Jane Technologies is not the Amazon of marijuana. Jane Technologies is the Shopify for weed. This distinction is important. Jane Technologies is attempting something stronger, while other startups are trying to create a destination market like Amazon. Jane Technologies is developing the backends to allow dispensaries to quickly take their cannabis offerings online. The company currently accounts for 20% of legal cannabis sales in the United States. Jane Technologies believes that the future of cannabis doesn't lie in one place like Amazon. Jane wants to help local dispensaries sell weed online.
Today, the company announces a $100 million Series C financing round. This brings the company's total raised since its inception in 2015 to $130million. Honor Ventures led the round. Jeffrey Housenbold, founding Managing Partner, joined Jane Technologies' board of directors.
Jane Technologies plans to use the extra capital to expand its digital footprint and to strengthen its teams in multiple areas of operation. Jane Technologies plans to add new features and expand the product range for both large and small cannabis businesses.
As consumers' expectations change, online cannabis retail sales are rapidly becoming the norm. Jane provides a turn-key solution for building a strong online presence.
Jane Technologies CEO and co-founder Socrates Rosenfeld is quick to highlight Jane's current position. It has been a long process. He told TechCrunch that it was a bet that Jane Technologies made in 2015. It is a prediction that the future of ecommerce will not be a marketplace but total digitization.
Rosenfeld stated that we are seeing the next chapter in e-commerce's future, and not only in the cannabis industry. He also said that it is possible to see the future across other retail verticals such as alcohol, convenience goods, and restaurants. The local establishments now have some digital connective tissue to their community. I don't think there is a more difficult environment than the cannabis sector. Although I am proud of our team, we still have a lot to do. But that is because we were able to raise this [$100,000,000].
Many people often mention that cannabis was one the losers of the COVID-19 epidemic. As the world was shut down, sales rose. Jane Technologies internal statistics provide more support. Their data shows that only 17% of legal cannabis sales took place online before the pandemic. However, online sales soared to 52% during the pandemic. Jane Technologies now estimates that online sales make up 38% of all legal cannabis transactions.
Rosenfeld stated that Jane had $100 million in total transactions volume in 2019, with one million users on the platform and 1,000 dispensaries. The company expects to reach $3.5 billion in total transactions volume by 2021. It is currently working with 2,100 dispensaries across Canada. The company's impressive feat of almost doubling the number products on its product database is even more impressive. It now has 700,000 products, up from 350,000. This shows a significant increase in the variety of cannabis products that are available to consumers.
Rosenfeld stated that it was an extremely lucky thing to have been born in a cannabis industry without a direct consumer market. We had to find a way to tie the consumer and retailer together. We could not do this by shipping products directly to consumers, nor could we compete against retailers; we had to partner with them to offer powerful e-commerce enablement tools.
Jane Technologies was last month partnered with High Tide, its first Canadian retailer. Jane Roots was launched two months ago by Jane Technologies, an all-in-one ecommerce platform that allows dispensaries the freedom to concentrate on front-end design and Jane handles the retail integrations.
Housenbold released a statement saying that in the 25 years of my experience working with ecommerce companies, very few have been able to become global platforms. Jane is the perfect candidate to be the next eBay or Shopify. Their platform is a win-win situation for everyone involved. Consumers, retailers, and brands all benefit. Jane will be the leading service provider in building the future of cannabis commerce globally. I am excited to see Socrates and his team create an incredible company that is a great place for work and a trusted brand.
