Update by Chris Leo Palermino on 4/20 to include news about potential Canadian expansion.
Eaze, a San Francisco-based marijuana-delivery startup launched last summer, has raised $10 million from investors, according to Business Insider, and Snoop Dogg’s Casa Verde Capital is one of the investors (alongside DCM Ventures, 500 Startups and Fresh VC).
Currently, the start-up, which links medical marijuana patients in the Bay Area with pot dispensaries, advertises delivery within 10 minutes. The additional funds will help expand the platform into more legal marijuana markets, including Nevada, Arizona, Washington, Colorado and Oregon.
The app, which been marketed as an ‘Uber for weed,’ provides both a driver-side app and a consumer-facing app to make deliveries. It highlights the most popular products — including flowers, edibles and concentrates — for consumers to purchase and then allows drivers the option to make the delivery based on location and product availability. One downside of its current version is its lack of a digital payment system, though, as it requires users to pay in cash.
It’s the second funding round for Eaze, which was founded by Yammer employee Keith McCarty and initially raised $1.5 million in seed funding in November 2014.
As a mounting list of states legalize marijuana, investors have been quick to back pot-fueled startups. Seattle-based marijuana firm Privateer Holdings, known for Bob Marley-branded weed, recently finished up a $75 million funding round for weed startups.
Eaze says that it’s made 30,000 weed deliveries since its launch and it has big expansion plans. The company hopes to hire 50 people in the next 50 days. “The plan is to be in every market as quickly as possible that allows for medical marijuana and even recreational use of marijuana,” said McCarty to Qz.
And, just in time for the unofficial pot holiday, Eaze announced aspirations of expanding to Vancouver (and elsewhere in Canada). “We are definitely interested in bringing Eaze to Vancouver and Canada overall,” said Eaze spokesperson Caroline Vespi to CBC via email. “We don’t have a timeframe yet.” The company further notes that potential customers should sign up on its website so it can “prioritize expansion based on customer needs.”
If they do expand to Vancouver, city officials may not be so happy, though. According to CBC, the Vancouver city government is ‘scrambling’ to regulate the expanding medical marijuana business in the city. There are currently 80 medical marijuana dispensaries in the city, all of which will have a new mobile delivery service if Eaze joins the fold.
Looks like the clock is ticking for shady drug dealers on the west side.
