Uncle Nearest, the Black woman-owned whiskey brand, has become world’s top-selling Black woman-owned spirits brand.
It’s also among the country’s fastest-growing whiskey companies.
Being Black woman-owned is a remarkable feat, considering Uncle Nearest’s competition is all owned by white men.
According to Yahoo!, Fawn Weaver founded the company in 2017.
She is now expanding Uncle Nearest into cognac.
And in December, Weaver announced that the brand’s most recent capital raise was oversubscribed.
This means the total capital the whiskey brand has raised is $220, which has elevated Uncle Nearest to a staggering $900 million valuation.
What Is The Black Woman-Owned Whiskey Brand, Uncle Nearest?
Weaver named the brand Uncle Nearest to pay tribute to the first known Black master distiller, Nearest Green.
It’s also the first spirits brand bearing a Black person’s name.
Today, you can find the brand nationwide in over 30,000 restaurants, hotels, stores, and bars.
All this whiskey comes from the brand’s 432-acre distillery in Shelbyville, Tennessee, while Weaver recently bought a 100-acre piece of land in Cognac, France.
Weaver revealed that the American distillery is the world’s seventh-most visited, getting more than 200,000 visitors only last year.
In 2023, Black founders only received 0.48% of venture dollars, amounting to $661 million out of $136 billion.
How Has Weaver Done It?
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Weaver revealed that her secret to Uncle Nearest’s stratospheric growth is a unique investment model: instead of going to PE or VC firms, she landed funding from a group of individual accredited investors.
“Now, I am in these rooms that people talk about. But in the beginning, when I was looking for capital, I wasn’t in these rooms. What happened is I went out, and I was networking everywhere and pounding the pavement at grocery stores, liquor tastings, trade shows, and golf clubs.”
However, Weaver didn’t want any random investor; she need people who aligned with her vision of cementing the legacy of the country’s first Black master distiller into the league of whiskey greats like Johnnie Walker and Jack Daniels.
“My vision canceled out all those who were expecting that five-year return. Although I assumed that everybody could be my next investor, I wasn’t just looking for any money. I was looking for the right money, for good money.”
The first person to invest in the Black woman-owned whiskey brand was Michael Berman, a political strategist who introduced Weaver to other interested investors.
“I’ve never sent a pitch deck. It’s always been an investor in my company sharing with people in their network that, ‘Yeah, it’s risky as hell, but I’m willing to take that risk.’ Then they convince their peers who express interest in investing.”
Uncle Nearest now has 170-strong investors, including:
- Craig Leipold, NHL’s Minnesota Wild’s majority owner
- Steve Mosko, CEO of movie company Village Roadshow Entertainment Group
- Jesse Burwell, CFO at D.C.-based private equity firm Liberty Strategic Capital
Weaver has no exit strategy because she never plans to sell Uncle Nearest.
“I have first right of refusal on every investment in my company. And the only plan I have is to buy [all investors] out. Every investor that comes in knows that the company has a very active secondary market.”
