The Guardian takes a look at technology companies set to cash in on the changes ahead in the California medical marijuana market that could also potentially go fully legal next year. The article focuses on Eaze, the California-based cannabis delivery company that has scored more than $12mm in funding, but it also discusses its rivals, like Flow Kana, Meadow and GreenRush, as well as several other companies using technology to take advantage of the rapidly evolving trends in legal cannabis, including Cannabis Hemp Exchange, GrowBuddy, Leafly, MassRoots, Potbotics, and Weedmaps.
Eaze started in San Francisco in July 2014 but has since spread to more than 80 cities in California, mostly in the Bay Area. The separate service that connects patients with marijuana doctors over video was added this summer. The idea is that of Keith McCarty, an early employee of business social network Yammer, sold to Microsoft in 2012 for $1.2bn.
“Eaze is like the Uber of marijuana,” says McCarty. Drivers employed by a local medical marijuana dispensary cruise the streets with a set inventory in the back. When a patient selects a product online, Eaze algorithms alert the closest driver and ask them to make the delivery.
Read Zoë Corbyn’s “Dreaming of the billion-dollar high in California’s marijuana green rush”: http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/nov/06/california-marijuana-green-rush-billion-dollar-high
