Barrel Ventures

ActiveVenture Capital

Updated: Mar 19, 2026 ·

About

Barrel Ventures operates as a dedicated seed fund, channeling capital into early-stage companies focused on addressing critical challenges within the global food ecosystem. The firm targets innovations across various segments, including the future of sustainable packaging, novel ingredient development, and optimization of complex supply chains. By leveraging extensive operational experience and strategic partnerships, Barrel Ventures provides both financial backing and mentorship to propel nascent food entrepreneurs forward.

Nate Cooper and Carey Cooper co-founded the firm in 2019, driven by the insight that the global food ecosystem faced significant systemic issues requiring innovative solutions. Nate Cooper brought a background of founding and scaling companies like L3HG and Wise Apple, while Carey Cooper’s entrepreneurial journey included leadership roles as CEO and chairman within the food and beverage and supply chain industries. Their combined expertise forms the foundation of the fund’s strategic approach.

The fund primarily serves ambitious early-stage food entrepreneurs whose ventures aim to redefine their respective categories. Barrel Ventures seeks to empower these companies to build more resilient, efficient, and sustainable food systems. The overarching vision is to foster a new generation of food-agtech enterprises that create lasting positive impact, ensuring a more robust and responsive global food future.

Financial History

Total Raised

N/A

Valuation

N/A

Investments Made

Date	Company	Round	Lead Investor(s)	Co-Investor(s)
Mar 1, 2022	The Expert	$12.0M Series A	—	Backstage Capital, Construct Capital, Encomenda Smart Capital, Jenny Fielding, Scott Hartley, First Round Capital, Forerunner Ventures, Forum Ventures, Gaingels, Hyperplane, Lakeside Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, MaC Venture Capital, Northzone, Pareto Holdings, Point Nine Capital, Precursor Ventures, Ravelin Capital, Republic Records, Ribbit Capital, Rocana Venture Partners, Seven Seven Six, Social Capital, Sweet Capital, TenOneTen Ventures, Tet Ventures, Volition Capital, YLEM, Andy Katz - Mayfield, Anjula Acharia Bath, Brandon Shainfeld, Gwyneth Paltrow, Harry Hurst, Ian Hogarth, Immad Akhund, Luke Sherwin, Michael Lynton, Neil Parikh, Nick Hunley, Nick Jonas, Rob Solomon, Sanket Parekh
Jan 1, 2022	Olipop	$30.0M Series B	—	Abstract Ventures, Alabaster, American Express Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Angel investor, Jana Messerschmidt, Banana Capital, BoxGroup, Canaan Partners, Cavalry Ventures, Craft Ventures, First Round Capital, G2VP, Glencrest Group, Grace Beauty Capital, Joe Kraus, HV Capital, Inspired Capital, Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Lakeside Capital, Lobby Capital, Moving Capital, NCT Ventures, Scott Sandell, Pareto Holdings, Pioneer Fund, Polychain Capital, QueensBridge Venture Partners, Redalpine Venture Partners, Republic Records, Shasta Ventures, Speedinvest, Starbridge Venture Capital, Trinity Ventures, YLEM, Aaron Harris, Angela Merkel, Brandon Shainfeld, Christian Vollmann, Demetrios Christofidis Jr, Erik Bovee, Gwyneth Paltrow, Henry Kravis, Josh Mohrer, Kevin Colas, Kristian Segerstrale, Lisa Gansky, Michael Lynton, Nick Jonas, oliver holle, Rashaun Williams, Steve Aoki, Steve Chen, Sven Fund, Thomas Tull
Apr 1, 2021	The Expert	$3.0M Seed	—	Backstage Capital, Construct Capital, Encomenda Smart Capital, Jenny Fielding, Scott Hartley, Forerunner Ventures, Forum Ventures, Gaingels, Hyperplane, Lakeside Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, MaC Venture Capital, Northzone, Pareto Holdings, Point Nine Capital, Precursor Ventures, Ravelin Capital, Republic Records, Ribbit Capital, Social Capital, Sweet Capital, TenOneTen Ventures, Tet Ventures, YLEM, Anjula Acharia Bath, Brandon Shainfeld, Ian Hogarth, Immad Akhund, Michael Lynton, Nick Hunley, Nick Jonas, Rob Solomon
Jan 1, 2019	Olipop	$3.0M Seed	—	Lakeside Capital, Republic Records, Anjula Acharia Bath, Brandon Shainfeld, Gwyneth Paltrow, Michael Lynton, Nick Jonas
Nov 1, 2018	Rael	$18.0M Series A	—	Bam Ventures, BDMI - Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments, Lerer Hippeau, Motivate Ventures, Primetime Partners, The Community Fund, Vitalize Venture Group, Watertower Ventures
May 1, 2018	CareTaker Medical	$3.0M Series A	—	Innovation Works, Motivate Ventures, The Community Fund, Vitalize Venture Group
Apr 1, 2018	BigCommerce	$64.0M Series F	—	468 Capital, Brainchild, Chicago Ventures, CRV, FJ Labs, Founder Collective, General Catalyst, Montage Ventures, Notable Capital, Propeller VC, Sequoia Capital, Solana Ventures, The General Partnership, Dharmesh Shah, Jeff Seibert, Mike Volpe, Wayne Chang
Aug 1, 2017	Wise Apple	$4.0M Seed	—	Chicago Ventures, FJ Labs, Montage Ventures, Jeff Richards, The Community Fund, Vitalize Venture Group
Oct 1, 2016	Pluto TV	$30.0M Series B	—	Chicago Ventures, FJ Labs, Montage Ventures, Jeff Richards, U.S. Venture Partners, Workday
May 1, 2016	BigCommerce	$30.0M Series E	—	Accel, Ambridge Capital, Bain Capital, Bain Capital Credit, Chicago Ventures, Company Capital, Curie.Bio, FirstMark Capital, FJ Labs, Gradient Ventures, Lakestar, Montage Ventures, Notable Capital, Operator Partners, Propel Venture Partners, Sixth Street, Christian Reber, Lucas Cranach, Martin Sinner, Vivek Garipalli
Mar 1, 2016	Managed by Q	$25.0M Series B	—	8VC, BoxGroup, Brainchild, Chicago Ventures, CoinFund, Craft Ventures, Equal Ventures, FJ Labs, Goodwater Capital, Greycroft, M.G. Siegler, GV, Haystack, Javelin Venture Partners, Kapor Capital, Lux Capital, Montage Ventures, Jeff Richards, Offline Ventures, Outrun Ventures, RRE Ventures, Slow Ventures, Spero Ventures, The Engine, David Chang, Jeremy Yap, Ken Howery, MG Siegler, Mike Vernal, Scott Belsky, Steve Schlafman
Feb 1, 2016	FiscalNote	$10.0M Series C	—	AAF Management Ltd., Kevin Hartz, AME Cloud Ventures, Amplo, Andreessen Horowitz, Bennu, Capital Factory, Chicago Ventures, Jenny Fielding, Scott Hartley, FJ Labs, Floodgate, Founders Fund, Great North Ventures, Hanabi Capital, Hardware Club, Heroic Ventures, Montage Ventures, NewFund, NFX, Jeff Richards, Quiet Capital, Race Capital, Rally Ventures, Relay Ventures, R-Squared Ventures, Shasta Ventures, Sherpalo Ventures, Sinai Ventures, The Hit Forge, Transformation Capital, Vine Ventures LP, Visionaire Ventures, Daniel Rosensweig, Emil Michael, Farzad Nazem, Gary Lauder, Gil Hirsch, Marc Benioff, Noosheen Hashemi, Ran Makavy, Sahin Boydas, Stanley Druckenmiller, Tirto Adji
Dec 1, 2015	The Happy Home Company	$4.0M Seed	—	2xN, 8-Bit Capital, Accel, Andreessen Horowitz, Animoca Brands, B Capital Group, Betaworks Ventures, Big Sky Health, BoxGroup, Chicago Ventures, ClimacticVC, Core Ventures, ENIAC Ventures, FJ Labs, FPV Fund, Greycroft, Greylock, M.G. Siegler, Heartcore Capital, Index Ventures, Innovent Capital Group, Jude Gomila Rolling Fund, LAUNCH, Long Journey Ventures, Lowercarbon Capital, Montage Ventures, Jeff Richards, Oren Yunger, Obvious Ventures, Offline Ventures, O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, Paradigm, Raine Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, REMUS Capital, S28 Capital, Sapphire Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Signal Peak Ventures, Silicon Valley Connect, SV Angel, Peter Chernin, Team8, Tekton Ventures, The General Partnership, True Ventures, TY, Unusual Ventures, UpHonest Capital, Vayner RSE, Webb Investment Network, WndrCo LLC, Y Combinator, Aaron Levie, Alice Lloyd George, Arash Ferdowsi, Drew Houston, George Hu, James Hong, Jeremy Stoppelman, Josh Elman, Matt Mazzeo, Max Mullen, MG Siegler, Oliver Fross, Philip Kaplan, Riccardo Zacconi, Rick Johanson, Scott Banister, Scott Belsky
Jun 1, 2015	Managed by Q	$15.0M Series A	—	8VC, Accel, ACME Capital, B Capital Group, Bora&Sons, BoxGroup, Chicago Ventures, Clearstone, Craft Ventures, DCM, DN Capital, FJ Labs, Flybridge, Goodwater Capital, Great Oaks Venture Capital, Greycroft, Haystack, Heartcore Capital, Javelin Venture Partners, Kapor Capital, Kindred Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, La Famiglia, Looking Glass Capital, Lux Capital, monashees, Montage Ventures, Jeff Richards, Offline Ventures, Origin Ventures, Outlander Labs, Outrun Ventures, Passion Capital, Practical Venture Capital, Promus Ventures, Rainfall Ventures, Renegade Partners, Ride Ventures, RRE Ventures, Shasta Ventures, Sinai Ventures, Slow Ventures, StartupGym, Streamlined Ventures, Uncork Capital, Vayner RSE, Vine Ventures LP, Winklevoss Capital, YLEM, Al Goldstein, Armando Biondi, Eric Ries, Hiten Shah, Jason Wang, Jon Hallett, Ken Howery, Mark Goines, Mike Vernal, Omar El-Ayat, Rene Reinsberg, Richard Din, Sean Behr, Shervin Pishevar, Steve Schlafman, William Mougayar
Feb 1, 2015	FiscalNote	$10.0M Series B	—	Chicago Ventures, FJ Labs, Montage Ventures, Jeff Richards
Nov 1, 2014	BigCommerce	$55.0M Series D	—	468 Capital, Accel, Bain Capital, Bain Capital Credit, Brainchild, Chicago Ventures, Company Capital, CRV, FJ Labs, Founder Collective, FTX Ventures, General Catalyst, Grotech Ventures, IDG Ventures, Lakestar, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Montage Ventures, Notable Capital, Propeller VC, Propel Venture Partners, Revolution, Alexander Rosen, Sequoia Capital, Sixth Street, Solana Ventures, Telstra Ventures, The General Partnership, Tribe Capital, Dafina Toncheva, Dharmesh Shah, Jean Case, Jeff Seibert, Marcus Bartram, Mike Volpe, Wayne Chang
Nov 1, 2014	Pluto TV	$13.0M Series A	—	ACME Capital, Anti fund, Bond, Chicago Ventures, Dreamers VC, FJ Labs, Forward Deployed VC, Framework Ventures, Great Oaks Venture Capital, Interplay Ventures, Lobby Capital, Montage Ventures, Jeff Richards, Owl Rock Capital Partners, ParaFi Capital, Pelion Venture Partners, QueensBridge Venture Partners, Scrum Ventures, Semble Ventures, Shasta Ventures, Speedy Packets Inc., Techstars, Torch Capital, U.S. Venture Partners, Workday, Y Combinator, Anthony Saleh, Greg Brockman, James Beshara, Mark Gillespie, Matt Coffin, Paul Holliman, Sebastien Borget, Shervin Pishevar, Troy Carter
Nov 1, 2014	Shiftgig	$11.0M Series A	—	American Express Ventures, BoxGroup, Chicago Ventures, Deep Fork Capital, Emergence Capital, ENIAC Ventures, First Round Capital, FJ Labs, Flex Capital, Kamran Ansari, High Alpha, Hyde Park Venture Partners, IVP, Lead Edge Capital, Notable Capital, Prefix Capital, Rainfall Ventures, Signia Venture Partners, Stellar Capital, Teamworthy Ventures, David Ko, Gabriel Naouri, Matt Gorniak, Oliver Jung
Oct 1, 2014	Pluto TV	$500K Seed	—	ACME Capital, Anti fund, Bond, Chicago Ventures, Dreamers VC, FJ Labs, Forward Deployed VC, Framework Ventures, Great Oaks Venture Capital, Interplay Ventures, Kapor Capital, Lobby Capital, M13, Marcy Venture Partners, Montage Ventures, Jeff Richards, Owl Rock Capital Partners, ParaFi Capital, Pelion Venture Partners, QueensBridge Venture Partners, Science, Scrum Ventures, Semble Ventures, Shasta Ventures, Speedy Packets Inc., Spring Capital, Techstars, Torch Capital, Trust Ventures, Y Combinator, Anthony Choe, Anthony Saleh, Greg Brockman, Jonathan Neman, Mark Gillespie, Matt Coffin, Paul Holliman, Sebastien Borget, Shervin Pishevar, Troy Carter

Financial History

Total Raised

N/A

Valuation

N/A

Leadership Team

Key people at Barrel Ventures.

Nate Cooper

Managing Partner

Leadership Team

Key people at Barrel Ventures.

Nate Cooper

Managing Partner

Deep Dive

High-Level Overview

Barrel Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm based in Chicago that focuses on seed and pre-seed investments primarily in the food & beverage, food-tech, supply chain, and consumer sectors. Their mission centers on supporting innovative entrepreneurs who address global challenges in the food ecosystem and supply chain, emphasizing sustainability and efficiency. Barrel Ventures seeks to back companies that are category-defining or transforming existing markets, particularly those solving large-scale problems in food production, distribution, and consumption. Their investment philosophy involves partnering closely with founders through all growth stages to scale well-designed products that can reshape the future of food and supply chain industries[1][3][4].

Origin Story

Founded in Chicago, Barrel Ventures emerged as a specialized seed-stage fund targeting innovation in food and supply chain sectors. While specific founding year and key partners are not publicly detailed, the firm has evolved to focus on early-stage companies that innovate in food-tech, consumer goods, and supply chain infrastructure. Their network includes individuals with deep expertise across food & beverage, logistics, and consumer markets, which supports their hands-on approach to investing and company building[1][3][4][5].

Core Differentiators

Specialized Focus: Concentrates on early-stage investments in food & beverage, food-tech, supply chain innovation, and consumer sectors, with a strong emphasis on sustainability and efficiency.
Category Definers: Invests in companies creating new markets or radically transforming existing ones, particularly in the food ecosystem.
Founder Partnership: Emphasizes close collaboration with entrepreneurs throughout growth stages, providing operational support beyond capital.
Network Strength: Leverages a network of LPs and advisors with backgrounds in food, consumer goods, and logistics to support portfolio companies.
Track Record: Participated in funding some of the fastest-growing consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands and supply chain startups, such as Olipop, Haus, Pod Foods, and Grabango[1][3][4].

Role in the Broader Tech Landscape

Barrel Ventures rides the growing trend of innovation in the global food system and supply chain, sectors increasingly critical due to sustainability concerns, consumer demand for transparency, and efficiency needs. The timing is favorable as technological advances in AI, blockchain, and logistics infrastructure converge with rising consumer interest in healthier, sustainable food options. By focusing on early-stage companies that tackle these challenges, Barrel Ventures influences the broader ecosystem by accelerating the development of scalable solutions that can reduce waste, improve supply chain transparency, and create new consumer experiences. Their investments help shape the future of food and commerce infrastructure, aligning with global shifts toward sustainability and digital transformation[1][3][4].

Quick Take & Future Outlook

Looking ahead, Barrel Ventures is well-positioned to capitalize on accelerating innovation in food-tech and supply chain sectors, especially as sustainability and consumer-centric technologies gain momentum. Trends such as AI-driven supply chain optimization, alternative proteins, and blockchain for traceability will likely shape their investment focus. Their influence may grow as they continue to back category-defining startups that address pressing global food challenges, potentially expanding their geographic reach or investment stages. Barrel Ventures’ commitment to partnering deeply with founders suggests they will remain a key player in nurturing transformative companies that redefine how food is produced, distributed, and consumed. This aligns with their founding mission to empower solutions that matter in the evolving food ecosystem[1][3][4].

Sources

High-Level Overview

Origin Story

Core Differentiators

Specialized Focus: Concentrates on early-stage investments in food & beverage, food-tech, supply chain innovation, and consumer sectors, with a strong emphasis on sustainability and efficiency.
Category Definers: Invests in companies creating new markets or radically transforming existing ones, particularly in the food ecosystem.
Founder Partnership: Emphasizes close collaboration with entrepreneurs throughout growth stages, providing operational support beyond capital.
Network Strength: Leverages a network of LPs and advisors with backgrounds in food, consumer goods, and logistics to support portfolio companies.
Track Record: Participated in funding some of the fastest-growing consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands and supply chain startups, such as Olipop, Haus, Pod Foods, and Grabango[1][3][4].