Microsoft is now involved with cannabis; the company has partnered with a Californian company to help track the sales of legalised marijuana.
Days after the technology company's purchase of LinkedIn for £18 billion it has now joined forces with startup Kind Financial.
The deal between the two firms will see them work on software services for governments that are tracking legal sales of the drug. Microsoft will be powering the software through its Azure cloud computing service.
Kind, in a statement, said that even though more US states are legalising the sales of the drug for personal medical use its future around the world is uncertain.
It said cannabis "will always be subject to strict oversight and regulations" and that government officials needed a way to provide these.
"Agrisoft Seed to Sale for Government collects and monitors the critical data needed to track compliance with the state and jurisdictional rules, laws and regulations governing cannabis-related businesses," the company's statement read.
While the deal is based around the cloud and software from Microsoft, it is still a significant move.
According to the New York Times the deal is the first time that a major American corporation has become involved in the burgeoning industry.
"We do think there will be significant growth," Microsoft's Kimberly Nelson, the executive director of state and local government solutions told the newspaper.
She said that Microsoft would be marketing Kind's software at conferences attended by government officials, but it may one day attend cannabis conferences.
"As the industry is regulated, there will be more transactions, and we believe there will be more sophisticated requirements and tools down the road," Nelson said.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
