Scotch Raises $20M Series A to Modernize Liquor Stores, Surpasses $1B in Payment Volume

DENVER, Colo., June 4, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Scotch, the platform transforming liquor retail point-of-sale (POS) operations, today announced it has raised $20 million in Series A funding led by VMG Partners with participation from First Round Capital, Lerer Hippeau and Toba Capital. The company, which has surpassed a $1 billion annual run rate in gross payment volume, will use the new capital to accelerate product development, expand its engineering and go-to-market teams and continue scaling its AI-enabled operating system nationwide.

Liquor retail, part of the $250 billion beverage-alcohol industry spanning retailers, distributors and suppliers, is one of the last major specialty retail categories yet to modernize its core systems. Many dominant POS and inventory platforms were built 30 to 40 years ago, remain largely on-premise and require extensive manual work to execute mission critical processes. Scotch is the first solution that rebuilds these workflows from the ground up with a cloud-native, AI-first architecture, uniquely built for the complexity of liquor retail. 

The company is led by Jake Bolling (CEO) and Kevin Hodges (CRO), who previously built Skupos, a startup serving convenience stores, another large retail category long constrained by antiquated technology, and Dan Chen (CTO), who spent more than a decade in the liquor industry, including as CTO of Drizly, which was acquired by Uber for more than $1 billion.

"Enterprise retailers face massive operational complexity, with many carrying anywhere from 10,000 to 25,000 SKUs sourced from more than 30 distributors," said Jake Bolling, co-founder of Scotch. "COVID-era demand exposed the limits of manual, legacy systems, and as growth normalized, retailers were left with tighter margins, macro-driven pricing volatility and flat category growth. Retailers can no longer afford manual ordering, mispriced SKUs or hidden inventory; they need intelligent automation that streamlines workflows and allows them to focus on customer service, not IT."

Designed specifically for liquor retail, Scotch's all-in-one operating system automates complex workflows such as invoice reconciliation, cost change detection, SKU standardization, deal sheet matching and in-workflow analytics. By eliminating manual processes that once consumed entire weeks, Scotch drives measurable improvements in margin, capital efficiency, pricing accuracy and operational speed – giving retailers time back to focus on delivering the best customer experience.

Joey McDonald, General Manager of Sinkers Beverages, one of the largest stores in Tennessee by revenue, and a staple of East Nashville, said, "Scotch has allowed us to unify all of our revenue streams in one place. It's boosted our productivity and, importantly, taken away the day-to-day headaches around managing our business."

"Liquor retailers have been left out of the technology revolution for far too long, stifled by the complexity of scaling an efficient operation in the three-tier system," said Carle Stenmark, General Partner at VMG Partners. "Scotch has already built a deeply resonant product that customers love, and VMG's deep relationships across consumer brands, operators and technology leaders position us to accelerate their growth as they bring an AI-enabled modern operating system to tens of thousands of retailers."

Scotch has since signed and onboarded some of the largest independent liquor retailers in the country, including The Liquor Store of Jackson Hole, Big Bear Wine & Liquor, Corkdorks and Everest Spirits Superstore. Built to handle the most operationally complex businesses in the category, Scotch is driving one of the first meaningful waves of modernization in an industry that has remained largely untouched by innovation.

About Scotch

Scotch is the all-in-one operating platform built exclusively for liquor retailers. Combining point-of-sale, automated inventory management, invoice reconciliation, and pricing intelligence in a single system, Scotch replaces the patchwork of legacy tools that retailers have relied on for decades. Founded by the team behind Skupos and Drizly, Scotch is backed by VMG Partners, First Round Capital and other leading technology investors. Scotch serves independent and large-format liquor retailers across the United States. For more information, visit scotchpos.com.

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About VMG Partners

VMG Partners was founded in 2005 to identify and support the growth of innovative companies into iconic brands that span generations. Headquartered in San Francisco, the firm invests through its two core funds, Consumer and Technology, and is guided by the thesis that progress and innovation will prevail over the status quo. VMG specializes in enterprise and founder partnerships that drive successful investments, mergers and acquisitions across beauty and personal care, food and beverage, health and wellness, pet, and technology that powers operational excellence for consumer brands. For more information on VMG Partners, please visit www.vmgpartners.com.

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SOURCE Scotch