Launch HN: Nabis (YC W19) – Cannabis Shipping and Logistics

About two years ago when the legalization of recreational cannabis was pending in CA, we were excited as consumers to be able to try out a variety of products without having to get a medical card. While we knew that many more brands were coming to market, we discovered that there was a lack of supply chain infrastructure to support the growing demand. We started out driving our own personal vehicles across the state to help a friend ship his products just to learn more about how the supply chain was set up. We learned that brands were still predominantly self-distributing, since you can’t just Fedex cannabis products due to compliance restrictions. Apart from shipping, the lack of secure warehousing space, a ubiquitous cash-based payment system, and vague new regulatory language all created massive friction to building a sound and cost-effective supply chain for cannabis products.

Once we started shipping more orders than we could deliver ourselves, we hired a team and built out a web portal that automates the most tedious parts of our operations, especially with regards to compliance and paperwork for shipping, storing, and testing cannabis products. We wanted to help scale the growing cannabis industry that was about to legalize, and convert more of the illicit black market into the legal market.

When recreational legalization commenced in January 2018, we applied for our distribution license since that would allow us to continue building our business as the logistics backbone for the industry. We thought distribution was the best place to start as it sits right at the center of the supply chain as the final checkpoint before products are sold into the retail market. By scaling out distribution, we help drive down the costs for everyone in the industry due to the economies of scale that we can achieve by owning one set of infrastructure for multiple brands, rather than having each brand build out its own delivery and warehousing solution.

Today, Nabis tracks and delivers over 1,000 SKUs for nearly 40 of the largest brands to 90% of retail dispensaries in California. The data that we track gives us insights into the cannabis market as it continues to grow rapidly, providing data-driven metrics of what brands and product categories will perform best in the market. We want to continue to support as many products that consumers love by ensuring reliable shipping and logistics of products to retailers. By expanding our infrastructure and portfolio of brands, we’re hoping to achieve our ultimate goal of scaling cannabis access to the masses and become the widest distributor of cannabis products.

Thanks for reading and hope that you continue to support the legal cannabis market! We’re looking to build a community of technologists to grow a data-driven supply chain for the cannabis industry, so we’d love to talk to you if you’re interested in working with us. Also, if you're well-versed in logistics and working in regulatory landscapes, we'd love to hear from you. And we're very curious for feedback in general! Looking forward to comments, and you can also email us at founders@getnabis.com.