Meadow

Market position

Meadow describes itself as the industry leader in dispensary software while remaining a small, independent company, and cites a #1 cannabis POS ranking on G2 from dispensary operators. In 2019 Penn State reported Meadow had grown into a leading cannabis point-of-sale system in California, with 70 percent of the state's dispensary market using it. TechCrunch has characterized the company as the AWS powering the back end of the THC trade.

Meadow positions itself on breadth of functionality in one system — POS, ecommerce, inventory, delivery, loyalty and Metrc compliance combined rather than assembled from separate vendors — together with an interface intended to be usable by budtenders and managers alike, and rapid human support. It also emphasizes independence (never acquired or merged, and unaffiliated with other cannabis software lineages), continuity of the founding team since 2014, and 99.99% platform uptime since 2014. The company cites a #1 cannabis POS ranking on G2 based on operator reviews.

Technology

A cloud platform combining point of sale, online ordering and ecommerce menus, inventory management, delivery and pick-up dispatch, customer loyalty, reporting and automated regulatory compliance including Metrc integration, with third-party integrations for logistics, delivery and accounting. The company reports 99.99% uptime since 2014 and offers a Dynamic Delivery capability for mobile cannabis dispensaries.

Go-to-market

Meadow markets directly to dispensary operators through its website with a book-a-call and consultative sales motion, supported by customer case studies (for example Vapor Room and multi-location operator Coast to Coast), G2 review rankings, assisted onboarding for new users, and switching-focused messaging aimed at retailers dissatisfied with incumbent platforms. It also builds pipeline and industry presence through community programming — the annual Meadowlands retreat, operator education events, and regulatory advocacy — and through partnerships with integration vendors.

Licensed cannabis dispensaries and delivery services, from single-location operators to multi-location retail chains, including their budtenders, store managers, inventory and purchasing staff, and business owners.

Geography

Headquartered in San Francisco since 2014. The platform is available to licensed dispensaries in California, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota and Washington, D.C., with the company stating that more states are planned. Its Meadowlands industry retreat is held in Mendocino County, California.

History

The company traces back to co-founders Rick Harrison, Harrison Lee and Scott Garman, who met as students at Penn State's College of Information Sciences and Technology and later worked together at AccuWeather and at their own State College consulting firm, Nine Robot, whose clients included Zappos. A Penn State networking connection led them to San Francisco in 2011 as the first three employees of Sincerely Inc., after which they teamed with Penn State Smeal graduate David Hua to build software for the emerging legal cannabis industry. Meadow was founded in San Francisco in 2014 and entered Y Combinator's Winter 2015 batch. By 2019 the company reported that roughly 70 percent of California's dispensary market used its point-of-sale system. It launched Dynamic Delivery for mobile cannabis dispensaries in California in November 2021 and expanded outside California to Michigan in August 2022. The company states it has remained independent — never acquired or merged — with the same founding team building the platform for over a decade.

Risks & controversies

Meadow operates in the state-regulated cannabis sector, where dispensary customers face frequent regulatory change, compliance audits, state-by-state licensing regimes and tax treatment that differs from other businesses — issues the company addresses through automated compliance features and direct advocacy with legislators and regulators.