In March 2017, Harmony founder Antonin Cohen presented our CBD business at Arcview’s first European Investor Pitch Forum in Barcelona. Four selected startups took the stage. Harmony won the audience vote.
The photographs capture the moment: Antonin beside a screen of Harmony e-liquid bottles during the pitch, then holding a trophy with the company’s name behind him. Here is the story behind those pictures.
Why cannabis entrepreneurs gathered in Barcelona
The forum brought European cannabis businesses together with international investors ahead of Spannabis 2017. Arcview’s network connected companies seeking capital with investors interested in the cannabis industry.
The programme included addresses from Arcview’s then CEO Troy Dayton and president Steve DeAngelo, alongside discussions of cannabis policy, business and technology. For the companies pitching, that meant explaining a business to people who could question its commercial prospects as well as its products.
Contemporary coverage in Cáñamo’s report from the forum describes four invited companies, two European and two American. The questions covered how businesses could grow, the legal framework and barriers to entering their markets.
What Harmony presented
Our pitch set out a plan to bring hemp and CBD products to a wider audience, alongside education and community work in Europe. The presentation photograph shows the products we brought into that conversation: Harmony e-liquids, with Mango Kush, Super Lemon Haze and O.G. Kush on the screen.
Those details give the announcement its context. This was an early presentation of Harmony as a CBD business, in front of an audience comparing companies from both sides of the Atlantic.
The audience chose Harmony
Our original report announced the win. Cáñamo’s on-the-ground account adds a useful detail: Antonin and Harmony received the audience prize following a vote, for the company’s CBD vaping products.
That is the achievement recorded here: recognition for Harmony’s pitch at this particular event. The award photograph shows Antonin holding the trophy on stage, with Harmony’s logo projected behind him.
A moment in Harmony’s history
The original announcement ended with our excitement about growing the company. Restoring it lets us keep a specific part of that history visible: the products we were presenting, the people in the room and the result of the vote.
The photographs show our 2017 range and packaging. For the wider company story, visit About Harmony.
About this restored article
Original reporting by Clara Scarlet Rose. The surviving republication is dated 13 March 2017; the former Harmony link carries 12 March in its address. The Harmony editorial team restored and expanded this version on 3 November 2026, checked the award description against contemporary reporting and recovered both photographs from the original article.
