TechVenture CapitalForget vapes: Nicotine pouch startup Sesh raises 40 million from 8VC, Post Malone, and Diplo to take on ZynBy Leo SchwartzBy Leo SchwartzSenior WriterLeo SchwartzSenior WriterLeo Schwartz is a senior writer at Fortune covering fintech, crypto, venture capital, and financial regulation.SEE FULL BIO Sesh founder and CEO Max CunninghamCourtesy of SeshAfter vapes staved off the extinction of tobacco, a new generation of nicotine products is promising a safer, albeit no less addictive, form of consumption through tobacco-free pouches made popular by the likes of Zyn and Velo. Now, a celebrity-backed upstart called Sesh is trying to challenge those incumbents.
Buoyed by 40 million in venture funding from Palantir cofounder Joe Lonsdales 8VC, along with music stars Diplo and Post Malone, Sesh is pitching itself as a safer alternative for cigarette and vape users through so-called white pouchesone of the fastest-growing consumer categories. While Sesh is competing against Big Tobacco offerings like Philip Morriss Zyn, its founder and CEO, Max Cunningham, says that Seshs independent statusand unique formula, designed by Zyns inventorwill make it a formidable opponent.
Not all pouches are created equal, he told Fortune. Courtesy of Sesh The nicotine wars A native of British Columbia, Cunningham grew up playing hockey, where chewing tobacco was omnipresent.
He shifted to vaping but couldnt quit the habit until he was introduced to his first nicotine pouches. (Cunningham says he currently goes through about half a can of Sesh, or 10 pouches, a day.) While pouches are still addictive, proponents argue that their lack of tobacco and combustion reduces the carcinogenic harms associated with cigarettes and vapes, similar to nicotine gum or patches.
*Reporting by Fortune.*
Forget vapes: Nicotine pouch startup Sesh raises $40 million from 8VC, Post Malone, and Diplo to take on Zyn
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