Briefcase: August 2018

BRIEFS

The Northern Colorado Bioscience Cluster will host its annual summit beginning at 1 p.m. Aug. 15 at the Embassy Suites Conference Center in Loveland. The Immunology Summit will feature current research, collaboration and applications in the bioscience industry. The summit is offered without charge to participants.

A Longmont-based talent-procurement company is seeking information from people who have made the switch from one sector of the workplace — for-profit, nonprofit or government — to another. The company, interSector Talent, will compile data from people who are willing to offer their experiences to provide a snapshot of sector switching. Those who have switched from any sector to any other sector can offer their insights at: https://goo.gl/sWom5M for the survey, which will close on Aug. 15. Findings will begin to be released in September at the Social Enterprise World Forum in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Sponsors of the NoCo Hemp Expo, which sold out earlier this year when it was held in Loveland, will take the show on the road with a new event, the Southern Hemp Expo, to be held Sept. 28-29 in Nashville, Tenn.

Three lions that were expected to be euthanized have instead moved from their zoo in South Korea to The Wild Animal Sanctuary at Keenesburg. In February 2015, the lions at the Children’s Grand Park Zoo in Seoul were the subject of controversy when one or more of them killed a zookeeper who was in their pen installing new equipment.

A popular seasonal pop-up bar operating out of a tent in Fort Collins each summer since 2011 is barred from serving the general public. Larimer County officials told Paddler’s Pub, operated by the Mountain Whitewater rafting company, that it could only serve rafting patrons. The bar, created to serve rafters after their trip and the general public, has clashed with Larimer County officials in the past. Paddler’s Pub is in the process of applying for special events permits so it can host concerts and the general public. The biggest land use code the pub is breaking is lack of plumbing and parking. Paddler’s Pub uses portable bathrooms and has said connecting to city sewer lines about a mile away would cost around $2 million. Paddler’s Pub had previously gotten permission to open to everyone on May 12 and had been open daily to the general public but then got a code compliance letter listing several violations. Paddler’s Pub, located at 1329 U.S. 287, said it will remain open daily despite the change.

CLOSING

Fort Collins craft brewery Three Four Beer Co.  closed July 29 after releasing three more beers and holding a farewell party. The company had been in existence since 2015 but didn’t start brewing its own beer until mid-2016.

Broomfield-based Ball Corp. (NYSE: BLL) will discontinue production at its beverage packaging plant in Cuiabá, Brazil. Customers currently supported by the Cuiabá plant will be supplied by other Ball facilities in Brazil, the company said.

SKEYE Brewing, a Longmont craft brewery, closed in late June. The brewery had launched a GoFundMe campaign June 5, seeking $10,000 to keep the brewery open. As of late June, the campaign had raised $485 from eight donors.

CONTRACTS

AktiVax Inc., a Boulder-based drug-products company, secured a contract worth as much as $55 million to develop an improved auto-injector for nerve-agent antidotes. The contract from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is worth at least $15 million over 18 months but can be extended for four years for up to $55 million. AktiVax will work with HHS to develop a new device that can easily administer a drug to reverse damage inflicted by organophosphates, a class of chemicals that includes nerve agents such as Sarin and VX.

KromaTiD Inc., a Fort Collins-based biotech company, has joined the National Institute of Standards and Technology Genome Editing Consortium, a newly launched public/private partnership. The consortium supports the emerging gene-editing market and regulatory-agency needs for standardized measurements of gene edits, editing byproducts and the risks of using genome-editing technologies in research, commercial and therapeutic products. Through a cooperative research and development agreement, KromaTiD will transfer dGH technology to laboratories at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and other consortium members. KromaTiD is a spinoff of Colorado State University.

The University of Colorado Boulder Integrated Remote and In Situ Sensing (IRISS) Initiative and Boulder-based specialized engineering firm Black Swift Technologies are partnering to provide a new service to atmospheric researchers. The service will allow researchers to rent unmanned aircraft systems and expertise at-cost from CU IRISS and Black Swift. Through the program, researchers can focus on their work rather than what type of drone and sensors they need to gather data, what certifications they need to get approval from the Federal Aviation Administration, all of which can be cost- and time-prohibitive.

DH2i Co., a Fort Collins-based company that provides disaster-recovery solutions for Windows, Linux and Oracle databases, signed a strategic-alignment agreement with Red Hat. After testing and validation, DH2i will become a Red Hat Technology Partner and certified on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.

Banner Health and rideshare-company Lyft are partnering to offer Lyft as a transportation option for patients seeking medical treatment at two of Banner’s hospitals in Colorado —  McKee Medical Center in Loveland and Banner Fort Collins Medical Center in Fort Collins. The service also will be available to patients seeking treatment at most of Banner Health’s hospitals in Arizona, plus urgent-care sites, centers, clinics and specialty-care locations in Arizona and Colorado, where Lyft operates. Financial terms of the partnership were not disclosed.

The city of Boulder signed a contract with Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association for the sale of hydroelectric power generated at five of the city’s eight hydroelectric plants. The deal is a 10-year agreement with an option to renew for another five years. It’s expected to generate about $500,000 per year in revenue, which will offset water utility capital improvements and operating costs that would otherwise be paid through higher water rates for customers. The city previously had sold hydroelectric power to Tri-State from the Boulder Canyon Hydroelectric plant. This agreement renews the contract for Boulder Canyon and adds four facilities: the Kohler, Maxwell, Orodell and Sunshine plants.

EARNINGS

AeroGrow International Inc. reported that sales for its fiscal year that ended March 31 were up 37 percent, and its loss was up slightly compared with the previous year. Boulder-based AeroGrow (OTCQB: AERO) manufactures and distributes in-home garden systems. The company recorded total revenue of $32.3 million and an operating loss of $448,000 for the year.

Guaranty Bancorp, a Denver-based bank-holding company that is in the process of being acquired, posted $13.3 million in profits for the second quarter that ended June 30. The bank posted a profit of $10.1 million in the first quarter of this year. Guaranty Bancorp (Nasdaq: GBNK) is on track to be acquired by Texas-based Independent Bank Group Inc. (Nasdaq: IBTX) in a $1 billion deal expected to close during the fourth quarter of this year. Guaranty has 32 branches in Colorado, including Berthoud, Boulder, Fort Collins, Greeley, Longmont and Loveland. Guaranty’s second quarter 2018 return on average assets was 1.52 percent compared with 1.21 percent for the same quarter in 2017.

Fast-casual restaurant firm Noodles & Co. reported a loss of $5.9 million, or 14 cents per share, for its second quarter that ended July 3. Broomfield-based Noodles (Nasdaq: NDLS) posted a 4.1 percent increase in revenue for the quarter to $117.4 million, up from $112.8 million in the previous quarter. The loss included a $3.4 million charge for final assessment related to data-breach liabilities and a $300,000 charge for the settlement of Delaware gift-card litigation. It also incurred $1.5 million of costs related to the seven restaurants that closed in the second quarter. For the first two quarters of 2018, the company reported a net loss of $9.5 million, or 23 cents per diluted share, compared with a net loss of $28.7 million for the first two quarters of 2017.

KUDOS

Winners of the 2018 Bravo! Entrepreneur awards will be recognized at a breakfast in their honor on Thursday, Aug. 23, at the Embassy Suites in Loveland. Bravo! is a BizWest event to recognize the spirit of entrepreneurship among business founders and executives in the region.

2018 category winners are: Emerging Entrepreneur, Ashley Colpaart, The Food Corridor, Fort Collins; and Regional Spirit Award, Northern Water, Brad Wind, general manager; Lifetime Achievement Award, Steve Anderson, Forney Industries. Area Award for Fort Collins goes to Bonnie Szidon, Ranch-way Feeds, with finalists Amy Prieto, Prieto Battery, and Dr. Don Wells, Associates in Family Medicine. Area winner for Greeley is Chalice Springfield, Sears Real Estate, with finalists Ronna Rice, Rice’s Honey, and Ken Whitney, Anderson & Whitney. Loveland winners are Terry and Diana Precht, Vergent Products, with finalists Robert Grieve, Heska Corp., and Brian Peterson, ECI Site Construction Management. Winner for outlying areas is Paul Harter, Aqua-Hot Heating Systems Inc., with finalists Leo Hayden, Hayden Outdoors, and Jon Turner, Highland Meadows, Heron Lakes Development LLC, Timnath Ranch. Tickets for the event are available at early bird pricing of $44.49. The event will start with breakfast at 7:30 a.m. on Aug. 23 and conclude by 9:30.

Windsor-based Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association won the 2018 SEPA Power Players Electric Cooperative Utility of the Year award at the Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA) awards dinner in Washington, D.C. PVREA won for its Coyote Ridge Community Solar Farm project — a collaboration with GRID Alternatives and the Colorado Energy Office to construct a solar array designed with parameters ensuring all income levels and group types have an opportunity to participate in renewable energy.

Hiltons on Canyon, the Embassy Suites by Hilton and Hilton Garden Inn that opened last fall near 28th Street and Canyon Boulevard in Boulder, was named Dual-Brand of the Year in the 2017 Hilton North American Development Awards.

The Boulder Chamber announced this year’s recipients of the Women Who Light the Community awards. The winners are: Jan Berg, an independent business consultant; Carol Driggs, strategic staffing manager for Colorado at Northrop Grumman; Connie Minden, co-founder of Ramble on Pearl; Carmen Ramirez, founder of Resiliencia para Todos/Resiliency for All; Kirsten Wilson, founder of the Rocks Karma Arrows multi-media theater; and Cante Waste Win Zephier, a Niwot High School student who will be honored as 2018’s Emerging Youth Leader and is co-president of the Northern Colorado United National Indian Tribal Youth Council. The award ceremony will be held from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 5, at the Boulder Jewish Community Center, 6007 Oreg Ave. in Boulder. Cost to attend is $55 for chamber members and $75 for non-members.

Liquid Mechanics Brewing Co. of Lafayette led Boulder Valley and Northern Colorado craft brewers in awards won July 9 at the U.S. Open Beer Championships in Oxford, Ohio. Liquid Mechanics placed eighth overall, first in the “Most Creative Name” competition for its Beasts of Bourbon label, Gold medals for its Altbier and blended barrel-aged beer, and a Silver for its Marzen/Oktoberfest. Other beer style winners from the Boulder Valley and Northern Colorado were: Crow Hop Brewery, Loveland, Gold for its American Specialty Wheat and Bronze for English IPA; Mash Lab Brewing, Windsor, Bronze for Bitter and Silver for English Mild Ale; Oskar Blues Brewing, Longmont, Gold for Imperial Red Ale; Bootstrap Brewing, Longmont, Bronze for Imperial Red Ale; New Belgium Brewing, Fort Collins, Gold for Belgian Tripel, and Loveland Aleworks, Bronze for Wood/Barrel-aged Sour Beer.

A Boulder-based optics firm won a $1 million prize in a New York competition. Double Helix  won the top prize in the state-funded Luminate NY accelerator competition, a photonics and optics contest. As a result of the reward, it must spend 18 months working with the accelerator’s program in Rochester, N.Y. Double Helix’s SPINDLE product delivers a 3D nanoscale image that is so detailed that researchers can watch reactions happen at the molecular level.

EY, the global financial firm that operates as Ernst & Young LLP in the United States, selected the winners of its Entrepreneur of the Year awards in the Mountain Desert region. Winners based or operating in the Boulder Valley and Northern Colorado include: Dr. Jason Myers, co-founder, chief executive and president of ArcherDX, Inc., Boulder; Maureen Hewitt, president and CEO, InnovAge, Denver, a senior living and home care agency with facilities including Loveland and Estes Park; Bo Sharon, founder & CEO, Lucky’s Market, Niwot, with grocery locations in Boulder, Longmont and Fort Collins; David Barnett, founder & CEO, PopSockets LLC, Boulder; and David Birzon, CEO, Snooze an AM Eatery, Denver, with locations in Fort Collins and Boulder.

Several Colorado companies were recognized by the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment for their outstanding workplace safety records. Northern Colorado Traffic Control Inc. of Greeley and Sun Construction & Facility Services LLC of Longmont were recognized at an awards ceremony at the Governor’s Executive Residence in Denver.

Sixteen Boulder Valley and Northern Colorado companies were named winners of the Colorado Companies to Watch for 2018 on June 22. The award was given to 50 honorees out of 100 finalists; it recognized second-stage companies succeeding in Colorado. The area winners were: Altvia Solutions LLC of Broomfield; Arbor Valley and Atlas CPAs & Advisors PLLC of Brighton; Bitsbox, CampMinder, Clear Comfort, Comptek Technologies LLC, Creative Alignments, Crunchsters Inc., Rowdy Mermaid Kombucha, Xero Shoes and Zingfit of Boulder; Blue Margin Inc. and Neuworks Mechanical Inc. of Fort Collins; YouSeeU of Loveland; and The Human Bean of Northern Colorado, of Fort Collins and Greeley. There were more than 30 finalists from the Boulder Valley and Northern Colorado, including 8z Real Estate of Boulder and Louisville; A-Train Marketing Communications Inc. of Fort Collins; Avocet Communications and Cheese Importers of Longmont; Bonusly, Cain Travel, Katasi Inc., Mondo Robit, Ozo Coffee Co., Ramblin Jackson, SpaceNav, Tax Guard and Treepod Hanging Habitats / Slackline Industries of Boulder; EarthRoamer of Dacono; Johnson Storage & Moving of Boulder, Longmont and Fort Collins; and Ursa Major Technologies of Berthoud.

MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS

Archer Daniels Midland Co. (NYSE: ADM) signed an agreement to acquire Fort Collins-based Rodelle Inc., an originator, processor and supplier of vanilla products. ADM anticipates completing the transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval, in the third quarter. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan-based Nutrien Ltd., which has operations in Loveland and Greeley, entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Illinois-based Agrible Inc. for $63 million. Earlier in July, Nutrien said it was acquiring agriculture laboratory firm Waypoint Analytical. Nutrien was created in January through the $36 billion merger of Agrium Inc. and Potash Corp. Agrible has a platform and product offering that includes agronomic and on-farm advisory tools, data-science capabilities and predictive analytics.

Global Healthcare Exchange LLC in Louisville, a provider of cloud-based health-care supply-chain-management products, plans to acquire a majority of the assets and employees of Germany-based Medical Columbus AG. Terms of the acquisition that is expected to close in about three months were not disclosed.

Research Electro Optics Inc., a Boulder-based optics company, was acquired by Excelitas Technologies Corp., a photonics company based in Waltham, Mass. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Dallas-based Dean Foods Co. (NYSE: DF) increased its ownership percentage and taken a majority stake in Boulder-based Good Karma Foods Inc. Good Karma, which produces flaxseed-based milk and yogurt products, will continue to operate as a Boulder-based independent company led by its existing leadership team.

Allegion plc (Nasdaq: ALLE) will acquire ISONAS Security Systems Inc., a Boulder company, for an undisclosed amount. The deal, which is subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to close early third-quarter 2018. ISONAS owns computer technology that produces access control solutions for non-residential markets. Allegion’s world headquarters is in Dublin, Ireland, with U.S. headquarters in Carmel, Ind.

iBirth, a Boulder-based pregnancy app, was acquired by Babyscripts Inc., a virtual-care platform for managing obstetrics. Combining the two companies is meant to offer a better client experience: iBirth can offer precision prenatal care to its customers, while Washington, D.C.-based Babyscripts offers a more engaging and holistic platform for managing pregnancy and postpartum. Combined, the two services will help manage more than 150,000 pregnancies across 20 states.

Fitness club Fort Collins Club is being acquired by Wichita, Kan.-based Genesis Health Clubs. Genesis, which acquired Fort Collins-based Miramont Lifestyle Fitness in November, will now have four gyms in Fort Collins and Loveland, as well as locations in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma. Its fifth Colorado gym, Miramont Central, will close to accommodate the acquisition of the Fort Collins Club. All Miramont Central members will be transferred to Fort Collins Club members, which will provide amenities such as indoor and outdoor pools, a cafe and several courts for basketball, racquetball and volleyball, among other offerings. The Fort Collins Club will also have some of its equipment upgraded.

Conagra Brands is acquiring Pinnacle Foods, parent company to Boulder Brands, for $10.9 billion. The deal will be a cash and stock transaction and will include Conagra acquiring all of Pinnacle Foods’ outstanding shares and net debt. Under the terms of the transaction, Pinnacle Foods shareholders will get $43.11 per share and about 0.65 shares of Conagra Brands common stock for each share of Pinnacle Foods. The combined value is about $68. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the year, pending regulatory approval and approval by PInnacle’s shareholders. In 2016, Pinnacle acquired Boulder Brands, which makes gluten-free products.

Sphero, the maker of connected toys and devices, has acquired another Boulder-based company, Specdrums, a music-tech startup founded in 2016 that offers app-controlled rings worn on a user’s finger that turn color into sound when tapped. With the acquisition, Sphero said it plans to launch a new version of Specdrums — which has sold out after a successful $200,000 Kickstarter campaign — later this year or early next year.

MOVES

Boulder Community Health will merge two of its internal medicine clinics and move them to a building on Arapahoe Road in east Boulder. Internal Medicine Associates of Boulder at 1155 Alpine Ave. in the Medical Pavilion in west Boulder and Internal Medicine Associates of Foothills at 4820 Riverbend Road next to BCH’s Foothills Hospital in east Boulder will merge to form Internal Medicine Associates of Boulder and set up operations at 5495 Arapahoe Road.

Discovery DJ Services will move a proposed gas processing plant from an area near homes in south Weld County to an industrial park northeast of Keenesburg near Interstate 76. The gas processing company had been faced with a wall of protest from a residential neighborhood near where it had originally planned to build its plant.

OPENING

The Human Bean coffee shop opened a location in Windsor at 405 E. Main St. With locations in Loveland, Greeley, Evans, LaSalle and Fort Collins, it offers a double-sided drive through, the first in Windsor.

Camp Bow Wow, a doggy day-care and overnight camp franchise and an Entrepreneur magazine Franchise 500 company, opened its newest camp at 801 S. Sherman St., in Longmont. The camp will celebrate its opening from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 4, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Pet product vendors will be on hand at the opening and the owners have planned music, games and food for participants. Camp Bow Wow is based in Westminster and has sold more than 180 franchises in 40 states and Canada.

Flower Child, a healthy, fast-casual restaurant opening in Boulder this month, will host a hiring fair through Aug. 11. Flower Child is hiring approximately 80 employees for the restaurant at 2580 Arapahoe Ave. in the Alcove on Arapahoe Shopping Center in Boulder. The restaurant is looking for servers, prep cooks, line cooks, cashiers, fast-casual servers and dishwashers. On-site interviews will be offered. University of Colorado Boulder students who are interested in working in the restaurant industry are encouraged to apply. Job seekers can also submit their resumes online at workforflowerchild.com. Flower Child is part of the Sam Fox Restaurant Concepts and has locations in Texas, Arizona, California and Nevada. Fox Restaurant Concepts is a restaurant group with 14 concepts spanning six states with more than 4,000 employees.

Columbus, Ohio-based Vertiv will employ 100 data scientists, software developers and other professionals at a new office in Loveland. Vertiv, a provider of equipment and services for data centers, will lease a 19,000-square-foot, one-floor office space from Loveland-based McWhinney Real Estate Services Inc. at 1880 Fall River Drive in Centerra, a 3,000-acre master-planned community being developed by McWhinney.

Developers have completed Windsong at Northridge, a memory-care facility in Greeley. Brinkman Construction, Lenity Architecture and Vista Pointe Development completed the one-story, 34,078-square-foot center at 7010 Eighth St.

Urban Bricks Pizza hosted its grand opening in Fort Collins on July 21. The restaurant is located at 2860 E. Harmony Road in the Front Range Village shopping center. Urban Bricks offers customers the option to dine-in or take-out, with plans to offer delivery soon. The Fort Collins Urban Bricks is the first franchise location in Colorado and is owned and operated by local businessman Jason Wolf, who also operates Tran’s Martial Arts & Fitness Center.

The Colorado Division of Banking approved a request by ANB Bank, a Denver-based bank owned by Sturm Financial Group, to open a branch in Longmont. The site is at 600 Main St., according to division of banking documents. The property is owned by Joshnik Co. LLLP. According to public records, Wyoming-based Joshnik Co. paid Sav-O-Mat $498,705 in 2017 for the property. A Sav-O-Mat gas station currently is operating on the site. ANB Bank has more than 30 banking centers in Wyoming, the Kansas City metro area and Colorado, including Fort Collins and Boulder, with one under construction in Loveland. That one is to open in December across U.S. Highway 34 from South Shore Park at Lake Loveland.

A Fort Collins retail cannabidiol company, Joy Organics, has opened at 119 W. Oak St., selling organically grown, full-spectrum CBD with zero THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, as well as cannabis/hemp oil candles, essential oil from the cannabis plant, cookie dough for recovery, spices, hemp journals, art paper, sketch paper and more.

Vitality Bowls, a superfood cafe that started in California, opened July 26 in The Village shopping center at Folsom Street and Arapahoe Avenue, its third Colorado location and its first in Boulder. Vitality Bowls is a cafe concept that focuses on providing superfoods in bowls, juices, smoothies as well as serving up soups, salads and sandwiches.

Eye Center of Northern Colorado opened its fifth location in Northern Colorado with the acquisition of Dr. Jerry J. Crews’ practice. The Eye Center began operations at Fox Run Business Park, 1701 61st Ave., in Greeley. Crews, an ophthalmologist, operated in Greeley for 24 years.

Terrapin Care Station was granted a retail license to operate in Longmont. The Boulder-based cannabis company will operate at 650 20th Ave. in a former flower shop. The 3,500-square-foot space is in the process of being renovated and has a tentative opening date for later this fall.

Ninja Nation, an obstacle course fitness facility operated by American Ninja Warrior veterans, opened June 30 at 1700 Coal Creek Drive, Unit 2, in Lafayette.

An Italian restaurant based in Denver will open a new facility in Lafayette in October. Mici Handcrafted Italian, a family-owned four-unit fast casual chain, will create a restaurant in the Waneka Marketplace at 535 W. South Boulder Road. The space, formerly a Starbucks, is undergoing construction. Plans include a 50-seat patio and 45 seats indoors. The restaurant will also deliver to homes in Lafayette, Louisville and Erie. It expects to employ 30 staff members, according to information supplied by the company.

UCHealth Poudre Valley Hospital opened a 14-bed rehabilitation unit to help people who have experienced major injury or illness to regain the skills necessary for everyday life. The rehab unit is on the third floor of the hospital in Fort Collins. The rehab unit had been housed on the fifth floor of UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland.

PRODUCT UPDATE

Water Pik, Inc., the Fort Collins-based maker of oral hygiene devices, is recalling its Sonic-Fusion flossing toothbrush because the charging base may overheat and cause melting and sparking. Fire, shock or burns are possible, the company said. Water Pik has received consumer reports of product malfunctioning in the U.S. The recall is applicable only to 3,800 units of Sonic-Fusion products. All other Waterpik brand flossers and toothbrushes are not affected.

The following models have been recalled: Sonic-Fusion, Model SF-01, serial numbers SF01 17 06 01 through SF01 18 06 28. Sonic Fusion, Model SF-02, serial numbers SF02 17 06 01 through SF02 18 06 28. Water Pik said the affected units were distributed between June 2017 and June 2018 in all U.S. states and Canada and limited to professional educators, key opinion leaders, trade show customers and limited direct online sales. Consumers who have the affected units should stop using them, immediately unplug the unit, and return them to Water Pik. To receive a product return kit, or for additional information, consumers should call 1-800-674-7718 from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday or email at SonicFusion-Return@Waterpik.com. Consumers can also go to SFReturn.com for information.

Inscripta Inc., a Boulder-based gene-editing technology company, has secured its first patent. he patent covers systems using MAD7, the company’s first free CRISPR enzyme, as well as patent coverage for systems using another MADzyme, MAD2.

A Boulder tech startup is looking to bring a new level of safety and education to traveling the world. GeoSure Global is an app that scores locations based on their safety record across several categories: women’s safety, physical health, theft, political freedoms, health and medical, and an overall safety score. The lower the score, the overall safer a location is.

A Boulder PR firm is launching a new practice for a form of company communication it believes could be the future of marketing. Catapult PR has launched its Narrative Practice, a strategic marketing strategy that helps clients position themselves as leaders of an industry category.

New Herb Health, a Longmont-based natural products company, unveiled a line of whole hemp extracts for humans and animals at the Summer Fancy Food Show June 30-July 2 in New York. The company’s new line, called Meta Hemp Solutions, uses a spagyric technique — that is, it’s made using alchemical procedures such as fermentation, distillation or extraction — combined with modern science. Meta Hemp Solutions are made using organic grape oil, pure water and extraction using a low-temperature point to preserve the living components of the raw hemp plant. The products are offered in potencies of 125, 250, 500, 1,000 and 3,000 milligrams of full-profile cannabinoids in three flavors: coconut-vanilla, fruit punch and unflavored. It’s also offered in animal potencies of 125 and 250 milligrams in tuna, chicken, beef tallow and unflavored varieties.

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