• Eaze

  Participated · Series B · Oct 2016

  Eaze Inc. announced a relaunch of multi-state cannabis operations after acquiring select assets from Eaze Technologies Inc. The company operates retail stores, scheduled delivery services, and private-label product lines and will reopen 70 locations across California, Colorado, Florida, and Michigan (57 retail stores, 11 delivery hubs, two production facilities). Leadership under Cory Azzalino plans to expand retail and delivery capacity, scale production (including doubling Florida flowering canopy from 32,000 to 64,000 square feet), and hire more than 1,000 operational employees. Eaze said it has a 10-year operating history through Eaze Technologies Inc., which completed over $1 billion in deliveries. The company will allocate the new funding to strengthen supply chain and customer experience, support brand and product innovation at Green Dragon locations, and build new brand partnerships and market-specific offerings. Eaze emphasized minimizing disruption for customers, patients, and vendors during the operational transition. Eaze operates an online marketplace that connects adult consumers with licensed cannabis retailers and products across California. The company is pursuing a verticalization and brand strategy, planning to launch its own consumer brands in partnership with local licensees while continuing to support independent licensed retailers. In January Eaze acquired DionyMed Brand’s rights to retail licensee Hometown Heart depots in Oakland and San Francisco and now oversees HTH’s day-to-day operations. The company reported strong 2019 growth, including a 97% increase in new sign-ups, 74% increase in first-time deliveries, and 71% increase in overall deliveries. Eaze says it has supported over five million legal deliveries, has 600,000 registered customers, and features more than 100 licensed brands through its retail network. The company also announced promotions of Megan Miller to COO and John Curtis to CFO as it pursues a more sustainable and profitable business model. Eaze operates an online marketplace that historically connected customers with third‑party dispensaries and handled delivery of cannabis products. It has completed more than 5 million deliveries, served 600,000 customers, and reports an average transaction value of $85. To date Eaze has expanded beyond California only into Oregon and says it aims to add five more states this year and another three in 2021. Facing thin margins, payment‑processing constraints, lawsuits and late vendor payments, Eaze is pivoting to “verticalization” — sourcing and branding its own products and operating owned delivery depots to increase margins. The company is acquiring assets from bankrupt Canadian firm Dionymed, including Oakland dispensary Hometown Heart, which it plans to operate as its first owned depot. Eaze projects $204 million in revenue on $300 million of gross transactions and says its take per sale could rise from $9.04 to $18.31 with private‑label products and depot control. Its cash reserves are reportedly depleted: the startup laid off about 30 people last summer, closed a $15 million bridge to stay afloat, and faces the risk of missing payroll or having services like AWS shut down. Eaze operates a proprietary software platform that connects California medical‑marijuana patients with local dispensaries and arranges delivery to customers' doors. The company is moving into recreational marijuana delivery ahead of California's planned issuance of recreational licenses beginning in 2018, expecting a new revenue stream. Eaze reports a 300 percent year‑over‑year increase in gross sales but has been burning at least $1 million in cash per month. It previously raised $24.5 million in venture capital and has spent that capital largely on aggressive marketing and growth tactics. New CEO Jim Patterson, who took over in December 2016, frames the strategy as investing heavily now to capture a large future market. The company had roughly 80 employees at the time of reporting. Eaze is an on-demand platform that lets medical marijuana patients order cannabis for delivery and obtain a medical weed card in California over the phone. Since launching in July 2014, the company says it's available in nearly 100 California cities (including about 20 Bay Area cities) and has delivered to more than 200,000 people. Eaze operates a data-driven platform designed to streamline ordering and dispensary operations. It plans to hire additional staff, expand into new markets as more states legalize marijuana, and build features to recommend strains to users. Eaze aims to establish itself as a recognized delivery brand inside and outside California to capture growth in a market projected to expand significantly.

No current team members are available.