On April 29, blockchain startup Tierion announced it has raised $1 million in a seed round led by Blockchain Capital and Fenbushi Capital, with participation from Digital Currency Group.

Tierion is using blockchain technology to create a global platform to verify the integrity of any data, file or business process. The Hartford, CT.-based company provides developers with an API and tools for creating apps that connect to the blockchain.

A man who uses medical marijuana to ease the pain of his arthritis has started a Regina business to assist others wanting to use cannabis for medical reasons.

"There are a lot of people afraid of the whole medical marijuana thing," said Cannabis Health Clinic owner Ryan Murray.

"They don't know how to use it. They don't know how to access it. I'm here to help."

Medical marijuana use is legal if a patient has a prescription from a licensed physician. The patient must also obtain the cannabis from a licensed distributor.

That's where Murray comes in.

Through his company, he helps patients register online with one of a half dozen licensed cannabis producers from across Canada. 

He also emails the necessary documents to Health Canada.

What Last Week's Investor Pitch Forum Was Like.

LET'S PRETEND that you're operating or want to start a cannabis business. Maybe you want to grow, make edibles or concentrates, start or expand a dispensary, or produce ancillary products like rolling papers and vaporizers.

Where do you get the funding? You can't get approved for a standard bank account if you're involved in the weed industry. So unless you own a scary clown mask and starter pistol, or have a wealthy elderly relative with a serious heart condition, your options are limited.

Leslie Bocskor is an investment banker and founder of Electrum Partners, an advisory services firm specializing in medical and recreational cannabis, and ancillary businesses. Bocskor was recently named most valuable member of the year by the ArcView angel investor network. But he's not just an investments guy. He also has an artistic side. He helped create the Figment Project - an international arts festival held in three countries - and he once acted as a regional organizer for Burning Man in its early days.

A Florida law providing protections to just five medical marijuana growing operations, in what may become one of the nation's largest markets, has instigated a rush of legal challenges from dispensaries eager to enter the Sunshine State's green rush. 

Medical-marijuana startup LeafLine Labs has begun an effort to raise $21 million, according to a regulatory filing.

The company, along with rival Minnesota Medical Solutions, grows and harvests oil from marijuana plants to use in state-approved medical therapies. Neither company has struggled much to raise capital: Eagan-based LeafLine previously raked in more than $14 million.

The business of marijuana is attracting thousands of professionals from across the country to Osceola County for a national cannabis trade show.

• Marijuana Business Conference and Expo in Kissimmee through Wednesday
• Floridians learning more about marijuana in case medical marijuana becomes fully legal
• Miarjuana businessman said group of investors would do better as a new marijuana business

It’s also attracting Floridians who may jump into the medical marijuana game if it is legalized by Florida voters in November.

Raymond Weisbein, who runs PMS 4 DOCS LLC in South Florida, is inspired to step into the industry by his friends in Colorado.

An advertisement for Weedmaps, a U.S.-based pot-related tech company, is pictured in this undated handout photo. The company plans on launching a billboard campaign in Toronto by the end of the month.

Mainstream medical marijuana ads could soon be coming to Toronto.

Weedmaps — a tech company that provides an online directory to connect medical marijuana users with dispensaries — is gearing up to launch what it calls the first mainstream marijuana-related ad campaign in Canada.

Pending permission from a local company, the ad campaign will launch at the end of May and feature the words “High Toronto” on a billboard towering above a yet-to-be-determined location.

MGC Pharmaceuticals (ASX: MXC) has relisted on the Australian Securities Exchange and will move ahead with a $5 million planned capital raising after the ASX confirmed that MGC’s acquisition of a European medical cannabis company does not constitute a change of nature or scale under Chapter 11 listing rules.

The funds will be used to expand MGC’s European operations and to acquire Panax Pharma s.r.o., a Czech-based company holding a medical cannabis breeding license with access to growing space in the Vukoz Research Institute of the Czech Ministry of the Environment.

As medical marijuana becomes both more socially acceptable and available, a growing number of people are looking to learn more about its benefits -- but the search for reliable and timely information is not always easy. Decades of misinformation about cannabis has made searching the web for answers a cumbersome and time-consuming process. Further, because new research and new cannabis products are being released at an ever-increasing rate, individuals find themselves having to scroll through numerous sites to find exactly what they're looking for.