July 18, 2022

Black-Owned African Spirits Brand Receives $3M Investment

Award-winning African spirits group, Spearhead, has raised $3 million in investment from venture capital firm Pendulum to help deliver their products to the world’s bars. 

Spearhead, co-founded by UK-based entrepreneurs Chris Federick and Damola Timeyin in 2021, is a multi-award-winning business with an extensive portfolio working with premium brands. The company launched to challenge the cultural basis and the lack of African representation in the spirits industry.

Their award-winning Premium African Spirits, Vusa Vodka and Bayab Gin, are made solely from African products and capture Africa’s premium craft and creativity.

The investment marks the company’s expansion into a more global market, allowing them to bring their innovative taste and scents to bars worldwide.

“With a lack of Black-owned African Spirits brands exported globally, we have made it our mission to connect the world to Africa through our spirits,” said CEO and co-founder of Spearhead, Chris Frederick, in a press release.

“Our brands not only increase diversity and challenge cultural bias in the sector but being produced on the African continent allows us to show the world that [Africa] is a resource-rich continent, with products that can compete on the world stage in taste and quality, as well as innovation. Pendulum’s investment will allow us to release this vision globally; we are beyond excited about the partnership and their belief in this mission and the power of the African continent.”

The strategic investment platform, Pendulum, was founded in 2019 by D’Rita and Robbie Robinson. The investment company is dedicated to accelerating opportunities for founders and leaders of color.

Kumba Kpakima

Kumba Kpakima is a reporter at POCIT. A documentary about the knife crime epidemic in the UK got her a nomination for the UK's #30toWatch Young Journalists of the Year.