The cannabis-delivery company that once said it planned to deliver $1 billion worth of cannabis in 2020 is now headed for a much smaller target: less than $500 million.
Eaze Technologies Inc. will sell roughly $412 million worth of pot across its platform in 2020, based on documents obtained by MarketWatch, a fraction of the audacious expectations in the company’s previous funding round. The fresh documents are part of a fundraising round in which Eaze is attempting to raise up to $50 million with a fully diluted pre-money valuation of between $350 million and $400 million.
“There is overwhelming interest to have us come in and talk about the deal,” David Mack, Eaze’s senior vice president of communications, told MarketWatch by phone. “We’re not going to comment on the financials.”
Privately held Eaze at its core is delivery technology, offering on-demand service in dozens of large markets across California. It’s in something of an enviable position as a delivery platform — restrictive local laws have limited the number of bricks-and-mortar retail stores, allowing Eaze to satisfy demand away from pot shops and grow into one of the largest distribution platforms in the state.
Eaze scaling back its ambitious projections comes amid somewhat of a reckoning in the cannabis sector. Pot companies have made bold promises about the riches they will obtain selling weed, but the first batches of earnings have largely disappointed investors — Tilray Inc. TLRY, -0.36% Aurora Cannabis Inc. ACB, +3.28% ACB, +2.99% and Aphria Inc. APHA, +4.05% APHA, +3.27% have all fallen from the Oct. 17 highs they enjoyed. And recently, Corona-maker Constellation Brands Inc. STZ, +0.78% ousted the co-chief executive of the world’s largest pot company, Canopy Growth Corp. CGC, +2.98% WEED, +2.34% because it is looking to transform the pot company’s startup-like mentality.
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That appears to be happening among privately held companies too. During this round of fundraising, Eaze did not provide the gross transaction value projections for 2020 that were included as a rough equivalent in the last round, though it did offer a projected gross transaction value of $205 million for 2019.
According to the documents, gross transaction value is the total value of transactions, including all fees to service providers.
Eaze’s sales are still growing strongly, according to financial information in the documents, but nowhere close to the rate it needed to reach its $1 billion projection. In the fourth quarter of 2018, the gross transaction value moving across its platform was $36 million, up from $15.2 million in the first quarter.
Eaze’s gross transaction value appears to be roughly three times projected revenue in 2019, suggesting that the company’s 2020 gross transaction value will be far less than $500 million.
The company’s revenue rose 83% to $8.8 million in the fourth quarter from $4.8 million in the first quarter, according to the materials.
Eaze’s losses are growing at an even more rapid pace, however. When MarketWatch received Eaze’s previous investor deck in 2017, the company was losing roughly $1 million a month. That rate has roughly tripled, with operating losses — “net burn,” according to the documents — of $13.1 million in the fourth quarter, widening from $11.7 million in the first quarter.
See also: The startup burning $1 million a month in hopes of selling $1 billion of pot a year
The San Francisco-based company recently began delivery tech services in Oregon as it looks to expand. As a part of the current 2020 projections, Eaze plans to launch in Michigan, Florida, Arizona and Colorado, according to the materials. It also offers an online shop for cannabidiol, or CBD, products that it ships to dozens of states.
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The documents show Eaze is projecting it will bank second-quarter 2019 sales of $15.9 million, up from $10.7 million in the first quarter. For full-year 2020, it projects revenue of $68.9 million.
The company’s bankers are marketing shares for $8.02 to $9.16 each, according to the documents.
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