Hectare's Cannabis Innovations is gearing up for a major presence at SXSW, with plans to showcase their popular THC-infused beverages at two Austin venues.
Although Hectare's Cannabis Innovations sells fruit-flavored gummies and shots, the majority of sales and interest has stemmed from its canned beverages, which contain five milligrams of Delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) per can.
They account for approximately 90% of the company’s national sales, said Jeff Stum, the co-founder of the Louisville-based company that offers three products infused with Delta-9.
"What's really tugging the boat are these five milligram single-serve canned drinks," Stum told Louisville Business First.
Stum and five of his team members will be heading to Austin, Texas next month to help with activations for their products at two venues during the entire nine days of the famed South by Southwest (SXSW) tech and music festival.
Thanks to “old friends and connections” that Stum has had in Texas’s capital city, Hectare’s will have two product activation sites during the festival, which will take place from March 7-15. One will take place at Empire Garage & Control Room, located in the city’s downtown. The other will be at Hotel Vegas in the eastern part of the city.
“They like the idea of the sessionability and the flavor profiles of the beverages, as even they — in Austin — are seeing declines in beer, wine and spirits consumption. … We like those two spots because they give us two different audiences to speak to,” said Stum, adding that Hotel Vegas should be populated more by Austin locals than the downtown site.
The Hectare’s team will be on site to educate patrons and provide tastings, while the venues themselves will be checking IDs (must be 21 to consume) and selling the products.
By his account, Stum has been to 17 editions of SXSW. His initial foray into the event was working as a Jack Daniel’s representative in Austin 25 years ago. In the following years, he would work the event as a member of the Southern Comfort marketing team where he helped out with several product activations.
Stum credits his 12-plus years at Brown-Forman (NYSE: BF.B) as being very helpful when it has come to expanding the company’s distribution footprint in the U.S. As of a recent date, Hectare’s was available in 21 states (including Kentucky and Indiana). Products are also available through Hectare’s site, where prices range from $5.99 for a single can to $109.99 for a 24-pack. Its best-selling offering is a stone fruit craft soda.
Stum would not share his company's revenue numbers, but did say that its year-over-year growth from 2023 to 2024 was 142%, with a 700%-plus jump in can beverage sales.
Locally, Hectare’s will be the first non-alcoholic THC beverage partner of the upcoming 2025 Kentucky Derby Festival.
The progression of the conversation with the festival’s leadership serves as testament to just how much of a jump in popularity the hemp-infused beverage space has had in the past year,
“I said, ‘Hey, would you guys be open to Hectare’s?’ and in 2024 it was ‘Absolutely not. We would never.’ In 2025 it was, ‘Well, maybe we would play ball with that?’ …. ??The [previous] barriers to this industry continue to open doors more and more each day, each week, each month,” said Jason Wade, the vice president of strategic operations and development of Neace Ventures, who also serves as the fractional CMO for Hectare’s (among other titles).
Neace Ventures, run by John Neace — the chairman of Soccer Holdings, LLC — first became involved with Hectare’s around 2020 as an investor before becoming an integral part of the company’s leadership team. Neace Ventures also oversees the operations of the three Bourbon Country Cannabis stores in the Louisville metro area.
To date, Hectare’s raised between $1 million and $2 million in capital since its founding, Stum said.
Stum founded the company approximately 10 years ago with Chris Lavenson, who had been on the leadership team at Vint Coffee (before it was acquired by Heine Brothers in 2011).
As such, the product was first connected to coffee — after its business plan was forged through the now-defunct Jeffersonville, Indiana-based Volicy Indiana business incubator program. For various reasons, though, the coffee product never launched, as Stum co-founded Ballotin Chocolate Whiskey in 2016.
In 2018, the Farm Act of 2018 opened Kentucky farmers to the possibility of growing hemp — and before long Stum’s in-laws applied for and received a license to grow the crop on their farm in Metcalfe County. While visiting for Christmas, it was announced that his in-laws had a two-acre plot for growing hemp.
“And I just blurted out, ‘Hey, well, you know, that’s a hectare,” Stum said. “Man, my wheels started [turning]. I was only half present for the rest of that holiday because I started talking with Chris.”
Stum and Lavenson had started with a canned beverage infused with CBD before they pivoted to the Delta-9 THC route.
Although they started using hemp that was grown on his in-laws’ farm, the majority of the emulsion is sourced from North Carolina. The product is mostly manufactured at an undisclosed co-packing facility in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.