The Silicon Valley version of that \u201cgreen rush\u201d\u009d looks a little different. It involves slick apps, software and founders who talk about big data and algorithms. AngelList, a website where micro start-ups can look for angel investors, lists more than 300 marijuana start-ups in the US \u201d\u201d half were founded this year, and a third of those are in California. (Examples include an Amazon for cannabis, a Kickstarter for cannabis, inventory management software and dozens of delivery companies.) Investments in marijuana-related companies have reached $200m over the past 12 months, quadruple the levels of the previous year, according to CB Insights, a venture capital database.<\/p>\n
This rush of funding has attracted software engineers such as Austin Heap, a veteran of some half-dozen start-ups. Heap didn\u2019t initially know much about the marijuana industry, other than being a medical marijuana consumer himself. He and a friend (now co-founder) started batting ideas about last autumn and came up with Potbox, a monthly subscription delivery service for organic, farm-to-table cannabis. They met their other co-founder, a 20-year veteran of the industry, because they had been using his marijuana delivery service.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels like a very normal start-up, it just happens to be cannabis,\u201d\u009d Heap told me, the day before their launch on July 8. Later that night, he would put the final touches on their social media accounts and website. \u201cHopefully at about 2:30 in the morning I will be a) still awake and b) getting Cloudflare in place, which will help us deal with any huge spikes in traffic,\u201d\u009d he explained with a geeky enthusiasm. \u201cI\u2019m largely tech focused.\u201d\u009d Heap says the huge investor interest in cannabis is \u201crefreshing\u201d\u009d after years of doing the venture capital dog-and-pony show. \u201cNo start-up I\u2019ve worked on has said no to so many investment requests. I think we have something the cannabis industry has never seen.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n