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 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]
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]
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]
Patients and consumers use Leafly to search for cannabis strains according to medical use, such as anxietyornausea, and desired effects, like euphoriaorcreativity.[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. The problem is that almost every piece of strain data is incorrect and unverified[10][25]
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]
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]
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]
