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It’s 4/20 man, what do you think we’re talking about?
Welcome back to the Trend Of The Week. What if I told you that there was an
industry on track to be larger than the NFL by 2020 that just a few years ago
didn’t exist. You’d want in, right?
Silicon Valley spends trillions of dollars trying to figure out what the
next big thing is. What makes the marijuana industry so interesting is
that it’s clear that it’s huge, but because of its slowly changing status as, you
know, an illegal drug, the actual business opportunities are still totally open. Not
particularly known for their interest in other people’s definitions of how things
should be, tech entrepreneurs are diving into those new opportunities
head first. Billowby may be headquartered near San Francisco’s famous Haight Street,
but it’s nothing like you’d expect from an online headshop. Featuring gorgeous
product photography that would make Williams Sonoma proud, Billowby sells
pipes, vapes, and other accessories.
We asked Billowby founder & CEO David Matthews about the state of the industry:
“Technology companies are great at innovating where consumers are headed.
The legalization of marijuana is one of the most significant business
opportunities of our time, and we’re only scratching the surface of the creative
companies that are going to come out of this boom.” Other key trends are
finding their way to this arena as well.
Eaze is a San Francisco based startup that gives consumers access to on-demand
delivery for weed. Currently available in about 80 California cities, users with
their medical marijuana license can order the products they want via web or
mobile. Eaze is paid on a referral basis by the dispensary, and serves more than
100,000 members. The company also recently launched EazeMD,
a telehealth app where consumers can consult with a doctor and get their
medical marijuana license remotely for a consultation fee of just $30. This type
of service reflects a growing trend towards mobile health led by companies
like Doctors-on-Demand. Ease has raised $12 million dollars to date, which it
will need to compete with the onslaught of competitors like Meadow who are also
bringing the best of mobile tech to the marijuana space.
Of course, for some, marijuana isn’t just a product but a culture. In a move that
suprised a sum total of no one, Snoop launched MerryJane.com as a lifestyle hub for content,
conversation, and commerce with Cannabis at the center. Snoop also launched Casa Verde
Ventures, a fund whose focus shows the full breadth that this new industry will
touch, including agriculture, R&D, payments and logistics, consumer retail, media, and
health and wellness. Unsurprisingly, the glut of new entrepreneurial activity is during
venture investors to take notice. Some of these funds are new, such as Gateway,
a new cannabis focused accelerator and coworking space based in Oakland.
In other cases, firms are adapting their investment theses to the new opportunity.
In January of 2015 Founders Fund, known for their investments in Facebook, SpaceX,
and Airbnb among others, invested as part of a $75 million dollar round
in marijuana holding company Privateer. Their tweet about the deal pretty much
summed up the general sentiment in the tech industry. Legal cannabis is
entirely new industry. It can't be stopped, it shouldn't be stopped, and yes,
of course we're investing. From e-commerce to new consumer products
technology and marijuana have only just begun to get cozy. For Partnered, I'm Jessie Pray.