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AAPI Intersectionality and Cannabis Tech: A Chat with Nabis

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The cannabis industry is still coming into its own, and one thing it really needs is help with websites, infrastructure, online ordering and in general, the tech side of the business. This is where leading cannabis distribution platform Nabis comes in. Founded by longtime friends Vince Ning and Jun Lee, originally hailing from Virginia, California-based company Nabis helps cannabis businesses with the tech side of things so they can focus on growing their plants and businesses. We chatted with them about their company, how they got into the industry and Asian American, Pacific Islander (AAPI?) intersectionality.

How did the company first get started? 

We started this company about three-and-a-half years ago because we wanted to help the cannabis industry grow and scale. Cannabis has always been a personal interest of ours, and with our background from the technology space, we thought building software would be perfect. We really wanted to build a platform that could help. 

We want every independent supplier to be able to launch and scale efficiently from a cost-basis perspective as well as from a brand and marketing perspective, so our wholesale platform offers a bevy of services, whether it just be purely logistics or handling financing for brands online and in the wholesale marketplace. We like to help them sell more as well as help set up data tools for them to better assess the market for themselves. 

Do you feel like there needs to be more Asian representation in the cannabis industry?

When we first started the company, the industry was full of supply chain people, not necessarily people of Asian descent or heritage. A lot of people in the business were older and white, and we were young and Asian. I think that speaks to how much we need to diversify the industry, not just within the distribution sector, but also among the suppliers if we want anyone and everyone to have a chance.

And, while Asian representation is definitely something we care about, we also started our company in Oakland, and there’s a lot of history there with the War on Drugs, so we also want to acknowledge the privilege that comes with our position and recognize that there are communities much more impacted by the War on Drugs. We try and speak up more on behalf of others whenever we can. 


What exciting things do you all have in the works?
We are growing very rapidly. We grew more than 40 percent in the first quarter of this year, so we definitely want to grow and make our price point more accessible to our customers. We’re currently in the process of infrastructure expansion, and we’re building a very large facility, more than double the size of our current facilities, to support our next phase of growth. I think that we will be looking towards out-of-state expansion towards the end of this year and beginning of next because we think we can replicate this model, not just in California, but other states. I think the more we can grow, the more we can make our platform accessible. 

nabis.com