Venture firm Pronghorn, an initiative focused on boosting Black entrepreneurship in spirits, announced today new investments in four companies: Anteel Tequila, Common Ground Spirits, Delta Dirt Distillery, and Old Hillside Bourbon Company. Terms of the deals were not disclosed.
The news comes on the heels of last month’s investment in cocktail mixer and beverage brand Hella Cocktail Co that also brought on the company’s co-founder, Jomaree Pinkard, as Pronghorn’s new CEO and managing director.
“It’s an exciting time at Pronghorn,” said Pinkard in a press release. “We are starting off the year strong ahead of schedule of our 10-year goal and are now welcoming an additional four companies that are led by these successful Black entrepreneurs into our network.”
Focused on cultivating the next generation of Black entrepreneurs, leaders and founders within the spirits industry, Proghorm aims to fill 1,800 industry roles and make 57 Black-owned brand investments within the next 10 years. Prior to today’s announcement, the firm has so far backed four other Black-owned spirit brands since it launched last February: Ten To One, Tequila with Friends, Den of Thieves and Ego Tequila.
Anteel Tequila’s story is rooted in co-founder Nayana Ferguson’s battle to overcome cancer twice, which motivated her to find a naturally low sugar spirit. Together with her husband Don Ferguson, they decided to pour their life savings into creating a brand, launching Anteel Tequila in August 2018.
With the new funding, the company will add an añejo tequila to its lineup of infused, blanco and reposado expressions. Ferguson also plans on expanding distribution and overall visibility for the brand, which is currently sold in 13 states. The company is also working on another flavored tequila, which Ferguson is confident is an untapped and growing market.
“What’s great is we’re well positioned to become a well-known brand for both our traditional expressions and our infused line-up,” she said.
Pronghorn’s capital investment in the four brands will be supplemented with access to its accelerator program, which includes consulting services from industry experts.
“The relationship with Pronghorn allows us to gain significantly from their years of experience in areas such as controlling costs, enhancing the relationship with our existing distribution companies, and how to use data and metrics to continue to build the Anteel Tequila brand,” Ferguson said. “There’s just so much to learn and benefit from and the Pronghorn team has been exceptional.”
Ferguson is the first Black woman to co-own a tequila brand, the release noted. The founder of Ego Tequila, another Pronghorn investment, is also one of the few Black women to own a tequila company.
Other entrepreneurs now in the Pronghorn fold are also breaking new ground: Delta Dirt is Arkansas’ first Black-owned distillery and America’s only Black-owned farm distillery. The family distillery was co-founded by couple Harvey and Donna Williams, and uses ingredients grown on their fourth generation farm for a sweet potato vodka. The distillery recently released a gin and is anticipating a bourbon, which also includes sweet potatoes in its mash-bill.
Across the country in Berkeley, California, Common Ground Spirits also offers distinct regional styles of gin and bourbon by sourcing botanicals and grain from local partners. The company was bootstrapped in 2020 by Julian T. Peebles and Tory E. Brown, both men of color who began their journey together working in the tech industry. Funding from Pronghorn will allow the company to increase marketing activity, and boost their salesforce in areas where they have distribution including California, Washington D.C., Maryland and Georgia. The duo’s vision is to make a positive impact on the spirits industry by creating a company that takes pride in its representation and diversity.
The founders of Old Hillside Bourbon also lead their brand story with a celebration of Black entrepreneurship. The Kentucky bourbon was launched by four high school friends, and pays homage to both a Black jockey who played a pivotal role popularizing the Kentucky Derby and the founders’ roots in Durham, North Carolina, where a Black Wall Street once thrived in the early 20th century.
Pronghorn’s research has shown that while Black Americans represent 12% of alcohol consumers across categories, they make up just 7.8% of the sector’s labor force and 2% of executives in the industry. Other programs aiming to close the representation gap in spirits include Fawn Weaver’s Uncle Nearest Fund and The Entrepreneurial Spirit Fund by Sia Scotch Whiskey, which provide mentorship and investments to beverage entrepreneurs of diverse backgrounds.
The newest investment surpasses the company’s annual investment benchmarks, setting Pronghorn up to meet its 10-year goal, it said in a statement. Conceived in 2020 by spirits industry veterans Dia Simms, Erin Harris, and Dan Sanborn, its incubator and accelerator programs kicked into action early last year. Global beverage company Diageo announced its backing as anchor investor in Pronghorn in 2021.