At a glance
Connected Cannabis Co. is a Sacramento-based, vertically integrated cannabis company focused on proprietary genetics, indoor cultivation and branded retail. The company traces its operating history to 2009 and identifies Caleb Counts as co-founder and CEO. Connected is also the parent platform behind the Connected and Alien Labs brands, but the two labels retain separate identities and product catalogs.
Origins: Fruitridge before the brand
Counts has described the company’s roots in Fruitridge Health & Wellness, an early Sacramento dispensary opened with three friends. In that first-party account, the shop emphasized product quality, customer time and reliable vendor relationships. A 2022 Trulieve announcement dates Connected’s breeding, growing and retail activity to 2009, making the dispensary operation—not a later package redesign—the useful starting point for its history.
Founder and company structure
Connected International Inc. is the corporate name shown on the current website. Counts is consistently identified as co-founder and CEO; the reviewed sources do not provide a complete, authoritative list of every original co-founder, so this profile does not invent one. Connected describes itself as vertically integrated, combining genetics, cultivation, manufacturing, distribution and three company retail stores.
Products and genetics
The current menu spans indoor flower, pre-rolls, cartridges and all-in-one vapes, plus extracts such as live resin and badder. Biscotti, Gelato 41, Permanent Marker and Gushers remain central names in the brand library. Connected also sells limited collaborations, including cultivar releases and licensed edible projects. Products, formats and test results vary by state, batch and local manufacturing partner.
Connected and Alien Labs
Alien Labs is a sibling brand within the same broader company, not a synonym for Connected. Trulieve’s partnership releases refer to Connected and Alien Labs as distinct branded portfolios, while Connected’s retail stores carry both. That shared infrastructure helps explain overlapping markets and collaborations, but genetics or awards credited jointly should remain jointly credited.
Stores and current footprint
Connected operates three California retail locations: Connected Sacramento, Connected Stockton and Area 41 in San Francisco. Its current product finder advertises availability in California, Arizona and Florida, and now also Pennsylvania and New York. An older FAQ still describes California, Arizona and medical Florida only, so the safest current reading is that expansion is market- and license-specific rather than a uniform national operation.
Competition record
Connected’s archived awards page lists a concentrated run of 2018 High Times results. Representative wins include first-place Gelato #41 indica flower at the Central Valley Cannabis Cup, first-place Gelonade sativa flower and first-place Biscotti hybrid flower at the Amsterdam event, plus first-place Hi-Tech sativa concentrate at the World Cannabis Cup. Some entries were collaborations with Critical Concentrates, Alien Labs, Loaded, Field or other partners and should not be recast as Connected-only awards.
Authenticity and consumer context
The company warns that counterfeiters copy both its packaging and vape hardware and says authenticity cannot be established from photographs alone. Its guidance is to purchase only through licensed dispensaries in authorized markets. That warning is material: a Connected logo on an unlicensed package does not establish provenance, testing, formulation or affiliation.
Jobs, wholesale and retail access
The official site maintains a careers page and says wholesale sales are available to licensed retailers in California and Arizona. Store menus provide pickup for the three California shops, while the product finder points to third-party licensed retailers elsewhere. Inventory and promotions are local, so a strain appearing on the brand site may not be available at every store.
Sources and verification scope. Checked August 23, 2026: Connected’s homepage, product finder, FAQ, contact and archived awards pages; the company’s Fruitridge history post; and Trulieve’s 2022 partnership announcement. Store hours, state availability and menus can change. This profile separates first-party claims, partner releases and shared-credit awards rather than treating them as interchangeable proof.