Pax Labs
Pax Labs (formerly Ploom[1] and stylized as PAX Labs) is an American electronic vaporizer company founded in 2007 that markets the Pax vaporizers.[1] The company developed the Juul (pronounced jewel[2]) e-cigarette; Juul Labs was spun out as a separate company in 2017.[3][4]
Private | |
Industry | Cannabis |
Founded | June 2007 in San Francisco, California |
Founder | James Monsees Adam Bowen |
Headquarters | 660 Alabama Street, San Francisco, California, 94110 |
Area served | United States Canada Israel |
Products | Electronic vaporizers |
Website | pax |
History
The company was founded by James Monsees and Adam Bowen in 2007 under the name Ploom.[1] As of 2015, it has distribution in the United States and Canada and has received $46.7 million in "series C" funding from various sources.[5][6] In August 2016, Tyler Goldman became the CEO of Pax.[4] Monsees left Pax in July 2017.[4] Bowen left Pax in June 2017.[4] Goldman left Pax in 2017.[4] Bharat Vasan served as CEO from February 2018 until September 2019.[7]
The company has been involved with Japan Tobacco International.[1] It markets the Pax vaporizers,[8] starting with the Pax by Ploom. As Pax Labs, Inc., the company then introduced the Pax 2 and can be used with loose-leaf tobacco or cannabis.[9] In November 2016, the Pax 3 was released, featuring compatibility with both extracts and plant matter, new tools and accessories, and a complementary smart phone app. The same month, Pax also introduced an extract-based vaporizer called the Era, which operates by heating a concentrated cannabis liquid held in very small containers.[10]
Pax closed a $420 million equity round in April 2019, which valued the company at $1.7 billion.[11] In June 2019, Pax announced it had signed agreements with four Canadian pot stocks to supply it with cannabis extracts, resins, and distillates for its PAX Era pen-and-pod vape system. Those four companies were Aurora Cannabis, Aphria, OrganiGram Holdings and The Supreme Cannabis Company.[12]
Juul
On June 1, 2015, the company introduced Juul, a type of e-cigarette that utilizes nicotine salts that exist in leaf-based tobacco, for its key ingredient.[13] They were given a US patent for their nicotine salt preparation in 2015.[14] The nicotine salts are said to create an experience more like smoking than other e-cigarettes on the market.[15] The e-cigarette is shaped like a USB flash drive[16] and recharges using a magnetic USB deck.[17] Each cartridge (called a Juul pod) contains about the same amount of nicotine as one pack of cigarettes[16] and delivers approximately 200 hits.[17] Juul attempts to deliver a nicotine peak in five minutes, similar to a traditional cigarette.[18] Mango was among the five most popular flavors, but it is no longer available in the United States where now only menthol and tobacco flavors are sold.[19] A Juul starter kit sells for about $49.99.[20] Given the high nicotine concentrations in Juul, the nicotine-related health consequences of its use by young people could be more severe than those from their use of other e-cigarette products.[21]
In 2017 Juul Labs was spun out of Pax Labs as an independent company.[4] Tyler Goldman, former CEO of Pax Labs, was named CEO of Juul after the spin-off.[4]
PAX Vaporizer
References
- Will Yakowicz (June 10, 2015). "This Silicon Valley Company Just Raised $47 Million to Smoke Cigarette Makers". Inc.
- Editorial Staff (June 20, 2018). "JUUL: A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing". American Lung Association.
- Staff, Entrepreneur (July 24, 2018). "How This Investor Blazed a Path to Success in the Cannabis Industry". Entrepreneur. Retrieved September 30, 2018.
- Ari Levi (December 19, 2017). "E-cigarette maker Juul is raising $150 million after spinning out of vaping company". CNBC.
- Tom Huddleston, Jr. (June 10, 2015). "Investors are lining up for this e-cig, vaporization company". Fortune. Retrieved September 10, 2015.
- Jordan Crook (June 10, 2015). "Pax Labs Heats Up With $46.7 Million In Series C Funding". TechCrunch. Retrieved September 10, 2015.
- Colin Crook (September 17, 2019). "Pax Labs' Bharat Vasan is out as CEO". TechCrunch.
- Freddie Dawson (July 31, 2015). "Pax Labs Looking At International Expansion". Forbes. Retrieved September 10, 2015.
- Melia Robinson (August 22, 2016). "The company behind the 'iPhone of vaporizers' is reinventing the e-cigarette". Business Insider.
- Melia Robinson (October 13, 2016). "The 'Apple of vaping' made an e-cigarette for marijuana — here's what it's like". Business Insider.
- Crook, Jordan (April 22, 2019). "Confirmed: Pax Labs raises $420 million at a valuation of $1.7 billion". TechCrunch. Retrieved September 14, 2019.
- "Vape Giant PAX Labs Picked 4 Popular Pot Stocks as Its Supply Partners". finance.yahoo.com. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
- Alyssa Stahr (June 5, 2015). "New Product: PAX LABS Introduces E-CIGARETTE JUUL". Vape News. Archived from the original on July 15, 2019. Retrieved March 8, 2018.
- Sean Thomas (December 22, 2015). "PAX secures patent for "Nicotine Salt E-Cigarette"". The Slanted.
- Ryan Lawler (April 20, 2015). "Vaporization Startup Pax Labs Introduces Juul, Its Next-Gen E-Cigarette". TechCrunch. Retrieved February 26, 2016.
- Aaron Souppouris (June 3, 2015). "Juul is the e-cig that will finally stop me from smoking (I hope)". Engadget. Retrieved September 10, 2015.
- Nitasha Tiku (April 21, 2015). "Startup behind the Lambo of vaporizers just launched an intelligent e-cigarette". The Verge. Retrieved September 10, 2015.
- Ben Radding. "Pax Juul: The iPhone of E-cigs?". Men's Fitness. Retrieved May 17, 2017.
- Teitell, Beth (November 16, 2017). "'Juuling': The most widespread phenomenon you've never heard of". The Boston Globe.
- Wisniewski, Christie (April 18, 2018). "Vaping, juuling latest threats to teen, pre-teen health". The Recorder.
- Galper Grossman, Sharon (2019). "Vape Gods and Judaism—E-cigarettes and Jewish Law". Rambam Maimonides Medical Journal. 10 (3): e0019. doi:10.5041/RMMJ.10372. ISSN 2076-9172. PMC 6649778. PMID 31335312.
This article incorporates text by Sharon Galper Grossman available under the CC BY 3.0 license.