Deal Details
Startup: Amass
Security type: Preferred equity
Valuation: $75 million
Share price: $3.8
Minimum investment: $498
Where to invest: SeedInvest
Deadline: February 12, 2022
Amass is a luxury lifestyle beverage brand. But it’s also so much more.
To help you grasp the breadth of its many markets, let’s consider another high-end beverage brand, Dom Pérignon. It makes the best champagne money can buy. And given its powerful brand, it’s not hard to imagine consumers paying top dollar for anything it made.
Consumers are willing to pay for luxury brands — especially when it comes to alcohol. A Krug vintage brut champagne runs for $950 a bottle. A 750 ml bottle of Clase Azul Ultra Anejo tequila bottle runs for around $1,999. A 3-liter bottle of Armand de Brignac Brut Gold runs for $2,239.
It’s not that luxury products are particularly irresistible. The power lies in the brand. Premium brands enable premium pricing.
But Amass is proving that not all premium brands have to come with crazy high prices — or a narrow focus. Amass’ products range from low-alcohol seltzers to botanical gins and vodkas to cannabis beverages (just launched last week).
Amass founder Mark Lynn has obviously thought a great deal about the power of brands (almost as much as I have). As you’d expect from a line of high-end products, the bottling and labeling are impeccable. The taste, smell and texture of everything Amass makes is very pleasing. This is premium brand building 101. Mark has nailed that aspect. But that’s just the beginning.
Amass’ products also align perfectly with today’s — and tomorrow’s — sensibilities. One way the company accomplishes this? All of Amass’ products are based on plants and botanicals.
This approach is perfectly in sync with the growing popularity of plant-based foods and milk-substitute products. More and more people are choosing plant-based foods because they’re healthier choices that replace fatty ingredients with leaner ones.
Certainly, that’s a step in the right direction. But Amass’ products go even further by also replacing harmful chemicals. For instance, Amass’ award-winning vodka replaces glycerin with its own proprietary mix of botanicals.
Botanicals are a natural choice (forgive the pun) for Amass’ products. Not only are they much healthier than toxic chemicals, but they also enhance flavor, texture and scent. As far as I know, Amass is the only company using botanicals as the foundational piece of its brand across all its product lines — including hard liquors, seltzers, cannabis drinks, lotions, soaps and candles.
Thinking Big
Amass’ exceptional brand requires an exceptional brand-builder. Serial entrepreneur Mark Lynn is the perfect guy for the job. I’ve known Mark for five years. He co-founded Winc (one of our favorite direct-to-consumer wine companies) and grew several other young companies into strong players. He knows marketing. He’s strategic. And his global network (as unbelievable as this may be) rivals mine in size and influence.
My favorite thing about him? He thinks BIG. He does whatever it takes to grow big. He wants Amass to reach at least a $1 billion valuation.
Mark is selling Amass’ products in a dozen countries from Greece to Singapore… in four of the world’s top 10 bars… in five Michelin-reviewed restaurants… at the famous Scorpios Resort (on the Greek island of Mykonos)… and at all 27 Soho House locations around the world. In all, it’s in more than 2,200 retailers and restaurants.
There are already early clues of future success. Revenues continue to rise sharply. From $3.4 million in 2020, revenues should at least double to between $6 million and $8 million this year.
From the get-go, Amass’ products have won over customers from all around the world. And not only at high-end venues, but at the high end of the high end.
Most startups don’t aim that high because most new brands just don’t have the horsepower to reach such heights. It’s a great sign of things to come. And it also explains why Amass has so enthusiastically launched its cannabis drink, Afterdream. At $70 a bottle, it’s the kind of product that not many startups would dare launch. But it’s a perfect fit in Amass’ product portfolio.
Upscale Quirkiness
Brands like Amass like to leverage celebrity endorsements and partnerships. Amass bagged an A-list celebrity — one of the world’s biggest pop stars — in a joint venture that will launch later this year. It should come as no surprise that billionaires and celebrities also populate Amass’ cap table.
But you don’t need to be a celebrity or a billionaire to invest in Amass. Its valuation is a reasonable $75 million. It’s based on a six times 2022 projected revenue calculation. It assumes upcoming product launches and partnerships will happen on schedule over the next 18 months and be successful. That’s fine by me, especially since six times multiples are on the low side these days.
Mark has made excellent progress in executing a global growth strategy that marries a quirky selection of non-traditional beverage (and apothecary) genres with botanicals at decidedly upscale prices.
It certainly got my attention. I have no doubt it has also captured the attention of many major beverage brands (even at this early stage). They don’t do quirkiness very well. And upscale quirkiness is well beyond their capabilities.
If Amass continues to progress along the path it’s chosen for itself, it’ll have plenty of deep-pocketed acquirers down the road.
How to Invest
Amass is raising up to $10 million in this round. You can invest through SeedInvest. If you don’t already have a SeedInvest account, you’ll need to sign up for one. Once you verify your account and are logged in to SeedInvest, visit the Amass deal page.
Then click the button to invest. Enter the amount you want to invest, starting as low as $498, and proceed through the required steps. Be sure your investment is confirmed, and then you’re good to go.
Risks
This opportunity, like all early-stage investments, is risky. Early-stage investments often fail. The investment you’re making is NOT liquid. Expect to hold your position for five to 10 years. An earlier exit is always possible but should not be expected.
All that said, I believe Amass offers an attractive risk-reward ratio.