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]

Pax Labs
TypePrivate
IndustryCannabis
FoundedJune 2007 (2007-06) in San Francisco, California
FounderJames Monsees
Adam Bowen
Headquarters660 Alabama Street, San Francisco, California, 94110
Area served
United States
Canada
Israel
ProductsElectronic vaporizers
Websitepax.com

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
Main article: Juul
Juul vaporizer

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]

References
  1. Will Yakowicz (June 10, 2015). "This Silicon Valley Company Just Raised $47 Million to Smoke Cigarette Makers". Inc.
  2. Editorial Staff (June 20, 2018). "JUUL: A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing". American Lung Association.
  3. Staff, Entrepreneur (July 24, 2018). "How This Investor Blazed a Path to Success in the Cannabis Industry". Entrepreneur. Retrieved September 30, 2018.
  4. Ari Levi (December 19, 2017). "E-cigarette maker Juul is raising $150 million after spinning out of vaping company". CNBC.
  5. Tom Huddleston, Jr. (June 10, 2015). "Investors are lining up for this e-cig, vaporization company". Fortune. Retrieved September 10, 2015.
  6. Jordan Crook (June 10, 2015). "Pax Labs Heats Up With $46.7 Million In Series C Funding". TechCrunch. Retrieved September 10, 2015.
  7. Colin Crook (September 17, 2019). "Pax Labs' Bharat Vasan is out as CEO". TechCrunch.
  8. Freddie Dawson (July 31, 2015). "Pax Labs Looking At International Expansion". Forbes. Retrieved September 10, 2015.
  9. Melia Robinson (August 22, 2016). "The company behind the 'iPhone of vaporizers' is reinventing the e-cigarette". Business Insider.
  10. Melia Robinson (October 13, 2016). "The 'Apple of vaping' made an e-cigarette for marijuana — here's what it's like". Business Insider.
  11. Crook, Jordan (April 22, 2019). "Confirmed: Pax Labs raises $420 million at a valuation of $1.7 billion". TechCrunch. Retrieved September 14, 2019.
  12. "Vape Giant PAX Labs Picked 4 Popular Pot Stocks as Its Supply Partners". finance.yahoo.com. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
  13. 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.
  14. Sean Thomas (December 22, 2015). "PAX secures patent for "Nicotine Salt E-Cigarette"". The Slanted.
  15. Ryan Lawler (April 20, 2015). "Vaporization Startup Pax Labs Introduces Juul, Its Next-Gen E-Cigarette". TechCrunch. Retrieved February 26, 2016.
  16. Aaron Souppouris (June 3, 2015). "Juul is the e-cig that will finally stop me from smoking (I hope)". Engadget. Retrieved September 10, 2015.
  17. Nitasha Tiku (April 21, 2015). "Startup behind the Lambo of vaporizers just launched an intelligent e-cigarette". The Verge. Retrieved September 10, 2015.
  18. Ben Radding. "Pax Juul: The iPhone of E-cigs?". Men's Fitness. Retrieved May 17, 2017.
  19. Teitell, Beth (November 16, 2017). "'Juuling': The most widespread phenomenon you've never heard of". The Boston Globe.
  20. Wisniewski, Christie (April 18, 2018). "Vaping, juuling latest threats to teen, pre-teen health". The Recorder.
  21. 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.
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