ROXBORO – Entrepreneurs Dave Neundorfer and Oscar Hackett saw the health benefits that hemp-derived cannabidiol (CBD) could offer, so they decided to launch their own brand back in the summer 2018.

However, after months of searching, they couldn’t find a quality CBD ingredient supplier.

Their solution: do it themselves.

Enter Open Book Extracts (OBX), an industrial hemp company that controls the entire supply chain from soil to oil.  Production started two weeks ago, and the startup has begun selling Full Spectrum Distillate, Isolate, and THC-Free Distillate, as well as finished goods, including capsules and tinctures.

OBX’s Easy Snap packets that help consumers know what the right amount of CBD they should be taking is (single serve dosing).

“We aim to be the trusted partner of name brand consumer packaged goods, and chained retailers bringing CBD products to market,” Hackett told WRAL TechWire.

“We are building a technology layer that will enable us to provide visibility into product provenance and testing at each step of the way.”

The pair’s holding company, Steady State, recently raised $6 million, which will fund additional refinement equipment to service large-scale brand partnerships, finished goods manufacturing equipment, genetics for the 2020 season, product innovation and clinical research.

It also raised $8 million last March, the majority of which went towards buying genetics for the 2019 planting season, down payments on equipment, the commencement of facility build-out and Open Book Extracts team building.

Last spring, the Ohio-based pair put down roots in Person County, buying a 76,000-square-foot warehouse in Roxboro and converting it into a cGMP food grade processing facility.

Close up look of a healthy hemp plant.

The majority of OBX’s growing and all of its processing is conducted here in North Carolina.

“We selected North Carolina as the home for OBX because of the state’s extensive farming experience, existing agricultural infrastructure, access to Research Triangle talent, and the opportunities for distribution up and down the Eastern seaboard,” said Hackett.

“We are excited about the business we’re building here in North Carolina and the role OBX will play in the statewide, national and global hemp industry.”