Apex Trading Closing Friends and Family Round Led by Sand Hill Angels
Tech Startup Raises Funds and Begins Operations to Disrupt the Wholesale Cannabis Industry
BOULDER, Colorado, May 1, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Apex Trading, a technology company with the goal of being the cannabis industry standard for wholesale transactions, announced today that it has nearly completed its Friends and Family round of funding. Sand Hill Angels leads the investment round, with additional participation from TL Partners and members of Tech Coast Angels. The investment allows Apex Trading to accelerate development and build out the software needed to help the company scale to a national level.
Apex Trading has found success by updating the conventional broker model for non-branded cannabis products, including flower and extracts. Using technology and processes to reduce costs, Apex Trading has virtually eliminated the pricy broker fees traditionally associated with wholesale cannabis. By slowly introducing easy-to-use digital tools and showing their value, Apex Trading is winning over clients by making their lives easier and increasing their bottom lines.
Apex Trading rose from the ashes of the once-promising Tradiv. A few of the previous Tradiv investors, even after having lost money with the organization, recognized the talent in the Apex Trading team and its new and innovative approach to tackling the non-branded wholesale cannabis market.
"Aside from the management issues, Tradiv was too early to the market and had a hard time finding its feet," said Paul Swartz of Sand Hill Angels. "The Apex Trading team has understood the lessons of that experience. They bring a highly-skilled management group to the table, but further, they have tapped into a model that meets the market where it sits today - I'm really excited and feel we'll recoup our losses and come out way ahead with these guys"
"Based on our industry experience, our team really understands what wholesale cannabis buyers and sellers need and how to work with them on their terms," says John Manlove, CEO and founder of Apex Trading. "All industries have their nuances, but the nascent cannabis wholesale market requires that players have skills, fortitude and understanding well beyond mainstream business savvy - we're extremely fortunate to have the team and backgrounds we do."
With this initial round funding, Apex Trading has built out its development team. Michael Bundy and Josh Mosbrucker bring decades of development and design experience to the company, with hundreds of successful deployments ranging from inventory management software to ecommerce websites and SaaS serving brands such as Nike, Adidas, Intel, SiriusXM.
About Apex Trading
Apex Trading is an online wholesale platform featuring marketplaces, custom storefronts and data-rich dashboards to help buyers and sellers operate more efficiently. The platform provides state-licensed cannabis cultivators, product manufacturers, distributors and retailers with easy-to-use tools and services and is disrupting conventional wholesale channels.
For more information, visit www.apxtrading.com. Follow @ApexTrading_CO on Twitter or @ApexTradingColorado on Facebook.
About Sand Hill Angels
Sand Hill Angels is a group of Silicon Valley angel investors passionate about helping entrepreneurs get to the next level. What makes the group unique is the collective experience of its members building and scaling deep technology companies. The group has been around for close to two decades.
Sand Hill Angels works openly and collaboratively with venture capital funds, other angel organizations, and the Bay Area ecosystem that fosters the growth of technology startups.
For additional information, visit www.sandhillangels.com or follow @SandHillAngels.com on Twitter.
Contact: Rob Fess
Phone: 619-750-6492
Email: rob@apxtrading.com
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