Dutchie Rebrands With Lofty Goals for the Future of Cannabis

Cannatech player Dutchie, a commerce platform for cannabis, was considered enough of a scrappy startup last winter to be featured at Adweek’s Challenger Brand Summit, alongside buck-the-status-quo newcomers like Uncle Nearest, Dame and Imperfect Foods. But since then, the Oregon-based firm has landed two massive funding rounds—$200 million in March and $350 million last week—for a valuation that’s doubled this autumn, rocketing to $3.7 billion. A bootstrapped underdog no more, the company is unveiling a rebrand this week that takes advantage of its current headline-grabbing visibility. And the move has much loftier goals than simply showing off a new logo, website and color scheme. Cannabis is good for humanity, and we’re ready to step up as a leader in the industry.—Devon Herrington, head of marketing, Dutchie Dutchie’s revamp, with its public unveiling party today at a key cannabis trade show, aims to battle outdated stereotypes and advocate aggressively for the exploding $24 billion legal weed industry in the U.S. “Our core belief is that cannabis is good for humanity, and we’re ready to step up as a leader in the industry,” Devon Herrington, Dutchie’s head of marketing and a former Twitch executive, told Adweek. “We intend to be vocal, help shape the narrative and accelerate the industry’s move forward, and open people’s minds to the good cannabis can do.” Dutchie’s new look, intended to portray the company as “more inclusive and inviting,” according to Herrington, includes the brand’s first tagline, “Grow Together,” and a top-tier sponsorship of MJBizCon, a major weed convention in Las Vegas that marks a pivotal return to large-scale live events for the industry. “We hadn’t spent a ton of time and effort on our branding—we’ve grown organically—and it was in need of an evolution,” Zach Lipson, co-founder and chief product officer, said. “Now we have a vehicle that can take us into the future.” Money magnets Dutchie isn’t the only red-hot brand in the cannatech space. Popular cannabis marketplace Weedmaps went public this year via SPAC (initial valuation $1.5 billion) and Jane Technologies raised $100 million in August. Meanwhile, competitors like Leafly, Flowhub and others are getting attention, and cash infusions, from the kind of white-shoe Wall Street investment firms that previously shied away from the category. Casa Verde Capital, which counts hip-hop icon and cannapreneur Snoop Dogg as a founder, was the first Dutchie investor, returning again for the most recent round which will allow the startup to “empower the cannabis economy,” according to Karan Wadhera, managing partner. Cannatech companies like Dutchie typically provide ecommerce infrastructure to dispensaries in the tightly regulated area, helping retailers streamline their operations, track inventory, process orders, retain customers and, crucially, stay compliant with a shifting patchwork of legal guidelines. They also serve as cannabis marketplaces where consumers can browse and discover products, place orders and request pickups and deliveries. Dutchie powers point-of-sale and ecommerce purchasing for dispensaries. The lure of non-plant-touching companies Dutchie, which has doubled its employee headcount to 500 and amassed a $603 million war chest to date, processes $14 billion in cannabis sales annually, working with 5,000 dispensaries in the U.S. and Canada. Mainstream investors, initially wary of the volatile and federally illegal category overall, have especially warmed to the “non-plant-touching” businesses in cannatech (meaning those that don’t grow or sell cannabis). “Once someone made the first move, it opened the door for others,” Wadhera said. “It’s not a frenzy, but people have started to take notice, and destigmatization is in full effect.” Sweeping legalization Companies like Dutchie, Fyllo and others have grown exponentially as legalization has continued to sweep the country, with 36 states plus Washington, D.C., approving medical marijuana sales and 18 (and D.C.) allowing (or soon to allow) recreational sales. Meanwhile, cannabis sales in the U.S. are expected to climb to $43 billion by 2025, per New Frontier Data. Against that backdrop, Dutchie hired San Francisco-based Character to handle its rebrand, a six-month collaborative effort intended to “challenge stigma and change perception” of the broader cannabis industry, according to Max Amato, Character’s design director. Character, which has worked with emerging Silicon Valley brands like DoorDash and legacy players such as Levi’s, didn’t focus solely on buffing Dutchie’s image and reworking its visual identity. “The brief was: unpack what it means to rebrand cannabis,” Ben Pham, co-founder and creative director of Character, told Adweek, noting the “rare and exciting” challenge and its intended result. “They don’t look like a cannabis company or a dispensary company,” Pham said. “They look like a tech company that just happens to be in the cannabis business.” This Year's 4/20 Made It Clear: Cannabis Fans Want Delivery and Ecommerce