BuzzFeed investor leads $3M funding for marijuana tech firm

Women, minority execs show few gains in U.S. cannabis industry, according to the latest data from the MJBiz Diversity, Inclusion and Equity Report. Get your copy here.


A cannabis-focused e-commerce platform has netted $3 million in funding that was led by a venture capital firm that has made early investments in several non-marijuana companies, including the popular news website Buzzfeed.

LeafLink, a New York-based wholesale management platform for cannabis businesses, will use the money to expand its B2B platform into newly legal markets, including California, Nevada, and Oregon, the company said in a press release.

LeafLink launched in March 2016 and is live in Colorado and Washington.

Lerer Hippeau Ventures led the funding. In addition to Buzzfeed, the New York-based venture capital firm has invested in the mattress company Caspar, the insurance company Oscar Health and Doctor on Demand, a virtual medical practice. LeafLink is the firm’s first cannabis-related investment, the news release said.

Other investors included Casa Verde Capital, the investment firm founded by Snoop Dogg; Phyto Partners, a canna-centric venture capital firm in Boca Raton, Florida; and Wisdom VC, which invests in “planetary health and human well-being.”

The raise also included Paul Ciriello and Wan Li Zhu, the founder of and a partner, respectively, in Fairhaven Capital in Boston. Fairhaven has made only one other cannabis investment.

To date, LeafLink has raised more than $4 million in capital, including a previous angel round of $1 million that closed in December 2015.