Microsoft is working on software for the legal marijuana industry

Microsoft's next bet is on the weed business. The company announced today that it will partner with LA-based marijuana startup Kind on a system for tracking the legal growing and sale of weed.

Partnering with LA-based startup Kind

According to a statement issued today by Kind, Microsoft will work with the startup on software services for governments tracking legal weed, with Microsoft powering the software through its Azure cloud computing service.

"The goal of this relationship is to leverage each company's resources to provide State, County, and Municipalities with purpose built solutions for track and trace ('seed to sale' in the cannabis industry) technology," Kind said in the statement.

As reported earlier by The New York Times, the venture is significant for being a major corporation publicly making a foray into the still-nascent industry. Despite winning medical or recreational approval in several states, growing and selling marijuana is still illegal federally, putting off some corporations from participating.

But locally, the industry is already is set to continue growing as more states take up the issue. More local governments, then, will likely be looking for tools to properly regulate their industries — with Microsoft poised to be a part of it.

• ViaThe New York Times
• SourceKind