Former Distill Ventures co-founder Dan Gasper is launching an independent drinks accelerator aimed at supporting low- and no-alcohol beverages and “the future of spirits.”
The new program, The Ardent Company, sees Gasper return to the beverage industry and low/no alcohol market after his departure from Distill Ventures in 2018. Gasper co-founded the Diageo-backed investment firm in 2013, during which the group invested in non-alcoholic distilled ‘spirit’ Seedlip.
Alongside founding partners Daniel Rowntree and Andreas Redlefsen, Gasper will lead the The Ardent Company as it seeks investment opportunities ranging from $2 million to $20 million and which offers support for up to 10 years, according to a press release. Once every two years or so participating brands can access additional rounds of fundraising in as little as 6-8 weeks, as opposed to the traditional 6-8 months fundraising cycle.
“We’re on a mission to change the way the world drinks by fuelling pioneering founders focused on low alcohol, no alcohol, and the future of spirits,” says Gasper in a press release. “Our goal at The Ardent Company is to offer a better way for founders to scale while remaining in control of their business, allowing them to remain independent for longer and realize the full value of the brands they’re building.”
In an email to BevNET, Gasper explained that The Ardent Company represents the culmination of his experience coaching small brands and founders, both before and after creating Distill Ventures.
“Having worked with founders who are backed by independent capital and worked with founders who were backed by corporate capital, I recognized there was a space in the middle – strategic growth capital that doesn’t define your exit partner,” he said. “By staying independent for longer, I believe founders-led companies have better ability to grow and realize the true value of their boldest vision.”
The Los Angeles-based accelerator is looking for “founders with bold visions to change the way we drink and socialize for the better,” Gasper said. Brands can apply directly through the company’s site.
The program itself combines independent long-term financial support and leadership coaching to help scale startup ventures, but with founders still maintaining majority equity and control over decision making.
“One of the biggest problems founders face in multiple fundraising rounds is giving away more and more equity until they have the funding they need, but often face owning only a fraction of the company they’ve built,” Gasper said. “We believe in founders, we are backing founder-led companies, and we want to keep founders in the driving seat as they are what is powering the whole business.”
Gasper said the company will be keeping a low profile in terms of discussing the brands – four so far – it invests in, an intentional tactic. “Don’t get us wrong, we’re incredibly proud of all the founders associated with us, but we leave their decisions up to them. We’ll only ever talk about our partnerships if they want us to, and when we’re both good and ready. Raising money successfully can be celebrated, for sure, but it’s the products that are supposed to shine.”
As Gasper knows from his time at Distill Ventures, no-and-low alcohol products are one of the industry’s hottest segments; ISWR projects the market, currently around $10 billion, to reach $30 billion by 2026. That makes the creativity of founders and brands within the space “exciting,” he said, as there are “no strict conventions or boundaries and so a lot of space to play.”
“We’re looking for makers doing things differently so that we can taste something new: creatively inventive and decisively unique,” he said.