EXCLUSIVE: Uber Says Delivering Cannabis In Partnership With Leafly Is A Natural Extension Of Its Business

Uber Eats teamed up with Leafly last year to deliver cannabis directly to the homes of customers in Canada, marking the first time cannabis delivery became available on a major third-party delivery platform.

Uber Technologies Inc UBER lawyer Ryan MacIsaac and Leafly Holdings Inc LFLY CEO Yoko Miyashita detailed some of their journey Tuesday at the Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference in Miami Beach. 

Grass In A Flash: The biggest challenge for a company like Leafly has been winning customers. And it's not just about getting people who haven't tried cannabis to take the leap, it's also about figuring out how to convert consumers in the unlicensed market to the legal space, Miyashita said. 

Most consumers shop on their mobile devices, so the partnership with Uber allowed Leafly to meet its market where they already shopped, making it as easy as possible for people to purchase products.

For a company the size of Uber, the motive behind its foray into cannabis isn't as immediately clear, but MacIsaac said it's a natural extension of Uber's platform, which allows its users to "go anywhere and get anything delivered." 

Leafly already knew the retail space and understood the regulatory landscape in Canada, which made the company a great partner for Uber. Uber is flush with data and brought it to the table for Leafly. 

Leafly's Miyashita said that "between their expertise in delivery and consumer demand, between our expertise in cannabis selection and the science behind it, I'm really excited about where we can go together."

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Uber, Leafly Grow Together: The companies are about six months into their partnership and excited about what the future holds, the execs said. They even highlighted some surprises they were met with along the way.

The Leafly CEO told the Benzinga Cannabis Conference crowd that she was surprised by the challenge of translating the complexity of cannabis to the non-cannabis world. 

MacIsaac agreed, noting that you can't assume that anyone knows anything. But he found himself pleasantly surprised by how welcoming of Uber the cannabis sector has been.

He looked up at the crowd and said, "You are all just a very welcoming group of people, society, culture, and that's been very wonderful to experience."

A lot of what lies ahead hinges on how the regulatory landscape unfolds across various governments around the world, but Leafly and Uber are embracing the challenge and remain optimistic about what's to come. 

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Photo by Quentin Dupree.