Our 2019 investment will reverse the trend of one of the “hottest” startups of 2018

Someone has to clean up the mess made by vaping. Smoking was on the decline in high schools until Vaping not only rejuvenated the tobacco industry early adopters but extended their reach into middle schools. With Altria’s marketing muscle and much bigger retail footprint, says Gottlieb, Juul adoption could well erase a generation of gains in the fight against nicotine addiction. One in five people under 30 in the U.S. now vapes occasionally, and a growing percentage of those users are teenagers. We’ve heard from school administrators that students as young as 10 are having a hard time concentrating in class and are requesting breaks to get their nicotine fix. Schools are trying patches and gum but none of those products seem to be effective with vaping, in part because they do not satisfy both cravings (hand to mouth) and user-control of doses. Adults echo that concern and have told us that quitting apps are interesting but hard to adhere to on their own.

Then we met Josh Israel. His team at HAVA helps people battling nicotine addiction in a manner that is consistent with the behaviors the majority are used to: smoking as they please. Blending vaporizer with both feedback and accountability through their app, their product, the Hale, will automatically and gradually wean vapers off the substance.

Their patent-pending vaporizer pen design allows them to provide a consistent smoke experience while reducing nicotine intake over time. The company plans to go the FDA route in order to get this product prescribed to teenagers, as well as offer an over-the-counter option for adults.

The team is led by Josh Israel who moves at lightning speed, and has one exit under his belt. He has close relatives who have suffered from nicotine addiction and some have passed away. Prior to HAVA, Josh built and sold Thrill, an Indian dating platform that was acquired by Shaddi.com.

Cessation products have a CAGR of 2% while vaping has a CAGR of 20%! The market for smoking cessation product is large but can be larger with the right product executed well. The HAVA team’s approach to both regulatory and manufacturing passed our stress test. During diligence we had a chance to see Josh’s speed of execution and commitment to making HAVA a success.

We want every founder to think of us as their most helpful investor, and although HAVA is earlier than many of our direct investments, we had confidence that we could add value by bringing to him relevant portions of the Make in LA program. We have already assisted the HAVA team with introductions to technical talent and advisors, and look forward to continuing to be a supportive investor (perhaps his most supportive).

We were honored to be part of their oversubscribed $1M pre-seed round alongside Village Global. Next for HAVA: they’re testing their production-level prototype and beginning the regulatory process with preclinical testing.