Going to pot: Microsoft takes hand in marijuana business

Microsoft, it seems, wants America to get higher, lending a helping hand to the country's already burgeoning weed industry.

The tech giant announced on Thursday it is partnering with a cannabis industry-focused software company called Kind Financial. The company provides ''seed to sale'' services for cannabis growers, allowing them to track inventory, navigate laws and handle transactions all through Kind's software systems. The partnership marks the first major tech company to attach its name to the burgeoning industry of legal marijuana.

While most big tech companies have been shy to get involved, tech start-ups have been flocking to the up-and-coming pot trade, which is fully legal for both recreational and medical purposes in five states. The marijuana industry's specific needs for data tracking to optimise plant growth and other logistics, as well as its booming market potential, make it well-suited for tech partnerships.

''Nobody has really come out of the closet, if you will,'' said Matthew A Karnes, the founder of marijuana data company Green Wave Advisors, to The New York Times. ''It's very telling that a company of this calibre is taking the risk of coming out and engaging with a company that is focused on the cannabis business.''

This hesitancy comes from the still murky legal status of marijuana in most of the country. Marijuana is still illegal nationwide, and the risk of crackdowns where federal and state laws conflict has discouraged many banks from working with marijuana businesses.

There are also risks in taking a weed business across state lines where it could have a different legal standing. And there's always the danger that a change in government leadership, say with a changing presidential administration, could result in a backtracking of relaxed marijuana laws.

Then there is the potentially negative association. ''[My company] has stayed away from investing in the cannabis industry because it's like investing in the porn industry,'' said Zach Bogue, a venture capital investor. ''I'm sure there's a lot of money to be made, but it's just not something we want to invest in.''

Allen St Pierre, executive director of National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), sees marijuana software and Microsoft as a natural pairing. ''If you are trying to go big macro strategy at a company like Microsoft, and you want a super diverse portfolio, and you're located largely in a place where you can visibly see the marijuana commerce happening, and of course maybe your employees and others are engaged in that commerce, why wouldn't the company invest in it?'' he said.