history and home to one of the most impressive distilleries we’ve even seen. The Black-owned spirits brand didn’t even exist five years ago today, it’s the fastest-growing whiskey brand in U.S. We’ve called Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey the most important story in the history of American whiskey. The article Uncle Nearest Launches $50M Venture Fund to Help BIPOC and Women-Owned Spirits Brands by Kirk Miller was originally published on InsideHook.Fawn Weaver, Uncle Nearest founder and CEO, and founder of the Uncle Nearest Venture Fund The post Uncle Nearest Launches $50 Million Venture Fund to Help BIPOC and Women-Owned Spirits Brands appeared first on InsideHook. Sign up for our daily newsletter and be in the know. Uncle Nearest Is the Most Important Story in American Whiskey HistoryĪ Potential Solution to Whiskey’s Diversity Problem Uncle Nearest Is Now the Best-Selling African-American Owned and Founded Spirits Brand Ever Thankfully, Weaver - now, admittedly, an industry pro - can put her new fund to great use. I love having no people with a spirits background investing in us.” When I interviewed her in 2019 (the day before the distillery opened to the public), she relished the rather nontraditional ways she’d built her own company, which included two rounds of $30 million investments each, all from individuals and none from companies, private equity or venture capital. Weaver’s central role in the fund comes as no surprise. The moment the Uncle Nearest Venture Fund agreed to do so, we were ready - we’d only been waiting on capital.” (Sorel will now relaunch as an exclusive to ReserveBar.) I never gave up because I knew it was special and that one day, someone would be willing to invest in it and in me. Many do not know this, but I went homeless for about 18 months as I pounded the pavement to continue growing my business. “I wasn’t willing to compromise on the quality and I did everything I could to raise the money to keep Sorel alive, including pitching the brand to the CEOs of some of the most well-known spirit conglomerates. “Most people don’t know how expensive it is to create and grow a premium spirit brand in America,” says Sorel founder Jackie Summers. The investments are quite welcome within the industry. We cannot go back and undo the past, but I do believe we have full power over our future, and that recreating a Black Wall Street of sorts within the spirits industry is a great place to start.” We were lifting one another up and creating wealth within our own community, and then showing others how to do it for themselves. “As an African American, learning about that history broke my heart because we, as a people, were really onto something in Tulsa, Oklahoma. We are talking about 35 square blocks known as Black Wall Street,” says Uncle Nearest founder and CEO Fawn Weaver. “On June 1, 1921, an entire community of wealthy and successful African Americans was wiped out in a matter of hours. was about $2 million, or the equivalent of $26.8 million in today’s money. That dollar amount is also historically important according to the company, the amount of money lost during the Tulsa Massacre - when white mobs attacked Black citizens and destroyed buildings within the prosperous Greenwood District of Tulsa, O.K. To begin, two companies will receive $2 million through the fund: Jack From Brooklyn, Inc., the maker of Sorel Liqueur, and Equiano Rum Company (who we’ve discussed before). As a press release notes, “Uncle Nearest hopes to recreate a Black Wall Street of sorts within the spirits industry by lifting up brands that are building their own legacies.” The fund’s launch purposely coincides with the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Massacre. Now, the company is taking a bigger financial leap with the launch of Uncle Nearest Venture Fund, a $50 million fund created to invest in BIPOC and women-owned spirit brands. That was a welcome and generous $5 million investment to improve diversity within the spirits world. Last year, Uncle Nearest and Jack Daniel’s teamed up to fund the Nearest and Jack Advancement Initiative, which supports “rising and aspiring Black distillers as well as Black entrepreneurs entering the whiskey spirits industry.” (The whiskey is also very, very good.)īut the company’s investments outside of its own product might be just as important. Fawn Weaver, Uncle Nearest founder and CEO, and founder of the Uncle Nearest Venture Fund
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