A hot marijuana startup fresh off a $75 million raise just scooped up an exec from ModCloth to lead its retail push and it's part of a growing trend

Jeremy Berke

Mar 19, 2019, 22:00 IST

A hot marijuana startup fresh off a $75 million raise just scooped up an exec from ModCloth to lead its retail push and it's part of a growing trend

Courtesy of Caliva

Inside Caliva's growing facility.

Caliva, a California marijuana startup, recently hired Elizabeth Cooksey, a former senior ModCloth executive.
Cooksey will head up Caliva's retail expansion in California.
Caliva recently raised $75 million from the likes of Carol Bartz, Yahoo's former CEO, and NFL Hall-Of-Famer Joe Montana. Bartz took a seat as chair of Caliva's board.

Caliva, a popular California marijuana brand, recently hired a senior ModCloth executive to head up their retail expansion, Business Insider has learned.

Elizabeth Cooksey, who was hired by the women's fashion brand to build out their brick-and-mortar retail presence in 2016, will take on a similar role at Caliva as the startup's head of retail. Cooksey will focus on identifying the right markets in California for Caliva to expand their retail presence and open more cannabis stores, she told Business Insider in an interview.

Cooksey previously worked across senior retail roles at Nike, Urban Outfitters, and Anthropologie.

Caliva closed a $75 million funding round in January with participation Carol Bartz, Yahoo's former CEO and a tech investor, and 3-time Super Bowl MVP Joe Montana. At the time, CEO Dennis O'Malley told Business Insider that expanding the Caliva's executive team would be one of his first priorities.

Bartz also recently took a seat as chair of Caliva's board.

Currently, Caliva has a flagship store in downtown San Jose - which Business Insider said looked like a "hybrid between a surf shop and an Urban Outfitters" after a visit last year - and it distributes branded products throughout California.

Cooksey, who is only in her second week working at the startup, said she took the role after taking a "self-imposed sabbatical" that took her to India for a month.

Courtesy of Caliva

Caliva's products in the flagship San Jose store.

She said the opportunity at Caliva came about in a "synergistic" way. "I was definitely open to talking with different companies in cannabis and wanted to ensure that if I went this direction that I aligned myself with the very best company," said Cooksey.

While Cooksey said Caliva's philosophy of emphasizing the wellness aspect of cannabis - rather than the "fun-for-you" aspect of getting high - resonated with her, she did "quite a bit of due diligence" about the company's financial background and executive team.

"Through and through, all of the elements I did my research on - and it was quite extensive - was very positive," said Cooksey.

Cooksey's hiring comes as cannabis companies lure executives from more traditional industries like consumer goods and retail as they figure out retail and branding strategies.

These execs are likely convinced by the potential upside of molding an industry in its early stages, and the equity that comes with getting in on the ground floor of what could be the next batch of multi-billion dollar startups.

"I believe there are a lot of people flocking to this industry because of the great upside and potential for this market share to multiply and be really, really big," said Cooksey. "So I do think folks have a vision of what this industry could be, and the massive growth potential."

To Bartz, who has spent decades both leading and investing in software companies, the feeling in the cannabis industry right now is similar to the tech sector in its infancy.

"It's what it feels like when I first came to the valley," Bartz said in an interview. "Everything felt like you could do it - you could just do it."