Hoodie Analytics Archives - Green Market Report

StaffApril 8, 2022

Wes Shepherd, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Hoodie

Wes Shepard is Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Hoodie. Hoodie tracks over 3.5MM daily unique offers in over 8,000+ dispensaries in the US & Canada, making Hoodie the largest and most impactful platform for next day insights into leading sales metrics such as cannabis pricing, promotion, stocking status, distribution and share of shelf. Hoodie combines this unparalleled coverage with first-of-its-kind, next-day insights so businesses can access market trends and data within hours. Wes brings a lifetime of experience launching and operating companies in SaaS Software and e-commerce intelligence platforms. Wes was the sole founder of Channel IQ, a E-commerce Analytics firm he founded in 2010 which was the leading provider of online product pricing and content intelligence to brands within a variety of channel management applications. Channel IQ also provided consumer facing products like product locators helping brands facilitate consumer product discovery and purchases. Channel IQ was sold to Numerator in 2016. Subsequently Wes founded Unifyd, A Machine Learning Ops Platform used for creating automated insights from large but messy data sources like the web. The general theme for the past decade has been creating scalable businesses to turn mountains of data into incredibly meaningful insights. In the development of Hoodie, Wes & the Hoodie Team have created an unparalleled platform that seamlessly integrates ‘data experts’ into an AI training loop resulting in highly accurate data mastering and categorical insights. Wes holds a Bachelors in Business Administration from University of Washington Business School with a focus in Finance and Entrepreneurship and a minor in Geographic Information Systems. He is pursuing a Masters in Business Administration from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Today, Hoodie is the largest, high quality repository of daily cannabis product pricing and assortment in the world.

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Full name: Wes Shepherd

Title: Chairman & Chief Executive Officer

Company: Hoodie Analytics

Years at current company: 1.5 years at Hoodie and 5 years at Unifyd.

Education profile: I have a Bachelors in Business Administration from University of Washington Business School with a focus in Finance and Entrepreneurship and a minor in Geographic Information Systems. Currently, I am pursuing a Masters in Business Administration from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Most successful professional accomplishment before cannabis: I sold my last company Channel IQ, the leading e-commerce pricing intelligence platform to Numerator in 2016.

Company Mission: Hoodie Analytics was founded on the belief that cannabis businesses need deep operational insights and applications to better compete. Our team has decades of experience with e-commerce intelligence & market measurement in markets like Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG). With Hoodie Analytics, you get an indispensable partner tracking the daily movements of the market. You get access to the best people, processes, and data which deliver the critical factor towards building a winning brand. You can focus on running your business. Hoodie delivers the insights needed to outgrow the pack.

Company’s most successful achievement: Being the first analytics firm to reach national coverage of the cannabis industry in every state.

Has the company raised any capital (yes or no): Yes

If so, how much?: We just announced the close of its inaugural round of fundraising at an undisclosed amount, along with key positions on its strategic advisory board. As part of the financing, Gregg Steinberg, Jim Belushi, Mitch Kahn, and Lorne Gertner will join the Hoodie Strategic Advisory Board.

Any plans on raising capital in the future? Yes, we are raising capital in the future.

Most important company 5 year goal: Our 5 year goal is to be the first company people turn to when operating a cannabis business.

StaffApril 5, 2022

Cannabis data firm Hoodie Analytics (Hoodie) announced the close of its inaugural round of fundraising at an undisclosed amount, along with key positions on its strategic advisory board. The inaugural round was led by Greenlight Ventures, Satori Investment Partners, and individual investors Bart Swanson, Steve Weisman, Brian Schindlere, Lorne Gertner, and Jim Belushi. Hoodie said the raise positions it to expand its product and sales efforts. Hoodie’s inaugural round also marks the first investment out of Arcview’s new Seed Fund which operates with sponsorship from Entourage Effect Capital. As part of the financing, Gregg Steinberg, Jim Belushi, and Lorne Gertner will join the Hoodie Strategic Advisory Board.

Hoodie tracks over 3.5 million daily unique offers in over 8,000+ dispensaries in the US and Canada. Hoodie also provides next-day insights so businesses can access market trends and data within hours.

“We founded Hoodie to close the last mile of actionable product insights. We are aiming to create a nexus of industry data: a product graph to connect all industry players together and speed up critical insights. Not only for cannabis brands but for consumers as well,” said Wes Shepherd, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Hoodie. “Our core competency is processing massive volumes and a variety of data. Where we differ is that we can build applications equally well. We can deliver insights to people in a variety of roles whether it’s a brand’s salesperson or a dispensary inventory manager or even a webmaster looking to create a product locator for consumers to find their products.”

Cannabis tech has been finding itself awash in investor money. A similar data firm Headset.io raised $3 million in new capital in November of 2021 and looks to have raised over $11 million to date. BDSA Analytics is also thought to have raised roughly $12 million to date. All of these companies are privately owned.

“Hoodie solves a major problem for the cannabis industry at large. Every day we are out of stock in a dispensary means customers and patients can’t get the medicine from 1906 they depend on,” said Peter Barsoom, Co-founder and CEO of 1906. “We finally have a platform our sales team can use to ensure dispensaries are always in stock.” Hoodie’s aim is to track every product, in every dispensary, in every state and province, every single day, and combine this data with ease-of-use as its guiding principle, ensuring that even the busiest salesperson is able to maximize their brand’s sales and efficiency and every consumer can locate their favorite products reliably.

“We are thrilled to make Hoodie Analytics the inaugural investment of the Arcview Seed Fund along with the support of Entourage Effect Capital,” said Jeffrey Finkle, Chief Executive Officer of The Arcview Group. “Hoodie cracked the code with tracking at nearly every dispensary. It’s the broadest suite of competitive intelligence tools that help dispensaries and brand sales teams make smarter decisions and drive revenue.”