HubSpot’s Chief Legal Officer Takes New Role at Cannabis Fintech Dutchie
Dutchie LLC, a cannabis industry payments services provider backed by savvy investors, has hired John Kelleher as its general counsel.
Kelleher joins Dutchie after more than a decade as chief legal officer of HubSpot Inc., a sales software company he started in 2012 and helped take public two years later. Kelleher left Cambridge, Mass.-based HubSpot effective Sept. 6, but will assist in the search for his successor, according to a securities filing.
Dutchie was valued at $3.75 billion last year after completing a $350 million Series D round of funding. The Bend, Ore.-based company’s backers include asset management giant Tiger Global Management LLC and Casa Verde Capital LLC, a cannabis investment firm that is co-founded by rapper Calvin “Snoop Dogg” Broadus Jr.
Cannabis is legal for both recreational and medical use in Canada and a growing number of US states. It has not been legalized at the federal level in the United States and is among the more regulated substances in North America.
Dutchie’s legal, public affairs and compliance teams work closely together to navigate issues such as traceability, taxes and purchase limits, Kelleher said.
“It’s core, it’s critical to the company,” Kelleher said of helping customers “meet their compliance obligations” across a changing regulatory landscape.
Kelleher, 57, said a confluence of factors drew him to privately owned Dutchie, including that he will be able to work remotely from his Boston-area home.
He joined Dutchie, despite having no experience — either personally or professionally — in the legal weed space, Kelleher said. He spoke to family members who use cannabis to offset the side effects of chemotherapy treatments for cancer.
“It’s a mission-driven aspect that I love,” Kelleher said of his new job.
Making connections
At HubSpot, Kelleher earned more than $2.7 million in total compensation last year, according to the company’s most recent proxy statement. He currently owns roughly $16 million in HubSpot stock, according to Bloomberg data.
He previously spent nearly nine years as general counsel for Endeca Technologies Inc., a software company sold for $1.1 billion in 2011 to Oracle Corp. Boston’s tight-knit tech scene — Kelleher jokingly called it “incestuous” — saw Endeca’s co-founders launch Toast Inc., a restaurant software startup whose former chief operating officer, Tim Barash, is now executive chairman of Dutchie.
Kelleher connected with Barash, whose brother, attorney Bryan Barash, now serves as Dutchie’s head of public policy, strategy and compliance, as well as Ross Lipson, Dutchie’s co-founder and CEO.
Executives told Kelleher that Dutchie is committed to social justice and a pure technology company that is not “plant-touching,” he said, rather than providing the e-commerce infrastructure for cannabis dispensaries to sell and deliver their products.
“We’re creating the tools so they can safely and legally sell cannabis in a compliant way,” Kelleher said.
Kelleher succeeds Dutchie’s first-ever general counsel, former Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz associate Lauren Thomas. She left the company in January to take the top legal job at online marketplace Faire Wholesale Inc.
Goodwin Procter advised Dutchie on its latest Series D fundraising round in October 2021. Kelleher said Goodwin, with whom he previously worked at Endeca and HubSpot, does most of Dutchie’s corporate work. Boston-based Goodwin partners Gregg Katz and Joseph Theis Jr., who are both part of the firm’s technology practice, spoke with Kelleher before he moved to Dutchie, he said.
“It’s great to have that built-in relationship and connection with outside counsel,” Kelleher said. Other law firms representing Dutchie include Perkins Coie and Vierra Magen Marcus, an intellectual property boutique based in Daly City, California.
