Alex Kwon Pivots Cannabis Company into 9-Figures
By James Moreau | 21 Apr, 2026

By solving the hardware bottlenecks that plague extract companies, Alex Kwon’s Active has become the foundational infrastructure for the modern vape industry.

As the CEO of Active, 41-year-old entrepreneur Alex Kwon leads a $100 million vaporizer business that has become the foundational hardware manufacturer for the global cannabis industry.

Formerly known as Advanced Vapor Devices, the company was initially conceived in 2018 as a side project to support Sungrown – a Washington-based extract brand Kwon founded in 2015 after purchasing and scaling a distressed property.  However, the hardware quickly became the main event, after a vape cartridge produced $1.6 million in revenue in just six weeks.  By controlling the supply chain, this also solved a hardware bottleneck that often plague extract companies.

Kwon’s journey into the Green Rush began in 2009, preceding the wave of modern legalization – seven years before California legalized recreational use and five years before Washington had established its retail landscape.  His early ventures were rooted in infrastructure founding Humboldt Consulting Group to develop land, build greenhouses, and install irrigation systems.  Kwon used the success of this company to buy out a struggling cannabis grower in Washington, which he quickly scaled.

Originally from the greater Chicago area, Kwon’s path to the West Coast was unconventional.  He dropped out of the University of Illinois Chicago while studying computer science and moved to California to help a friend “clear land” – unbeknownst to him it would be for the purpose of growing marijuana.

Today, with Active having established a dominant presence in North America, Kwon is focused on the next phase of growth: a full-scale expansion into the European market.  He’s started this by taking a $3 million majority stake in Denmark-based processor Valcon.  Active now currently controls an estimated 20% of the vape hardware market.