2018
Horticulture Co. Is Founded
Saf Sadiq, PharmD, and Roly Nesi establish Horticulture Co. with a shared vision to develop and commercialize innovative, plant-based consumer brands.
Inquiries
contact@horticultureco.com
Slideshow
Our approach
Built to Scale. Proven at Retail.
Horticulture Co.’s greatest competitive advantage is the distribution and retail infrastructure we have built around our brands.
Our portfolio is supported by best-in-class, Tier 1 alcohol distributors with the relationships, logistics and market expertise required to scale emerging beverage categories responsibly and efficiently. This network gives our brands access to major national and regional retail chains while also providing the local execution necessary to earn placement, maintain visibility and drive repeat sales.
But access alone is not enough. Our retail program is designed to turn distribution into velocity through strategic merchandising, cooler placements, displays, promotional programming, store-level education and market-specific activation.
For our brands and partners, this creates a powerful launch platform: a product can move from concept to production and into a proven commercial ecosystem built to reach consumers at scale. For retailers, it means working with an experienced operator capable of supporting compliance, inventory, merchandising and long-term category growth.
We do not simply create brands. We provide the infrastructure to put them in the right stores, support them at the point of sale and build them into enduring national businesses.
Alcohol Alternatives built with Alcohol Distribution.
Our investments
A portfolio with purpose.
Functional Beverages / Alc Alternatives
Tempter's
A premium line of fast-acting, hemp-derived THC social seltzers designed as a sophisticated alternative to alcohol. Crafted with clean ingredients, low calories, and terpene-inspired flavor profiles.
Social Tonics
Iverson Viola
Created in partnership with Allen Iverson and Viola, Iverson brings the energy of an icon to a bold line of fast-acting THC craft sodas made for those who choose to drink differently.
Better-for-You Beverages
Sunbaby
A bright, approachable THC social seltzer made with clean ingredients, refreshing fruit flavors, and a feel-good identity inspired by sunshine and everyday enjoyment.
Functional Beverages
Viola Pop
A colorful collection of fast-acting THC beverages combining exotic flavors with functional prebiotics, low calories, and an alcohol-free formulation.
Functional Beverages
The CÜRE Brand
A wellness-focused platform creating functional beverages, shots, gummies, and other plant-based products designed to support modern health and well-being. Horticulture Co. identifies CÜRE as one of the core brands it manufactures and distributes.
Our group
Shaping the Category. Advancing Reform.
Horticulture Co. is not only building brands within the plant-based alternatives category - we are helping shape the policies, standards and public understanding that will determine its future.
Our CEO, leadership team and strategic partners are actively engaged in regulatory education and responsible-market advocacy at both the state and federal levels, with outreach extending from local legislatures and regulatory agencies to Congress and the White House. We work alongside policymakers, legal and compliance experts, distributors, retailers and industry stakeholders to advocate for practical regulations that protect consumers, support responsible operators and allow legitimate businesses to innovate and grow.
Our leadership also extends beyond traditional government and industry channels. Through relationships across sports, entertainment, social media and the celebrity community, Horticulture Co. and its partners can bring cannabis education and regulatory issues into the cultural mainstream. These influential platforms help reach audiences that conventional advocacy often misses, challenge outdated stigma and create broader support for informed, responsible reform.
Operating at the intersection of product innovation, culture, retail and public policy gives Horticulture Co. a distinctive voice in the national conversation. We understand that sustainable category growth requires more than successful products. It requires clear standards, responsible access, educated consumers and credible leaders prepared to engage at every level - from the retail floor to the White House.
By combining commercial leadership, cultural influence and active regulatory advocacy, Horticulture Co. is working to build a safer, more transparent and more sustainable future for the industry.
Our Origin story
Horticulture Co. began with a shared belief: plant-based wellness should not feel clinical, niche or disconnected from the way people actually live.
Saf Sadiq and Roly Nesi first connected through ROAR, the functional beverage company founded by Roly and backed by Saf as an investor. Saf brought the perspective of a pharmacist whose understanding of cannabis became deeply personal following his father’s diagnosis with glioblastoma. Roly brought the experience of a beverage founder and cannabis advocate who understood how functionality could be transformed into products people genuinely wanted to drink.
Their conversations revealed a clear opportunity at the intersection of lifestyle, wellness and social connection. Consumers were becoming more intentional about what they consumed, yet many plant-based alternatives lacked formulation credibility, cultural relevance or a compelling social identity.
Saf and Roly set out to change that.
Saf’s research into cannabis, functional ingredients and formulation established the company’s scientific foundation. Roly’s experience in beverages, brand building and consumer behavior helped translate that foundation into products created for real occasions and clearly defined audiences. Together, they founded Horticulture Co.—a platform for developing functional, plant-based beverages that feel at home in social settings, reflect contemporary lifestyles and provide thoughtful alternatives to alcohol and conventional refreshment.
The next chapter grew from a relationship more than a decade in the making.
Saf and cannabis entrepreneur Al Harrington had known one another through business circles for over ten years. In 2024, they reconnected to explore a strategic alignment and a more unconventional approach to the rapidly evolving category—one that could unite formulation, culture, intellectual property and commercial execution in ways the market had not previously seen.
In 2025, Al joined Horticulture Co. as an investor and leading principal, helping develop an innovation strategy built around distinctive intellectual property, authentic partnerships and culturally powerful brands. His experience building Viola, combined with Horticulture Co.’s strengths in product development, distribution and retail execution, created a model capable of amplifying awareness and accelerating growth.
That alignment produced two significant platforms. The first was Iverson THC Craft Soda, a disruptive partnership that transformed Allen Iverson’s cultural influence and authentic personal story into a differentiated beverage brand. The second was a powerful joint venture between Viola and Horticulture Co.—a first-of-its-kind commercial collaboration between a regulated cannabis company and a hemp-beverage platform—created to launch and scale Viola Pop.
These partnerships established a larger blueprint for Horticulture Co.: combine credible operators, influential intellectual property, purposeful formulations and best-in-class commercial infrastructure to create brands with immediate cultural relevance and long-term enterprise value.
What began as Saf’s personal exploration of plant-based wellness has evolved into a collaborative platform for category-defining innovation. With additional partnerships, new intellectual property and strategic expansion already planned, Horticulture Co. is building the next generation of plant-powered consumer brands—purposefully formulated, culturally connected and designed to scale.
2019
CÜRE CBD Wellness Launches
Horticulture Co. introduces CÜRE, a CBD wellness brand offering a range of functional beverages, wellness shots, and gummies.
2019
Tempter’s Makes Its Debut
Tempter’s is unveiled at the Bar & Nightclub Show in Las Vegas, introducing the hospitality industry to a new CBD-infused mixer concept.
2020
Sunbaby Is Developed
The company develops Sunbaby, a beverage brand created around approachable, microdosed products for regulated cannabis
2023
Advancing Hemp-Derived THC
Horticulture Co. successfully completes the research and development of a nanoemulsion technology designed to improve the formulation of hemp-derived THC beverages.
2024
Tempter’s Is Reimagined
Tempter’s relaunches as a hemp-derived THC functional beverage infused with a carefully selected blend of terpenes.
2025
Al Harrington Joins the Company
Entrepreneur and former NBA player Al Harrington joins Horticulture Co. as an investor and strategic partner, helping commercialize Viola’s intellectual property for the hemp-derived THC market.
2025
National Retail Expansion
Horticulture Co. launches a national retail program with Circle K, significantly expanding the company’s consumer reach and retail presence.
2025
A League-Level Sponsorship First
Tempter’s secures a league-level sponsorship with Dirty Boxing Championship, the combat sports organization owned by Jon Jones and Mike Perry—marking a first for the THC beverage category.
Our leadership
Meet the team.
Our leadership brings together pharmaceutical science, beverage innovation, cultural influence and category-building experience to create plant-based brands designed for modern life.
Co-Founder & CEO
Saf Sadiq
A pharmacist and entrepreneur leading Horticulture Co.’s development of culturally relevant, plant-based products for modern social and wellness occasions.
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Saf Sadiq is the CEO and Co-Founder of Horticulture Co., where he leads the development of culturally relevant, plant-based products designed for the way people live, socialize and prioritize wellness today.
A pharmacist by training and an entrepreneur by instinct, Saf’s interest in cannabis became deeply personal after his father was diagnosed with glioblastoma. The experience led him to examine cannabis and other plant-based compounds through both a scientific and human lens—researching their potential applications, studying ingredient interactions and exploring how thoughtfully formulated products might support quality of life.
That rigorous approach became the foundation of Saf’s product philosophy. He saw an opportunity to move plant-based wellness beyond clinical or counterculture conventions and create products that felt approachable, social and naturally aligned with contemporary lifestyles. At Horticulture Co., Saf oversees a growing portfolio built around purposeful ingredients, responsible formulations and distinct brands created for clearly defined consumer communities.
Before co-founding Horticulture Co., Saf was an investor in ROAR, where he developed a strong working relationship with its founder, Roly Nesi. Their shared belief that functional beverages could connect wellness, culture and everyday social occasions ultimately inspired them to build a new kind of beverage company together.
Co-Founder & COO
Roly Nesi
An entrepreneur and beverage innovator translating emerging wellness behaviors into accessible, culturally connected consumer brands.
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Roly Nesi is an entrepreneur, beverage innovator and Co-Founder of Horticulture Co. As the founder of ROAR, Roly developed firsthand experience building a consumer beverage brand around hydration, functionality and modern wellness.
A longtime cannabis advocate, Roly recognized early that the plant had the potential to become part of a broader lifestyle and wellness movement. He believed the next generation of cannabis beverages needed to be more than conventional products with THC added—they needed thoughtful formulations, compelling brands and a natural role in adult social occasions.
Roly brings Horticulture Co. deep experience in beverage development, brand building and consumer-market strategy. His ability to translate emerging wellness behaviors into accessible products complements Saf Sadiq’s pharmaceutical background and formulation discipline. Together, they are building a portfolio that makes plant-based alternatives feel credible, culturally connected and designed for modern life.
Principal & Partner
Al Harrington
A cannabis entrepreneur, investor and advocate bringing category expertise, cultural influence and Viola’s brand-building platform to Horticulture Co.
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Al Harrington is the CEO and Co-Founder of Viola, a premium Black-owned cannabis brand. His entrepreneurial work began during his NBA career, when he strategically invested in startups across the cannabis industry.
In 2011, he launched Viola in Colorado after overseeing its cultivation, extraction and production processes. With a mission centered on creating opportunity and ownership for the Black community, Al uses his platform to advocate for a more equitable cannabis industry and advises leaders shaping cannabis legislation at the local and national levels.
Harrington has expanded Viola into multiple markets in the United States and Canada. He has also co-founded The Harrington Institute, LoveVerb, Village and Re+Play, and remains an active investor and advisor across cannabis and adjacent industries.