Leafly

Leafly is a website focused on cannabis use and education.[3] The company says it has more than 120 million annual visitors and over 10 million monthly active users.[4] Leafly provides a wide range of information on cannabis, including 1.5 million consumer product reviews, more than 9,000 cannabis articles and resources, and over 5,000 verified strains in its database.[4] Leafly additionally provides 4,500+ retailers and 8,000+ cannabis brands with e-commerce tools such as digital storefronts, embedded menus, point-of-sale integrations, targeted advertising, and more.[4] The company is headquartered in Seattle, Washington and from 2012 to 2019 was owned by Privateer Holdings, a private equity firm focused on the emerging legal cannabis industry.[5][6][7] Leafly is now a publicly traded company with 160 employees.[4]

Leafly
TypePublic
Nasdaq: LFLY
IndustryMedical & Adult Use Cannabis
FoundedIrvine, California, U.S. (June 13, 2010 (2010-06-13))
FoundersCy Scott
Scott Vickers
Brian Wansolich
HeadquartersSeattle, Washington, U.S.
Key people
Websitewww.leafly.com

History

Leafly was founded in June 2010 by Scott Vickers, Brian Wansolich, and Cy Scott.[8] The three Orange County engineers recognized the need for a legitimate strain resource and began to build Leafly as a side project to their jobs as web developers.[8][9][10] Privateer Holdings acquired the company in 2011, at which time Brendan Kennedy became the company's CEO.[11][12][13] Meanwhile, the original founders left to launch a new company named Headset.[14] By July 2011 the website had received about 180,000 unique visitors and was growing at 30 percent per month.[10] In April 2012, Leafly reported about 2.3 million monthly visits and approximately 50,000 mobile app downloads per month.[9][15] In June 2016, the company announced that it received more than 6 million monthly visitors and 31 million page views across its website and mobile applications. [16] On August 2, 2014, Leafly became the first cannabis company to place an advertisement in The New York Times. [17]

Leadership

On November 6, 2017, Privateer Holdings announced the appointment of Chris Jeffery as CEO; he was formerly co-founder of food delivery service OrderUp,[18] He was replaced in 2018, .[19]

On March 4, 2019, the firm appointed former vice president of Amazon Prime Video International Tim Leslie as its CEO.[20][21] He was replaced on August 18, 2020 by Yoko Miyashita, formerly the firm's General Counsel. [22]

Business model

Leafly generates revenue by selling online display advertising and priority dispensary listing packages to companies in the cannabis industry.[9][23] Display advertising campaigns are sold on a Cost Per Impression model.[8][9] More than 4.5 million orders are placed with businesses on Leafly each year, generating $460 million in gross merchandise value (GMV) annually for Leafly partnered retailers.[4]

Use

Leafly has three primary functions:

Strain explorer

Patients and consumers use Leafly to search for cannabis strains according to medical use, such as anxiety or nausea, and desired effects, like euphoria or creativity.[9][24] Relevant strains are then presented in a format similar to the periodic table. The table is color coded to identify whether the strain is sativa, indica, or a hybrid of both.[10][25]

Dispensary locator

Patients can use their zip codes or city and state names to search for dispensaries, which are then displayed on a map of the area. The dispensary profiles include menus, reviews, photos, and store locations.[25][26][13]

Reviews

Leafly users can write reviews of strains and products they have tried or dispensaries they have visited. For dispensaries and products, reviews consist of a brief comment section and a star rating system that is based on medication, service, and atmosphere. Strain reviews include desirable effects, attributes, and summary information.[26][15][12]

Mobile access

Leafly has mobile applications for iOS and Android devices.[25][27][28][8][10] In 2021, the company launched a new iOS app that enables iPhone and iPad users to place pickup orders for cannabis in legal state markets.[29]

Statistics
  • 220 million annual sessions[4]
  • 10+ million monthly active users[4]
  • 5,000+ strains in the Leafly database, sorted alphabetically and categorized by indica, sativa, and hybrid[4]
  • 1.5 million product reviews[4]
  • 9,000+ cannabis articles and resources[4]
  • 4,500+ retailers online with Leafly[4]
  • 8,000+ brands online with Leafly[4]
  • 4.5 million orders placed annually[4]
  • $460 million GMV[4]

References
  1. "Tim Leslie Out as CEO of Leafly After 18 Months".
  2. "General Counsel Miyashita supplants Leslie as CEO at marijuana firm Leafly". 18 August 2020.
  3. "Leafly: the web's ultimate cannabis resource". Engadget. Retrieved 2021-07-14.
  4. "About". Leafly. Retrieved 2021-07-14.
  5. Eric Mortenson (January 25, 2013). "Investors and entrepreneurs have high expectations - sorry - for cannabis related businesses". Oregon Live. Retrieved March 26, 2013.
  6. "Privateer Holdings Team". Privateer Holdings. Archived from the original on March 16, 2013. Retrieved March 26, 2013.
  7. Wagreich, Samuel (2013-02-25). "Meet the Man Funding the Cannabis Industry". Inc.com. Retrieved 2021-07-14.
  8. Dorbian, Iris. "Just In Time For Canada Day, Leafly Expands Order And Delivery System To Country". Forbes. Retrieved 2021-07-14.
  9. Taylor Soper (October 31, 2012). "Leafly: Like Yelp and Consumer Reports... for medical marijuana". GeekWire. Retrieved March 26, 2013.
  10. Downs, David (July 6, 2011). "Leafly.com Classes Up The Joint". East Bay Express.
  11. Carole Bass (December 7, 2012). "Joint venture: these Yale MBAs want to put pot in every pot". Yale Alumni Magazine. Retrieved March 26, 2013.
  12. "Groups waiting to cash in on pot sales in Washington". Fox 12 KPTV. February 14, 2013. Retrieved March 26, 2013.
  13. Kim Murphy (December 9, 2012). "Plenty of smoke clouds the future of legalized pot in Washington". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 26, 2013.
  14. "Leafly founders depart, raise cash for new marijuana business intelligence startup". GeekWire. 2015-08-10. Retrieved 2018-07-09.
  15. "The Audacity of Dope". The Economist. February 16, 2013. Retrieved March 26, 2013.
  16. "Leafly: the web's ultimate cannabis resource". Engadget. AOL.
  17. Tom Huddleston Jr. (2 August 2014). "Marijuana advertiser finds a friend in The New York Times". Fortune.
  18. "Leafly Hires New CEO Chris Jeffery". Retrieved 2018-07-09.
  19. Schaneman, Bart (September 26, 2018). "Cannabis company Leafly removes CEO over company management 'concerns'". Marijuana Business Daily. Marijuana Business Daily. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
  20. "Former Amazon Exec Tim Leslie Takes Over Leafly's C-Suite". finance.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2019-03-07.
  21. Phartiyal, Sankalp (2018-03-12). "Amazon video service looking to expand Indian regional content". Reuters. Retrieved 2021-07-14.
  22. "Meet Yoko Miyashita, CEO of Leafly". Leafly newsroom. 2019-10-01. Retrieved 2021-07-14.
  23. "The business of selling pot...legally". Marketplace. 2012-12-27. Retrieved 2021-07-14.
  24. "Investors see profit potential in new pot law". The Seattle Times. 2012-12-01. Retrieved 2021-07-14.
  25. Crook, Jordan (April 20, 2012). "Got Pot? Leafly Can Help". TechCrunch.
  26. Deborah L. Jacobs (December 9, 2012). "Postcard from Seattle: New Clouds Hand Over The City As Pot Becomes Legal". Forbes. Retrieved March 26, 2013.
  27. Downs, David (February 23, 2012). "Medical marijuana apps on the rise". Sacramento News & Review.
  28. Kirsten Johnson (December 14, 2012). "Obama's hands-off stance may move marijuana businesses forward". Puget Sound Business Journal. Retrieved March 26, 2013.
  29. "Leafly Launches iPhone App to Purchase From Cannabis Dispensaries Online". Benzinga. 2021-08-31. Retrieved 2021-10-22.
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