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E-cig startup Juul plans to go global by raising $1.2 billion
"Juuling" might be a thing around the world in the future, because the e-cig-maker has big plans to go global. According to Bloomberg, Juul is raising $1.2 billion in a financing round, which would put the startup's value at a whopping $15 or $16 billion. If you need something to compare that to, Lyft recently reached a $15 billion valuation after raising $600 million. The publication says the company is hoping to use the money it raises from investors to make its USB vape pens available outside the US and Israel. Currently, if you want to buy its trendy pens and nicotine pods outside those two countries, you'd have to find resellers.
Does this story make you want to sell drugs flavored water to children?
Related: Tobacco Roundup (U.S. to Crack Down on Tobacco, Electronic Cigarettes)
(Score: 3, Interesting) by FatPhil on Tuesday July 03 2018, @08:29AM (13 children)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 03 2018, @09:57AM (9 children)
Aye, and this lot are probably well aware of that fact, and they (more to the point, anyone foolish enough to actually give this lot the $1.2 billion they're asking for and from which, naturally, they'll then want to pay themselves large 'bonuses' for expanding their market before the inevitable titsup occurs) will find that there's already quite a healthy(sic) e-cig market out here in the rest of the world and they'll be just a wee bit late to this particular party in these markets..
Besides, seriously?, they think people will want to be walking around toking from something which looks like an old scool USB WLAN/3G dongle?, locally, the e-ciggies I've seen people using either look like normal cigarettes or look (at best) like the bastard offspring of the good Doctor's sonic screwdriver and Varian's 'Sonic Energiser'.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 03 2018, @10:21AM (1 child)
s/scool/school/
I plead lack of Rum..which I'll now rectify..and a duurrty keyboard..which I'll get round to at some point.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday July 03 2018, @10:28AM
FTFY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by KritonK on Tuesday July 03 2018, @11:58AM
...and even has a USB connector (for charging).
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday July 03 2018, @12:39PM (4 children)
Part of the appeal seems to be the USB stick-like nature of the device. Easy to conceal, especially at school.
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(Score: 2) by Alfred on Tuesday July 03 2018, @01:49PM (3 children)
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday July 03 2018, @01:57PM (2 children)
Pretty soon to be found at your local gas station: Juul knock-offs such as "Jemm" and "Cristal (like the champagne)". Let's hope they can successfully sue for... design patents? Trademark infringement?
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(Score: 2) by Alfred on Tuesday July 03 2018, @03:45PM
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday July 03 2018, @03:57PM
I live downtown in the capital city, streets are full of people, and there's plenty of youth, as I'm right on top of the bar district. Downstairs in my building, after a boutique clothing store, about 9 months ago, we got a vape shop. It closed over 6 months ago, there's a bar there now. Does that mean we're past peak vape? I really can't think of many other vape shops in town, but I don't travel far from the centre often. It might just be the rents in the building, of course, the landlord's a greedy cunt, and apparently there's no shortage of stupid renters who think their business will succeed where every other one has failed.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by sjames on Tuesday July 03 2018, @01:13PM
Not to mention non-refillable cartridges for "health and safety" reasons. And damned expensive cartridges at that.
As for the fear for the children angle, 10 years ago, the kids using e-cigs would have been smoking regular cigarettes (possibly with a five finger discount if the cashier carded).
(Score: 3, Interesting) by richtopia on Tuesday July 03 2018, @01:29PM (2 children)
While I speculate it is over valued, they pass my first rule of investing: the income stream is easily understood. They sell physical objects to consumers. The market is displacing a massive pre-existing technology, and the use of the product is highly addictive.
I'll contrast that with WhatsApp, which was purchased by Facebook for $19bn: The service is competing with many other free products, so there is little opportunity to increase prices. A major differentiator is the privacy/encryption, which undermines secondary revenue streams like selling data to third parties. The Wikipedia article does not call it out, but I doubt the service posted profits before the acquisition.
I'm not trying to turn this into a WhatsApp conversation. I'm just a bit thrilled that we finally have a startup acquisition with a business model that I fundamentally understand.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by FatPhil on Tuesday July 03 2018, @03:47PM (1 child)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday July 03 2018, @05:42PM
Of course, those are just potential bans. And, their competition already has real bans.