by Derek Major
November 30, 2023
Pronghorn selects The New England Barrel Company (NEBCo), a Black-owned whiskey company as the next seed investment
According to a press release shared with Black Enterprise, Pronghorn, a platform revolutionizing how to effectively diversify industries to include underrepresented groups, has selected the New England Barrel Company (NEBCo) as the next seed investment.
NEBCo, a Black-owned brand, features a group of spirits recognized for its rich flavor notes and warm finishes. NEBCo has quickly become a well-recognized brand by critics across the U.S. The brand includes a bevy of two-core batched bourbons and several limited, single-barrel offerings bottled from whiskies sourced from US-based distilleries, both large and small.
“New England Barrel Company, at its foundation, is about building community through a shared interest in great whiskey,” New England Barre Company Founder James Saunders said in a statement. “Our mission each day is to craft and distribute outstanding batched and single barrel releases that are affordable and offer them to the public at reasonable prices.”
The entry into the Pronghorn family arrives on the heels of the New York Spirits Competition, where NEBCo was named the “Best Single Barrel Bourbon up to 10 Years” for the company’s single barrel Select 5-Year Bourbon.
The award further cements the Black-founded brand as one of the leading whiskey brands globally. The investment in NEBCo is another step that Pronghorn is taking to achieve its overall goal of investing in 57 Black-owned spirits brands to generate $2.4 billion in economic value for the Black community by 2032.
Earlier this summer, Pronghorn announced it raised $200 million to invest in 19 Black-owned businesses and started several initiatives to help boost Black men and women in the spirits industry, including its HBCU Innovation Lab and the Pronghorn Spirits Academy.
In August, Pronghorn announced its fourth round of angel investments in three spirits brands: Abisola Whiskey, Los Hermanos Tequila 1978, and Alexander James Whiskey. The investments celebrated the rise of Black entrepreneurs across growing industries across the U.S. in honor of Black Business Month.
“It’s extraordinary to see the ways in which the Pronghorn family continues to grow,” said Pronghorn CEO and Managing Director Jomaree Pinkard.“ We are thrilled to be working with New England Barrel Company to further accelerate their business. Pronghorn’s capital investments and supercharging programs continue to refine its unique replicability to encourage and enable any company to effectively diversify any industry for historically underrepresented communities.”
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