From: The Verge
“This is a recipe for addiction.”
E-cigarette start-up Juul is raising $1.2 billion against a $15 billion valuation — which will up the company’s worth to more than $16 billion, Bloomberg reported last week. Why is it so valuable? Selling nicotine has been a good business model for a long time, and Juul is making a product that delivers nicotine like a cigarette.
Verge video director Christian Mazza started vaping after he quit the cigarettes he’d smoked for 15 years. At first, he didn’t like the Juul compared to the low-nicotine e-cigs he started with. But over time, he says, “It just sort of took over, and everything else just got put away in a shelf — and the Juul became the daily driver.” It’s tiny, discreet, and the e-cig liquid doesn’t leak. Plus, he says, “I don’t know what’s going on on a molecular level, but it hits smoother and it’s a lot more satisfying when you’re craving that nicotine.”