Hub for craft cannabis
Flow Kana expands marijuana facility in Mendocino County
When Michael Steinmetz started buying cannabis from off-the-grid farmers three years ago, he never imagined that his garage operation would grow into an 100,000-square-foot facility, placed comfortably among the farmers he works with in Mendocino County.
Now, the founder of Flow Kana, a San Francisco company that distributes and sells small-batch marijuana to dispensaries across the state, is working to transform the plant into a home for processing and manufacturing, and even cannabis tourism.
He calls it the Flow Cannabis Institute. It used to be a winery, a connection Steinmetz plays up.
“The same grape-towine idea is happening here,” said Steinmetz. “But with cannabis.”
The company was recently trending on Crunchbase after raising a $22 million investment round led by New York’s Gotham Green Partners.
Steinmetz says the money will help it move from processing marijuana to manufacturing related products, like vape pens and cannabis oils.
“We’re trying to expand and give our product more avenues,” said Steinmetz. “It seems the industry is moving more toward vaping products.”
Flow Kana plans to open more distribution hubs for easier access to the urban dispensaries that sell its products.
The Apothecarium, a marijuana dispensary, carries Flow Kana’s product in all three of its San Francisco locations.
“We’re the boutique experience, they’re the artisan cannabis,” said Marina store manager Michael Caruso.
Small farmers, Caruso said, “build the backbone of California’s cannabis.”
Customers like Flow Kana’s product, he said, though they don’t always remember the name. “People come in all the time, and they ask for those little dark jars with some very specific branding,” he said.
Deal of the week: StudyBlue
What it does: StudyBlue is a website that houses more than 400 million flash cards, notes and study guides for students and teachers. What happened: Chegg, a larger online education company, bought StudyBlue for $20.8 million. StudyBlue will become a Chegg service. Why it matters: Chegg will tap into StudyBlue’s extensive flash card collection, and make the website free by this fall. Chegg, which is primarily known for offering conventional and online textbooks, says this will help it serve more students. Headquarters: San Francisco
Funding: $22.4 million, according to Crunchbase Employees: 11 to 50, according to Crunchbase; Chegg declined to say how many employees would move over.
Also trending: Crave
What it does: Crave is a company that creates discreet sex toys and vibrators with a modern design approach. What happened: Its “Build-A-Vibrator” truck has been making appearances at Pride Parades across California. Why it matters: Michael Topolovac, the company’s co-founder, says that “pleasure is this big part of the human experience, yet there’s judgment with using these products. We’re trying to change that to make people own their own pleasure.” Headquarters: San Francisco Funding: $3.7 million, according to Crunchbase Employees: One to 10, according to Crunchbase