SNAK Venture Partners raises $50M fund to support vertical markets

SNAK project partners On Wednesday, it announced the close of its oversubscribed $50 million debut fund, anchored by investment firm Pritzker Group (founded by Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and his brother Tony).

SNAK’s founders, Sonia Nagar and Adam Coopersmith, worked at the company and helped lead investments in companies like auto marketplace Backlot Cars and TicketsNow (which spun out into Ticketmaster). The duo decided to strike out on their own, and earlier this year, they launched their company to support digital marketplaces.

“I felt like the timing was right and there was support within the company to do it,” Najar said.

The vision is that there is still a lot that can be digitized, such as in the supply chain and construction, and this is the right moment to strike because even holdout industries are feeling more comfortable adopting new technology as fintech engineering advances.

“If you look at the biggest venture capital gains over the last decade, those are five of the top 10 venture outcomes,” she said, pointing to companies like Uber, Instacart and Airbnb. As is the case with those companies that raised billions from investors, then went public, and returned millions to them.

“Most of those gains were in the consumer sector, which tends to be faster moving than large companies,” Nagar continued. “We think there is a lot of white space to double down on B2B markets.” Specifically looking for categories that have not yet been digitized.

The company has already invested in six companies, including Big Rentals and Repackify, which focus on equipment rental and packaging logistics, respectively. Najjar said the company hopes to write initial checks overall to at least 20 companies, for between $1 million and $2 million. She said they hope to deploy the entire fund within the next 3 to 4 years.

Although many new funds struggle to raise capital (and capital remains concentrated at the top), Nagar said she and Coopersmith were able to lean on their backgrounds when attracting limited partners.

Nagar previously helped launch Amazon Apparel in 2009 and was head of RetailMeNot’s mobile division. Meanwhile, Coopersmith spent 20 years at the Pritzker Group and serves on the boards of several market companies. Meanwhile, Najjar said that without Pritzker’s support, it would have been very difficult to raise this fund, especially in last year’s environment.

Other LPs in its fund include the Illinois Growth and Innovation Fund and executives from other marketplace companies, such as Favor Delivery and RetailMeNot.

The company also doesn’t care about location, realizing that still-hidden markets may not only exist in Silicon Valley and New York City, Najjar said. “We’re finding these overlooked founders in places other funds might not be looking,” she said.

SNAK itself is based in Chicago, something she said some LPs have questioned. “People view that as a disadvantage, and we view it as an advantage,” she continued. “We can reach everyone very quickly.”