Emerging Manager Q&A: Adam Koopersmith about $50M SNAK Fund I
Adam and Sonia left Pritzker Group to back seed-stage B2B marketplaces in "unsexy" industries and closed $50M Fund. I asked Adam 10 questions about how they did it
Hey folks,
This is Pavel, welcome to a new edition of our Fireside Chats with Emerging Fund Managers where we ask recently-closed fund managers 10 rapid-fire questions about their fundraising journey.
Today’s guest: Adam Koopersmith, Founder and Managing partner of SNAK Venture Partners.
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About the firm
SNAK Venture Partners Fund I is a $50M debut fund focused exclusively on vertical marketplace companies, founded by Sonia Nagar and Adam Koopersmith. Based in Chicago, the firm invests at seed, writing $1–2M checks into founders building category-defining marketplaces in sectors that haven’t yet digitized.
Early-stage founders in B2B verticals like construction, manufacturing, and supply chain have historically struggled to attract institutional capital. These are unsexy categories, easily overlooked by coastal funds, but the digitization opportunity in each is vast, and most of the workflows are still offline.
Nagar and Koopersmith built their conviction from the inside. Both came from Pritzker Group, where they led investments in Backlot Cars (auto marketplace) and TicketsNow (acquired by Ticketmaster). SNAK is the thesis made institutional – a dedicated vehicle for the market opportunity they spent years studying at close range.
The fund is anchored by Pritzker Group and backed by the State of Illinois Growth and Innovation Fund, alongside executives from marketplace businesses including Favor Delivery and RetailMeNot. The operator LP base gives portfolio companies something most seed funds can’t offer: direct access to people who have built and scaled marketplaces themselves. Early portfolio companies include BigRentals (equipment rental) and Repackify (packaging logistics).
SNAK is deliberately location-agnostic – seeking founders in overlooked geographies where other funds simply aren’t looking.
Here is our fireside chat:
What is your fund’s superpower in one sentence?
Because we invest exclusively in seed-stage B2B marketplaces — and count successful marketplace founders as LPs alongside a founder community that actively shares insights across our portfolio — we bring unmatched focus, pattern recognition, and operator-driven support to every company we back.
How long did the active fundraising process take?
A bit more than 15 months.
Did anybody help you during fundraising: existing LPs, fellow GPs, placement agents?
Many fellow GPs were very generous in making introductions during the process, and we got a lot out of emerging manager conferences such as Raise Global, Emerging Manager Circle Summit and Future Titans. Also, having spent over 20 years in tech, we were fortunate to draw on a deep, long-built network of operators and founders who showed up in meaningful ways when it mattered most.
How many LPs are in the final cap table, and what’s their breakdown?
53 - our fund was anchored by Pritzker Group, and we have 1 institutional investor (the State of Illinois Growth and Innovation fund). The rest of our investors were largely family offices, high net worth individuals and founders and operators with expertise in marketplaces.
What was the fastest check – time from first call to signed subscription?
We were fortunate to have a number of friends, colleagues and marketplace founders/execs that we’ve known over the past 20+ years support us immediately after the first conversation. As for new relationships, we did receive commitments from two separate family offices at the end of a 30 minute Zoom.
What were the top 3 reasons LPs said “NO”?
Lack sufficient liquidity from 2020-2021 fund commitments to make new investments.
Not prioritizing our investment thesis given current focus on AI.
Not investing in Fund Ones.
What were the top 3 signals that an LP was truly interested in your fund?
Responsiveness, engagement with our content (our data room and our Substack), and going over the allotted time for our meetings.
What did LPs actually pay close attention to during fundraising?
At a high level, it was typically about sourcing, winning the best deals and creating value post-investment. Next level topics included brand building, and how SNAK could become THE FUND that seed-stage B2B marketplace founders seek for capital and advice.
What’s the biggest mistake fund managers make when fundraising?
Despite spending a ton of time building it, we never went through our pitch deck on an introductory call. Our time was spent getting to know each other and telling our story. I suspect many emerging managers (and I KNOW many entrepreneurs) spent too much time talking and going through slides, and not enough time asking questions, listening and engaging in conversation.
What advice would you give to your future self and to other emerging managers about fundraising?
Going into the process, we definitely underestimated the value of meeting with people face to face. Ultimately, LPs are making a decision based on their evaluation of you as a person and relationship building is better done face to face than over a Zoom.
Learn more about SNAK Venture Partners: Fund I Announcement
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