What is Vangst's primary value proposition?

Vangst positions itself as the central hiring dashboard for the cannabis industry. According to Slide 3, it allows B2B customers to manage all cannabis hires from a single interface. The platform solves specific industry pain points listed on Slide 2, such as verifying state-required licenses, managing changing employment regulations, and handling cannabis-specific compliance and payroll.

How does Vangst quantify its market opportunity?

The deck uses two primary metrics for market size. Slide 4 identifies a $3.1 billion specific opportunity for filling cannabis jobs. Slide 6 provides broader context, showing a 27% CAGR for the US wholesale cannabis market, projected to grow from $9 billion in 2020 to $100 billion by 2030, rivaling the tobacco industry.

What level of traction had Vangst achieved by the Series B round?

By the time of this deck, Vangst had filled more than 150,000 gigs and acquired over 1,200 customers (Slide 3). Slide 9 shows a consistent month-over-month increase in 'GIGS Revenue' from January to October, and Slide 5 notes that their client list includes 80% of the world's largest cannabis businesses.

Who are Vangst's main competitors according to the deck?

Slide 10 lists FlowerHire, HempStaff, and Viridian Staffing as competitors. Vangst differentiates itself by labeling these firms as 'boutique' agencies that lack technology and 'GIG' offerings. Vangst emphasizes its 55-person team and tech-enabled platform as a superior alternative to traditional manual recruiting.

What are the projected future revenue drivers for the company?

Beyond its core hiring and gig platform, Vangst identifies four expansion areas on Slide 12: Training, Community Ads, Payroll, and Advanced Search. These additions suggest a transition from a pure recruitment tool to a comprehensive human capital management (HCM) suite tailored for the cannabis sector.

Vangst Pitch Deck (2022): 13-Slide Series B Deck

See all 13 slides of the Vangst pitch deck — a 2022 Series B deck — with a slide-by-slide teardown of what the deck does well and where it falls short.

Vangst’s 13-slide Series B deck is a masterclass in market timing and category dominance. By positioning cannabis hiring not just as a recruitment task but as a complex regulatory and compliance hurdle, Vangst elevates its SaaS platform to an essential infrastructure play. The deck highlights significant traction, including over 150,000 cannabis gigs filled and a customer base exceeding 1,200 businesses. Notably, they claim that 80% of the largest cannabis companies globally use their platform. While the deck relies heavily on confidential placeholders for specific revenue and competitor data…

Key takeaways

Vangst identifies a $3.1 billion opportunity specifically in filling cannabis jobs as legalization scales (Slide 4).
The company claims a dominant market position, stating that 80% of the largest cannabis businesses in the world use their platform (Slide 5).
Traction is quantified by over 150,000 cannabis gigs filled and a total customer count exceeding 1,200 (Slide 3).
The US wholesale cannabis market is projected to reach $100 billion by 2030, matching the tobacco industry in size (Slide 6).
Vangst positions itself against 'boutique' agencies by highlighting its technology-first approach and a team of 55 employees (Slide 10).
The platform is currently live in 5 states, despite cannabis being legal for adult use in 19 states plus DC, indicating significant expansion room (Slide 9).
The leadership team includes a founder featured on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list and executives with experience at Robert Half and Adecco (Slide 11).
Future revenue streams are clearly identified as Training, Community Ads, Payroll, and Advanced Search (Slide 12).

Vangst Pitch Deck Analysis

Vangst’s Series B pitch deck is a 13-slide presentation that focuses on the intersection of a rapidly maturing industry and a specialized labor crisis. The company raised $19M in 2022 to solidify its position as the primary labor marketplace for the cannabis sector. The deck is structured to move from the macro-opportunity of legalization to the micro-efficiency of their SaaS platform.

Slide 1: Title Slide

The deck opens with a minimalist title slide featuring the Vangst logo and a bright orange gradient background. It establishes the brand identity immediately but provides no subtitle or mission statement, relying on the subsequent slides to define the business.

Slide 2: The Problem - Hiring in Cannabis is Hard

This slide lists 11 specific pain points that make cannabis recruitment unique. These include sourcing candidates in a 'limited cannabis friendly' environment, verifying state-required licenses, and managing changing employment regulations. By including 'COVID Testing & Health Safety' and 'Workers Compensation,' Vangst frames the problem as a complex operational burden rather than just a talent search issue.

Slide 3: The Solution and Traction

Vangst introduces itself as 'the cannabis industry’s hiring platform.' The slide features four key metrics: 80% of the largest cannabis businesses use the platform, 150,000+ cannabis gigs filled, and 1,200+ customers. A placeholder for 'Revenue run-rate EOY 2021' is marked as confidential, though the visual suggests a high-growth trajectory.

Slide 4: Rapid Job Creation

This slide connects legalization to labor demand. It features a bar chart showing US Cannabis Industry employment estimates growing from 315,000 full-time jobs in 2020 to a projected 670,000 by 2025. The slide highlights a '$3.1B Opportunity to fill cannabis jobs,' which serves as the company's Serviceable Addressable Market (SAM).

Slide 5: Market Leadership

Vangst doubles down on its competitive moat by stating it is the 'market leader.' A confidential table is shown, presumably comparing Vangst's market cap or reach against other players, while a large black circle reiterates that 80% of the largest businesses in the sector are already customers.

Slide 6: The Exploding Industry

To justify a Series B valuation, Vangst shows the total market tailwinds. A chart sourced from NYU Stern shows a 27% CAGR for the US wholesale cannabis market, reaching $100 billion by 2030. Crucially, it compares this to the 2020 figures for Alcohol ($125B) and Tobacco ($100B), suggesting cannabis is on track to become a top-tier vice industry.

Slide 7: Product and Technology

This slide illustrates the user journey in three steps: building a profile/posting jobs, accepting vetted employees, and hiring. It showcases the interface on tablet and mobile devices. At the bottom, it lists three core products: GIGS, Vetted, and Career Page & Job Boost, demonstrating a multi-product strategy.

Slide 8: Revenue Growth Projections

A bar chart shows revenue from 2016 through 2024 (projected). There is a visible dip or stagnation in 2020-2021 marked with a virus icon, acknowledging the impact of the pandemic. However, the 2022-2024 projections show aggressive, exponential growth, supported by the phrase 'And we’re just Getting started.'

Slide 9: GIGS Revenue and Geographic Expansion

This slide focuses on the 'GIGS' product line, showing a month-over-month revenue climb from January to October. It notes that Vangst is 'Live in 5 states,' while 'Cannabis is legal for adult use in 19 States + DC.' This contrast highlights the massive 'white space' available for geographic expansion.

Slide 10: Competitive Landscape

Vangst compares itself to FlowerHire, HempStaff, and Viridian Staffing. The table categorizes Vangst as a 'Hiring platform' with 1,200+ customers and 55 employees, while the competitors are dismissed as 'Boutique recruiting agencies' with 'No technology.' The customer counts for competitors are redacted as confidential.

Slide 11: Leadership and Investors

The team slide features Founder & CEO Karson Humiston (Forbes 30 Under 30), CFO Matt Karlin, CPO Bree Thomas, and others. The slide also highlights their commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility regarding criminal justice reform. Notable investors listed include Lerer Hippeau, Casa Verde Capital, and Colle Capital.

Slide 12: Future Revenue Opportunities

As the company scales, it plans to unlock four new revenue streams: Training, Community Ads, Payroll, and Advanced Search. This indicates a roadmap toward becoming a full-service HR tech stack for the industry, increasing the potential Lifetime Value (LTV) of each customer.

Slide 13: The Ask and Conclusion

The final slide summarizes the 'unique opportunity' through three pillars: Huge regulatory tailwinds, Cannabis business growth, and a Hot job market. While the catalogue facts state the round was for $19M, the slide itself does not list a specific dollar amount or a detailed 'Use of Funds' breakdown, which is a common omission in later-stage decks intended for broad distribution.

What Vangst Does Well

Vangst excels at category leadership positioning . By repeatedly citing that 80% of the largest cannabis businesses use their platform, they create a sense of inevitability. They also do an excellent job of translating regulatory news into business metrics . Instead of just saying 'cannabis is being legalized,' they show exactly how many jobs that creates and what the dollar value of filling those jobs is ($3.1B).

The deck is also visually clean and uses a consistent color palette that avoids the stereotypical 'green' cannabis aesthetic, opting instead for a professional SaaS-orange. This helps position them as a serious technology company rather than a niche industry player.

What is Missing from the Vangst Deck

The most glaring omission is unit economics . For a Series B round, investors typically want to see Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), Lifetime Value (LTV), and churn rates, especially for a SaaS/Marketplace hybrid. While they show revenue growth, they don't show the efficiency of that growth.

Additionally, the competitive data is heavily redacted . While this is understandable for a public-facing version of a deck, the lack of specific customer counts or revenue for competitors makes the 'market leader' claim harder to verify independently within the document. Finally, there is no 'Use of Funds' slide . A Series B investor wants to know exactly how $19M will be deployed—whether it's for engineering, sales expansion into the other 14 legal states, or marketing.

Founder's Guide: What to Copy

The 'Why Now' Slide: Slide 13 is a perfect example of how to summarize macro trends (regulatory, economic, and labor) to create urgency for an investment. · Market Comparison: Comparing a new industry (Cannabis) to established giants (Tobacco and Alcohol) as seen on Slide 6 is a powerful way to help investors anchor the potential scale of the opportunity. · Problem Specificity: Slide 2 doesn't just say 'hiring is hard.' It lists 11 granular reasons why. Founders should always aim for this level of specificity to prove they understand their domain better than anyone else. · The 'White Space' Visual: Slide 9 effectively uses a simple comparison (Live in 5 states vs. 19 legal states) to show that the company has only captured a fraction of its immediate potential, even while being a 'leader.'

Frequently asked questions

What is Vangst's primary value proposition?: Vangst positions itself as the central hiring dashboard for the cannabis industry. According to Slide 3, it allows B2B customers to manage all cannabis hires from a single interface. The platform solves specific industry pain points listed on Slide 2, such as verifying state-required licenses, managing changing employment regulations, and handling cannabis-specific compliance and payroll.
How does Vangst quantify its market opportunity?: The deck uses two primary metrics for market size. Slide 4 identifies a $3.1 billion specific opportunity for filling cannabis jobs. Slide 6 provides broader context, showing a 27% CAGR for the US wholesale cannabis market, projected to grow from $9 billion in 2020 to $100 billion by 2030, rivaling the tobacco industry.
What level of traction had Vangst achieved by the Series B round?: By the time of this deck, Vangst had filled more than 150,000 gigs and acquired over 1,200 customers (Slide 3). Slide 9 shows a consistent month-over-month increase in 'GIGS Revenue' from January to October, and Slide 5 notes that their client list includes 80% of the world's largest cannabis businesses.
Who are Vangst's main competitors according to the deck?: Slide 10 lists FlowerHire, HempStaff, and Viridian Staffing as competitors. Vangst differentiates itself by labeling these firms as 'boutique' agencies that lack technology and 'GIG' offerings. Vangst emphasizes its 55-person team and tech-enabled platform as a superior alternative to traditional manual recruiting.
What are the projected future revenue drivers for the company?: Beyond its core hiring and gig platform, Vangst identifies four expansion areas on Slide 12: Training, Community Ads, Payroll, and Advanced Search. These additions suggest a transition from a pure recruitment tool to a comprehensive human capital management (HCM) suite tailored for the cannabis sector.

Cover slide of the Vangst pitch deck — Series B 2022 — Vangst pitch deck, slide 1 (2022)

Vangst pitch deck: the facts

Company: Vangst
Year: 2022
Stage: Series B
Slides: 13
Sector: Cannabis, SaaS
Deck type: Fundraising
Outcome: $19M Raised
Headquarters: Denver, Colorado (implied by sector/listing)

Vangst pitch deck PDF

The full Vangst deck is embedded on this page and can be read slide by slide in the browser — no download or account required. Each slide is covered in the breakdown above.

What the Vangst pitch deck was used for

This is Vangst’s 2022 **Series B** pitch deck for its cannabis-industry hiring platform, used to raise a $19M round. The company provides a technology-enabled marketplace and staffing solution that lets cannabis businesses source, vet, and manage workers from a single dashboard. The deck leans on Vangst’s market leadership and large share of top cannabis enterprises to argue that hiring is the key bottleneck in a rapidly growing and heavily regulated industry. It positions the Series B raise as fuel to deepen the platform, expand into new markets, and capitalize on regulatory and demand tailwinds in cannabis hiring.

Business model: Cannabis-focused recruiting and staffing platform combining a job marketplace, temp staffing, and executive search services.

Round: Series B.
Year: 2022.
Raised: $19,000,000 Series B.
Lead investor: Level One Fund.
Investors: Level One Fund, Lerer Hippeau, Casa Verde Capital, Colle Capital, Phyto Partners, L2 Ventures, Althea, Delta Emerald Ventures
Founders: Karson Humiston
Headquarters: Denver, Colorado.
Industry: Cannabis recruiting and staffing / HR tech.
Total funding: Well over $30M as of the 2022 Series B.

Use of funds as presented: Reports indicate the company planned to use the Series B proceeds to expand its marketing team, scale its technology platform, and deepen its hiring solutions across new cannabis markets.

What happened after the Vangst deck

As of the available sources, Vangst successfully completed its $19M Series B round in early 2022 and continued operating as a leading cannabis hiring and staffing platform with substantial traction among licensed operators.

Closed a **$19M Series B** financing in January 2022 led by Level One Fund with participation from existing and new vent
Reached total funding of **well over $30M** following the Series B, according to later reporting.
Built a leading recruitment platform that has filled thousands of positions for more than 1,200 cannabis businesses.

What the Vangst deck got right

Sharp articulation of cannabis-specific hiring pain points. The deck clearly frames **hiring in cannabis as uniquely hard**, listing pain points such as limited sourcing options, credential verification, time tracking, workers’ compensation, COVID testing, and evolving employment regulations—showing intimate understanding of the vertical’s complexity.
Compelling proof of traction via gigs filled and platform positioning. It positions Vangst as **“the cannabis industry’s hiring platform”** and claims **150,000+ cannabis gigs filled**, reinforcing that the product is not theoretical but already used at scale in the target market.
High adoption among top cannabis operators. The deck asserts that **80% of the largest cannabis businesses use Vangst** to hire their workforce, which—paired with external references to thousands of roles filled for over 1,200 businesses—signals strong penetration among leading operators.
Visible revenue and market expansion momentum. Slides emphasizing **rapid gig revenue growth** and new market launches give investors a sense of momentum and expansion capacity, aligning with external reporting that the company has multiple revenue streams and strong traction.
Strong alignment with favorable macro and regulatory tailwinds. The closing slide ties the raise to **regulatory tailwinds, new markets opening, hot job market conditions, and cannabis businesses reporting hiring as their top priority**, linking macro trends directly to Vangst’s product and timing for the Series B.
Blend of technology and brand leadership in a niche market. By combining technology, brand, and industry growth as drivers of performance, the deck reinforces Vangst’s positioning as both a trusted community brand and a scalable tech-enabled staffing solution, which is echoed in later company descriptions.

What could have been stronger

Limited clarity on how much is true SaaS versus services-heavy staffing. The OCR text and public descriptions highlight that Vangst manages many compliance-related tasks (verification, time tracking, COVID protocols), but the deck excerpt does not clearly quantify how much of this workflow is automated versus manual or services-based—making it harder for investors to assess the true scalability of the SaaS component versus the staffing agency component.
Revenue quality and marketplace economics not clearly detailed in the deck excerpt. Slide snippets emphasize a dominant share among the largest cannabis businesses and rapid gig revenue growth, but there are no externally visible metrics in the excerpt like ARR, take-rate, gross margin, or cohort retention, which are crucial for evaluating the quality of revenue in a marketplace-plus-staffing model.
Regulatory and macro risks not fully addressed. The deck leans heavily on regulatory tailwinds and fast-opening new markets as a core investment rationale, but does not (in the excerpt) present a rigorous plan for downside scenarios such as regulatory delays, capital tightening in cannabis, or oversupply, which would be important risk factors for investors.
Market share claim lacks precise definition. While the deck claims 80% usage among the largest cannabis businesses, it does not clarify how ‘largest’ is defined, whether this is measured by revenue, licenses, or headcount, or how usage translates into recurring contracts versus occasional placements.
Unit economics and new-market ramp dynamics are not evident. The pitch emphasizes gig revenue growth and new market launches but the excerpt does not spell out unit economics by segment (gig vs. temp vs. perm) or show how new markets ramp relative to acquisition costs, leaving a gap in understanding expansion efficiency.

How an investor would read this deck

What draws attention

Validate the **$19M Series B** structure, investor roster, and use of proceeds against public announcements.
Understand the **blend of SaaS platform and staffing services**, including how technology vs. human recruiting drives margins and scalability.
Assess the **defensibility of Vangst’s position as the leading cannabis hiring platform**, including concentration among top operators and barriers to entry.
Evaluate **regulatory exposure and resilience**, given that hiring is tightly coupled to cannabis licensing regimes and changing employment rules.
Review **traction metrics behind claims like 150,000+ gigs and 80% of largest businesses**, mapping to revenue and retention.

Risks that stand out

Exposure to **cannabis regulatory volatility** and broader sector cyclicality, which could slow hiring despite early-stage growth tailwinds emphasized in the deck.
Potential **margin pressure** if services-heavy staffing functions outweigh software revenue, making the business more labor-intensive than a pure SaaS marketplace.
Dependence on a still-maturing and sometimes capital-constrained cannabis industry, where operator failures or consolidation could impact Vangst’s customer base.
Competitive risk from generalist job platforms and staffing firms that may expand cannabis verticals as legalization spreads, challenging Vangst’s niche position.
Operational complexity in managing compliance, credentialing, and multi-state regulations at scale, which could create bottlenecks or legal exposure if not handled rigorously.

Questions this deck invites

How is Vangst’s revenue broken down among gig staffing, temp-to-perm, permanent placements, and SaaS subscriptions, and what are the associated gross margins?
What exactly does the platform automate (credential verification, compliance, scheduling, payroll) versus what remains manual via recruiters, and how does this impact scalability and cost structure?
How is the ‘80% of the largest cannabis businesses’ metric defined and measured, and what portion of those relationships are contracted recurring clients versus occasional users?
What are the unit economics for launching a new state or market (payback period, CAC, contribution margin) and how have they trended over time?
How does Vangst manage regulatory risk across different states and countries, and what contingency plans exist for downturns or consolidation in the cannabis sector?

What founders can take from the Vangst deck

Anchoring a pitch around a **clear industry bottleneck**—in this case, hiring and compliance in cannabis—helps investors see an immediate pain point rather than a generic marketplace story.
Demonstrating **vertical specialization** (regulation, credentialing, cannabis-specific workflows) can differentiate a hiring platform from broad job boards and justify why a focused solution wins.
Including **market share signals** like adoption among top enterprises and counts of jobs or gigs filled provides concrete evidence of leadership in a niche market.
Leveraging **macro tailwinds** such as legalization trends, public sentiment, and industry growth can strengthen the case that the timing of a fundraise is uniquely favorable.
Combining **technology with human know-how** can be compelling in regulated, operationally complex industries where pure software struggles to solve end-to-end hiring challenges.
Publishing and sharing a pitch deck through media outlets can both attract investor attention and reinforce brand positioning as a category-defining platform.

Vangst pitch deck: common questions

What does Vangst do?

Vangst is a **hiring and staffing platform dedicated to the cannabis industry**, connecting job seekers with gig, temp-to-perm, and full-time roles at licensed cannabis businesses. It combines a job marketplace with recruiting services and technology that helps employers manage sourcing, vetting, and compliance across their workforce.

How much did Vangst raise in its Series B, and who invested?

According to multiple reports, Vangst raised a **$19 million Series B** round that closed in January 2022. The round was led by **Level One Fund**, with participation from prior investors such as **Lerer Hippeau, Casa Verde Capital, Colle Capital, Phyto Partners** and new investors including **L2 Ventures, Althea, Delta Emerald Ventures, Achari VC**, among others.

What is notable about Vangst’s Series B pitch deck?

Business Insider published Vangst’s **$19M Series B pitch deck** in February 2022, describing how the CEO used the deck to convince investors that hiring was the primary bottleneck in cannabis and that Vangst had captured a dominant share of the market. The deck highlights Vangst’s role as the hiring platform for top cannabis companies, rapid growth in gig revenue, and strong industry tailwinds to justify the Series B raise.

How much traction does Vangst claim to have with cannabis businesses?

The company reports having **filled thousands of positions for over 1,200 cannabis businesses** and operating as a leading recruitment platform for the sector. Its job board and staffing services are positioned as the #1 dedicated job platform for cannabis, handling roles from entry-level gig work to executive placements.

Which industries and markets does Vangst serve?

Vangst focuses primarily on the **legal cannabis industry**, serving licensed operators across cultivation, manufacturing, retail, and ancillary services. Its solutions are designed around cannabis-specific regulations, credential verification, and compliance requirements, though recent descriptions also mention adjacent areas like agriculture and light industrial roles.

Sources

Funding and outcome facts on this page were researched on 2026-08-22 from the pages below.

Vangst pitch deck slides

Vangst pitch deck slide 1 of 13 — Vangst pitch deck — slide 1 of 13

Vangst pitch deck slide 2 of 13 — Vangst pitch deck — slide 2 of 13

Vangst pitch deck slide 3 of 13 — Vangst pitch deck — slide 3 of 13

Vangst pitch deck slide 4 of 13 — Vangst pitch deck — slide 4 of 13

Vangst pitch deck slide 5 of 13 — Vangst pitch deck — slide 5 of 13

Vangst pitch deck slide 6 of 13 — Vangst pitch deck — slide 6 of 13

What each slide of the Vangst pitch deck says

Slide 2

Hiring in cannabis is hard - ourcing with limited annabis ily options Vetting candidates Verifying candidate credentials Managing changing cannabis employment regulation Verifying State required cannabis Ik Workers Compensation Payroll Time Tracking Managing on-s Managing cannabis compliance COVID Testing & Health Safety

Slide 3

Vangst is the cannabis industry's hiring platform Our platform allows customers to make all of their cannabis hires from one dashboard. 150,000+ Cannabis gigs filed

Slide 5

Vangst is the market leader in cannabis hiring B80% of the largest cannabis businesses use Vangst to hire their workforce e

Slide 8

Vangst has seen incredible growth thanks to our technology, brand and industry growth And we're just GCetting started ) '7,"I"I !

Slide 9

GIGS Revenue is growing rapidly and we have a massive opportunity to launch new markets GIGS reverie Jan Ffeb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct ®» VANGST

Slide 13

We're raising to take advantage of this unique opportunity Huge regulatory tailwinds New markets are opening at a fst rate due 1o s1700g publlc sertiment, pandermic-stretched Cannabis business growth Hot job market Cannates busnesses are hving In ane of the hottest recrustng enviranments of all time. Cannabs businesses report hiring as their i PRIt today, and Vangst is postianed parfectly 10 be ther partner ® VANGST

Slide text above is read directly from the Vangst deck PDF embedded on this page.