HERB Raises $4.1M In VC Funding As It Becomes Everything Pot-Related

Online cannabis website HERB announced it has raised $4.1 million in seed funding as it expands into weed website covering everything related to pot.

According to a report in TechCrunch, the seed round of venture capital funding was led by Lerer Hippeau Ventures. Other investors which took part in the round include Slow Ventures, Buddy Media co-founder Michael Lazerow, Shiva Rajarama, Liquid 2 Ventures, Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke, Shopify COO Harley Finkelstein and Adam Zeplain.

“During our research into the cannabis industry, it became clear to both myself and our team at Liquid 2 Ventures that HERB was the most professionally-run business for relevant, informative cannabis content,” said Liquid 2 Ventures head and famed football player Joe Montana in the news TechCrunch statement.

HERB’s website is currently focused on articles and videos covering news in the marijuana industry, including how-to and educational content, with the site growing to 200 million video views each month. What’s more, HERB recently reached 5.3 million in unique viewers, reported TechCrunch.

Although HERB is viewed as a digital media company, the weed website’s owner Matt Gray said that is not the aim.

“We don’t see ourselves as just a website. We were always setting out to build a technology platform,” the executive said in the news report, noting HERB is aiming to transform into a website for “everything cannabis-related,” including purchasing pot from local businesses and having it delivered to a customer’s home in minutes.

Gray likened HERB to Uber and Airbnb as it wants to create a marketplace for consumers and purveyors of pot products.

“I think these laws are changing — it’s about time,” Gray said of the movement to legalize recreational use of cannabis. “And, as they change, HERB wants to be right there.”

While a weed store digital marketplace is down the road, HERB is currently adding new features like the development of profiles for local pot dispensaries.