Snoop Dogg, media entrepreneur launching marijuana business

Cannabis business owners will have another way to reach potential customers beginning next month, courtesy of rapper Snoop Dogg and media entrepreneur Ted Chung.

The two have teamed up to launch a website called Merry Jane, which will focus on providing content for marijuana users but will also aim to serve as a commerce hub for the cannabis industry.

Chung – a Wharton School of Business graduate who founded a media business in Los Angeles – and Snoop Dogg announced the new company at this week’s TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco.

They described Merry Jane as an online destination for marijuana users that will feature editorial and video content, such as celebrity interviews, a cooking show and reviews of different cannabis strains.

The site – which is scheduled to officially launch in October – will also feature information about marijuana products and dispensary/recreational cannabis store listings, relying in part on advertising from cannabis companies to generate revenue.

The venture has some big-name backers and partners, including investor and talent manager Guy Oseary and actor Seth Rogen, according to the Guardian. An investment firm Chung and Snoop Dogg started – Casa Verde Capital – is behind the effort as well. The firm previously invested money in Eaze, a medical marijuana delivery service in California.

Snoop Dogg is also a partner in Grenco Science, which manufactures vaporizers. The rapper designed a few of the products himself and has allowed his name to be used on some of them.