasley (Cansortium).
Dave Vautrin non-brokered private placement August 28, 2025 for $210k (3.5m shares @ $0.06 per share).
Ownership
ScottsMiracle-Gro’s cannabis entity, Hawthorne owns 34.1% of O/S. Exchanged $160m in principal (previous debt note to RIV Capital, pre-marger) for 153,069,395 shares. Hawthorne owns the rights to nominate up to 2 board members.
RIV Capital previously referred to as “The Hawthorne Collective’s” preferred vehicle for cannabis-related investments not under the purview of other ScottsMiracle-Gro subsidiaries.
Merged with RIV Capital in Dec. 2024. RIV owned New York license, Fluent owned FL PA TX licenses.
Debt
$65.9m credit agreement due to Chicago Atlantic, 12% coupon (matures Nov ’28).
$2.6m unsecured convertible note $0.79/share, 10% coupon (matures 2032).
$7m convertible note at $0.21/share, 16.2% coupon (matures May ’29).
Those numbers are, of course, rear-view, but it was the look forward that caught my attention. Dave was granted stock when he became CEO. He turned and gifted it to his management team and then bought those shares on the open market for himself.
I guess we know why so many people hug the man.
Selfishly, I’m jazzed. March 2021 was a long-ass time ago and suffice to say the flower in New York has been underwhelming. Connected and Alien Labs are about to change all that and bring genuine fire—the very best genetics—to my home state. 👽
Coming soon to New York State!
This is what an Alien looks like!
Ted from Connected-Alien Labs (fire shirt) and Mr. Popular, Dave Vautrin
After four hours, it was time to take a seat, which we did outside, as our peeps started to gather. I’ve said, “call me a shitty trader or call me a bad Jew (I’m not), but don’t say I don’t know how to bring good people together at the right time for a common goal.”
In addition to our high schooler, we’ve got two seniors in college about to embark on their lives’ journey. I’ve told them that no matter the path they choose, it can always change, but you must be passionate about what you do bc there will be days that suck.
Today, for me, wasn’t one of them. As I sat back, took a breath, and looked around to find some of my favorite people talking about what we all love so much, I realized that there was only one thing that could possibly make the moment better—a magic plant.
Ann from Village Farms, DV and I conducting due diligence
If there was one overarching takeaway from today’s Hall of Flowers event, it was the abundance of West Coast (CA, WA, CO) brands flocking to the New York market. After all, as a wise guy once sang, if you can make it (t)here, you can make it anywhere.
I was slated to stay in the city for the after-parties, but who am I kidding? By 4 PM ET, I was ready to head back to the sticks. As I made my way out to brave the LIE, I caught a glimpse of BoJo from the corner of my eye and swung by for a handshake and chat.
Curaleaf Chairman & CEO Boris Jordan
I left the Hall while I was having a good time (another less we’ve taught the kids) and headed home to make out with an Alien and write this down. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I’m currently enjoying life on Mars.
/position+ $CNTMF
Have a safe journey, please enjoy responsibly.
If you’d like to help Mission [Green] change federal cannabis policies, please click here.
CB1 has positions in/ advises some of the companies mentioned and nothing contained herein should be considered advice.
This article is from an external, unpaid contributor. It does not represent High Times’ reporting and has not been edited for content or accuracy.
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