Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz is also investing big in the e-commerce platform that better enables dispensaries to handle and fulfill orders online.
The Oregon-based Dutchie, an e-commerce platform transforming how marijuana dispensaries facilitate orders online, has raised $35 million in its latest round of funding.
The soaring startup has attracted noteworthy investors including former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, NBA superstar Kevin Durant, and, in a sure sign that Dutchie is sitting on green gold, hip-hop icon (and our fearless leader), Snoop Dogg.
Since launching in 2017, Dutchie has steadily morphed into a cannabis e-commerce monster. Currently, Dutchie services 25 percent of all legal dispensaries in North America and, more even mind-boggling, 10 percent of all legal weed sales worldwide.
The coronavirus, while horrible for humanity, has proven to be a boon for Dutchie. The company reports a 700 percent sales surge since the pandemic took hold, leading to a forecast of processing $2.4 billion in sales for this year. They also recently celebrated processing their 10 millionth order.
Those numbers make sense. In these wicked times, weed is even more essential than ever. That also means having an easy and convenient way to select, purchase, and pick up cannabis under the conditions of our new normal are equally important. That’s where Dutchie comes in.
“Consumers are stocking up on cannabis like other non-perishable goods, and businesses have to offer alternative services to meet their needs,” Dutchie CEO Ross Lipson told GeekWire. “We’re seeing adoption rates for online orders, curbside pickup, and delivery soaring through the roof with widespread ‘stay at home’ orders.”
Lipson comes from an e-commerce background. In 2008, he created GrubCanada, one of the country’s first online food ordering services. He said the idea for Dutchie struck him while he was waiting in line at a dispensary. Lipson also added that he’s thrilled to have Snoop on board, referring to the Doggfather as a “cannabis pioneer.”
Snoop’s co-investor Kevin Durant is also no stranger to the realms of high finance and good weed.
Last year, the Slim Reaper officially joined the board of Canopy Rivers, an investment firm spun off of Canadian cannabis company Canopy Growth. More recently, Durant guested on Showtime’s “All The Smoke” podcast, where he called for full legalization of marijuana — beginning with the NBA.
“We start getting people out of jail for marijuana. That’s the next step,” Durant said. “And just keep going. But it’s a plant that’s put here for a reason, and that’s to bring us together. Hopefully [reform] happens, especially in the NBA.”
In the meantime, Dutchie plans to use some of that Snoop and KD cash to double its workforce from 102 employees by the end of next year and even assemble teams that will work fully remotely. “One of our biggest uses with our new funding will be to recruit top talent from a variety of industries to help us further define the overall cannabis consumer experience,” Lipson said.
Get in while the getting is good — and going green.
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