Pronghorn, an initiative focused on boosting Black spirits entrepreneurship, announced yesterday new investments in three companies: Tequila with Friends, Den of Thieves and Ego Tequila. Terms of the deals were not disclosed.
Focused on cultivating the next generation of Black entrepreneurs, executive 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. The companies join Ten To One—a rum brand founded by former Starbucks VP, Marc Farrell and co-owned by artist Ciara— as Pronghorn’s first investments since launching in February.
Pronghorn’s capital investment in the three brands will be supplemented with access to its accelerator program, which includes consulting services from industry experts.
“We couldn’t be more thrilled to add these leaders and their brands to the Pronghorn family,” said Connor McKenna, portfolio director at Proghorn. “They are exactly the kind of visionary entrepreneurs we look for, individuals who will lead the way as together we build a more diverse and equitable spirits industry.”
Ego Tequila’s founder Rikki Kelly is the first Black woman to own a tequila brand in the state of Texas, and one of only three in the entire country. Pronghorn’s financial support will allow the 23-year-old entrepreneur to continue expanding the brand in Texas, assist with navigating supply chain demands, and ready it for direct-to-consumer shipping outside of its home state.
“I wanted to switch up the norm of the spirits industry,” said Kelly. “It’s a very white male dominated industry and it’s also filled with vanity brands. Someone such as myself rarely ventures out into the industry, especially tequila, and I wanted to change that up.”
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. Beyond spirits, only about 2% of venture capital goes to female entrepreneurs, and Black entrepreneurs received only 1% of the venture capital invested in U.S. startups in the first half of 2021.
Den of Thieves, a premium bourbon brand, had been self-funded up until the Pronghorn investment.
“As a Black entrepreneur in the spirits space, capital is not readily accessible, most of us struggle trying to balance working a full-time job to finance our dream as well as provide a life,” said founder Jason Armstrong. “The infusion of capital from Pronghorn is a real milestone for the brand and I am confident that we will take full advantage of these funds to ensure Den of Thieves’ continued success.”
For Armstrong, who founded the whiskey company after working in the wine industry, Pronghorn’s team of spirits experts is an invaluable addition. Den of Thieves is distributed in six markets, with plans to grow its footprint in three of the top five bourbon markets in the country: Texas, New York and Florida.
The four founders of Tequila with Friends— who evolved their tequila lovers blog into a brand in 2020—will use the investment to help strengthen its marketing and advertising campaigns in current and new markets. The premium silver and reposado tequila has a retail footprint in Texas, California, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., and will soon be expanding to Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma.
The latest investment round points to a rapid funding pace, setting up Pronghorn to surpass its 10-year goal, the company 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 this year. Global beverage company Diageo announced its backing as anchor investor in Pronghorn in 2021.