Snoop Dogg Invests in Marijuana Delivery Startup ‘Eaze’

Donald Traill/Invision/AP
Donald Traill/Invision/AP

Snoop Dogg wants a piece of the burgeoning legal marijuana market for himself.

The rapper’s Casa Verde investment outfit contributed to a $10 million fundraising round for the San Francisco-based marijuana delivery app Eaze, according to Business Insider.

Eaze, often called the “Uber of weed,” allows users to get fresh marijuana delivered straight to their door through an easy-to-use mobile interface. According to Quartz, the company has made 30,000 weed deliveries since its launch in July of last year. The company touts a standard delivery time of 20 minutes or less.

Eaze’s latest fundraising round was led by DCM Ventures, a venture capital firm that injected $1.5 million in seed money (get it?) into the company when it first launched last year. Kyle Lui, a principal at DCM, told Quartz that his firm is comfortable investing in a company that provides consumers the technology to access marijuana, not the marijuana itself.

“At the time we invested in the seed, we had a thesis the medical marijuana market would continue to grow, and from a regulatory perspective, it would move toward deregulation,” Lui told Quartz. “Things accelerated much faster than we had anticipated.”

Eaze is looking to capitalize on that acceleration; the company reportedly plans to hire 50 new employees in 50 days, and wants to serve even more customers with a 15-minute delivery guarantee.

“The plan is to be in every market as quickly as possible that allows for medical marijuana and even recreational use of marijuana,” Eaze founder Keith McCarty told Quartz. Marijuana is currently legal for recreational use in Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska, while a handful of other states consider legalization measures of their own.

Snoop Dogg is hardly the only musician getting in on the ground floor of the marijuana market. Privateer Holdings, a venture capital firm investing exclusively in marijuana, closed out a $75 million fundraising round last week that will help it develop Marley Natural, a brand of cannabis and related products created in conjunction with the late reggae superstar Bob Marley’s family.

Meanwhile, legendary country singer and cannabis enthusiast Willie Nelson is set to launch Willie’s Reserve sometime next year. The venture will include Nelson’s own brand of marijuana as well as a chain of retail stores in which to sell it.

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.