Jay-Z’s capital fund, Marcy Venture Partners (MVP), has announced a significant investment in The Finnish Long Drink, a ready-to-drink cocktail brand. The brand reportedly sold 1.8 million cases of the beverage last year, up from 33,000 in 2019.
“Long Drink’s growth is up over 700% since our last funding announcement,” said Finnish Long Drink co-founder and CEO Evan Burns. “Our primary usage of funds with new investment from Marcy Venture Partners is twofold: expansion of store footprint and marketing. Generally speaking, it will allow us to grow our store footprint significantly and expand our marketing efforts across the country both on a regional and national level. We anticipate doubling our points of distribution over the course of the next year across the United States.”
The brand’s super impressive growth over the past year has already attracted huge investments. While the exact figure of Marcy Venture Partners’ investment is unknown, CB Insights reported that the company raised just over $41 million over fourteen rounds of funding, including the investment from MVP. Burns noted that most Americans still have not heard of Finnish Long Drink and said that the capital from MVP would help significantly spread awareness.
The brand has a history of partnering with stars to spread the word about Finnish Long Drink. Celebrity support has come from Miles Teller, DJ Kygo, and golfer Rickie Fowler. These collaborators have been actively promoting the beverage at bars and liquor stores across the country.
“Anytime you start up a company and scale it nationwide that takes a while but you can only do it if the numbers are there,” Teller told Forbes. “We’re just trying to match the interest with the sales and keep pumping it out there.”
The Finnish Long Drink is a 5.5% ABV gin, grapefruit juice, and carbonated water cocktail. It now comes in five flavors and is available in 43 US states and Western Canada. The recipe originated in 1952 at the Summer Olympics in Helsinki, but Finnish Long Drink is the first brand to bring it to the United States.
“People are obsessed with the taste,” Burns asserted. “In just over the past year Americans drank over 100 million cans of Finnish Long Drink. While that growth is incredible, 98% of Americans still haven’t heard of Long Drink so we are pleased that Marcy Venture Partners came to us to partner and accelerate awareness.”
Jay-Z has yet to comment on the investment. He has become well-known as an angel investor and has dabbled in the alcoholic beverage market before. He holds stakes in companies like Uber, Reebok, and Budweiser and owns brands like Tidal and Armand de Brignac. Marcy Venture Partners was established in 2018, and he has been conducting his investments through the fund ever since. Jay-Z has become a billionaire through investing alongside his prestigious music career. He is best known for colossal hits like Empire State of Mind, which features Alicia Keys; Rihanna’s Umbrella, which he is featured on; and his many collaborations with his wife, Beyoncé, including Crazy in Love, Drunk in Love, and 03’ Bonnie & Clyde.
