SNAK Venture Partners raises $50M fund to back vertical marketplaces

SNAK Venture Partners announced Wednesday the close of its oversubscribed $50 million debut fund, anchored by the investment firm Pritzker Group (founded by Illinois governor JB Pritzker and his brother, Tony).

SNAK founders Sonia Nagar and Adam Koopersmith worked at the firm and helped lead investments in companies like the auto marketplace Backlot Cars and TicketsNow (exited to Ticketmaster). The duo decided to break out on their own and, earlier this year, launched their firm to back digital marketplaces.

“It felt like the timing was right and there was support within the firm to go do this,” Nagar said.

The vision is that there is still so much to digitize, like in supply chain and construction, and this is the moment to strike because even holdout industries are more comfortable adopting new technology as fintech architecture advances.

“If you look at the biggest venture wins over the last decade,” she said, pointing to the likes of Uber, Instacart, and Airbnb, “those are five of the top 10 outcomes in venture.” As in those companies that raised billions from investors, went on to IPO, and returned millions to them.

“Most of those wins were in consumer, which tends to be faster-moving than large enterprises,” Nagar continued. “We think there’s a ton of white space to double down and focus on B2B marketplaces.” Looking specifically for the categories that haven’t yet digitized.

The firm has already invested in six companies, including Big Rentals and Repackify, focused on equipment rental and packaging logistics, respectively. Nagar said the firm hopes to overall write seed checks into at least 20 companies, at $1 million to $2 million a pop. She said they hope to deploy the entire fund within the next 3 to 4 years.

Though many new funds are struggling to raise capital (and capital remains concentrated at the top), Nagar said she and Koopersmith were able to lean on their backgrounds when wooing LPs.

Nagar previously helped launch Amazon apparel back in 2009, and was head of mobile at RetailMeNot. Koopersmith, meanwhile, spent 20 years at Pritzker Group and serves on the board of various marketplace companies. At the same time, Nagar said that without Pritzker’s support, it would have been quite hard to raise this fund, especially in last year’s environment.

Other LPs in their fund include the State of Illinois Growth and Innovation Fund and executives from other marketplace companies, like Favor Delivery and RetailMeNot.

Nagar said the firm is also location-agnostic, recognizing that the still-hidden marketplaces may not be found only in Silicon Valley and New York City. “We’re finding these overlooked founders in places where maybe other funds aren’t looking,” she said.

SNAK is itself based in Chicago, which she said some LPs have questioned. “People perceive that as a disadvantage; we view it as an advantage,” she continued. “We can get to everybody very fast.”