Nabis

Market position

Nabis describes itself, and is described in press coverage, as the largest licensed cannabis wholesale and distribution platform in the United States, with the largest brand portfolio in its markets. It reports delivering about 7% of the legal US wholesale cannabis market, including roughly 32% of California's, 34% of Nevada's and 15% of New York's wholesale product volume, and reaching about 99% of retailers in its three core states. Coverage places it alongside cannabis technology providers such as Dutchie and Weedmaps within the sector's software and logistics infrastructure.

Nabis combines licensed physical distribution infrastructure with in-house software, offering brands order management, compliance uploads, batch- and SKU-level inventory tracking, CRM tools and retailer credit scores in a single portal rather than through separate vendors. Its scale gives it near-complete retailer coverage in its markets and, per company statements, bargaining power in collecting payments, with a reported default rate below 0.5% over five years. Its financing arm addresses accounts-receivable problems created by cannabis operators' limited access to mainstream banking, an area not served by conventional lenders.

Technology

An in-house-developed platform comprising the Nabis Portal for order creation and tracking, compliance document and license uploads, batch- and SKU-level inventory management across facilities, a CRM for account acquisition, and credit scores derived from more than 70,000 transactions. Nabis Analytics provides real-time dashboards on sales, operational and financial metrics, best-selling products, regional sales trends and retail purchasing behavior. The Marketplace includes AI-generated product recommendations, search and filtering, list and grid views, multi-location carts and configurable preferred pricing; payments run through in-portal bank connections or Nabis BillPay. The company states a goal of building a prediction engine that matches production to demand.

Go-to-market

The company sells through a partnerships team that onboards licensed cannabis brands and operators, and through a marketplace team that signs up retailer accounts, offering scheduled demos and free account creation. Retailers buy through an online menu with AI-generated product recommendations, live inventory, COAs and expiration data; brands are attracted by fulfillment, warehousing, compliance testing coordination, financing, analytics, and sales and marketing services.

Licensed cannabis brands, manufacturers and cultivators seeking distribution, warehousing, compliance and working capital; and licensed dispensaries and retailers purchasing wholesale inventory.

Geography

Nabis is headquartered in San Francisco with operations and offices in New York, Los Angeles and Oakland, and warehouses including facilities in the Bronx, New York and Rochester, New York. It serves California, New York and Nevada, and entered New Jersey in April 2026. Company materials reference five distribution facilities across California, New York and Nevada; 2026 press reporting describes seven warehouses across three states.

History

The company was founded in San Francisco in 2018 and went through Y Combinator's Winter 2019 batch, raising $5 million at that stage. In its earliest months the founders personally drove product between growers in Humboldt, cultivators in Desert Hot Springs and Palm Springs, and dispensaries across California, and handled cash excise tax payments to the state by hand. By its second year Nabis had roughly 50 customers, 30 employees and about $2 million in revenue. A $23 million Series B in mid-2021 funded fulfillment centers, transportation and distribution capacity, including 46,000 square feet of Southern California warehouse space. Nabis launched in New York in 2024 and entered New Jersey in April 2026 by acquiring a distribution license held by the distribution arm of Hudson News.

Risks & controversies

The business is exposed to cannabis-specific structural risks: federal Schedule I classification limits operators' access to mainstream banking, dispensaries frequently pay late or not at all, and early operations required handling and transporting large sums of cash for excise tax payments under armed guard. Invoice factoring discounts have reached as high as 50% for invoices owed by struggling retailers. Growth also depends on state-by-state legalization and licensing regimes.