News

Passing $35 million to Dutchie

Published on August 26, 2020 by oz. staff

Cannabis e-commerce platform Dutchie has pulled in $35 million in new funding from some heavy hitters in business, including Starbucks’ founder.

The Oregon-based company lists hundreds of retail stores in cities throughout Canada, including in the Okanagan, as well as parts of the U.S.

“Joining us as investors are Howard Schultz (founder of Starbucks) and Thrive Capital (investor in Spotify, Instagram, Slack and more),” Dutchie announced.

It will be using the funds to rapidly scale up.

“We’ll also be building more innovative features for our dispensaries and will now be able to do it even quicker.”

Dutchie founder, Ross Lipson, built and sold GrubCanada.com.

The time is ripe for e-commerce and cannabis. The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed some provinces, including B.C., to change cannabis policies to allow for online payment to limit contact. Dutchie said it’s seen a huge surge in online transactions.

Timeline

Dutchie launched in July 2017 in Bend, Ore., with three local dispensaries.

By September 2018, the company was up to 50 stores, and it closed $3-million in funding from Casa Verde Capital, hip-hop legend Snoop Dogg’s venture firm, and other high profile angel investors.

In 2019, it had grown to 245 stores in nine markets, and closed on $15 million to fuel further growth and expansion.

In summer 2020, Dutchie has become a market leader with 1,300 stores in 32 markets.

It now processes 10% of all legal cannabis in the world.