Snoop Dogg in $10m investment to help marijuana startup Eaze create 50 jobs

The controversial drug-loving musician’s marijuana business fund was first announced in February. It was reported Casa Verde would not back the growth of the plant, focusing instead on the services element.

Snoop Dogg, real name Calvin Broadus, has now made his first move with the business by participating in the $10m funding round for San Francisco-based Eaze alongside DCM Ventures, Fresh VC and 500 Startups.

The company works with local drivers and dispensaries to facilitate the delivery of legalised medical marijuana across the city in 15 minutes, while it has plans to expand into LA, Denver and Seattle, according to the fleet section of the website.

The company was founded by Keith McCarty, who previously worked at enterprise social network Yammer, which was bought by Microsoft for $1.2bn in 2012. Having seemingly learned plenty from his time there, the new round of funding follows on from a $1.5m seed investment in November.

“We want to thank our early patients and partners in the San Francisco Bay Area who have contributed to our success to date. These major milestones are only possible with their support,” said CEO McCarty.

“The new funding enables us to expand rapidly by further developing our technology, building new dispensary partnerships and scaling our team for hyper-growth as we expand nationwide where marijuana is legal.”

The July 2014-launched business has already supported over 30,000 deliveries to verified patients through its platform. It now looks to enhance that by using the funding from Broadus and friends to appoint 50 new members of staff “across all lines of the business” as part of an “aggressive hiring effort”.

On the subject of what it’s like working for Eaze, the company said: “We’re using technology to redefine the way the world gets cannabis – and we want you to be a part of it. We value innovation, ownership and initiative. We thrive in the unknown. We push the limits.

“We also value diversity. A lot. Our team represents men and women of various ethnicities, cultures and backgrounds. We are unified by our passion for making this world a better place – and we are obsessed with winning”

Jobs available include customer support director, backend engineer, data scientist, legal analyst, finance VP, senior recruiter, brand manager, dispensary manager, business development executive, UX designer and plenty more.

David Chao, general partner with DCM Ventures, added: “With public sentiment and public policy aligning to broaden access and the cannabis market surging toward $100 billion, we believe there is a huge opportunity as the fast moving technology and cannabis industries intersect.

“We identified Eaze as the clear market leader with its robust technology offering, a seasoned executive team and demonstrated growth to date. We look forward to partnering with the team as they expand into new geographies.”

Snoop didn’t comment, though he’s continued to share his love of cannabis on social media during the proceedings.

By Zen Terrelonge

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