The Freddie Martignetti Rosaluna story is not simply about launching another mezcal label. It is a story about combining entrepreneurship, consumer branding, family heritage, and a vertically integrated production model to create a modern Mexican spirits company.
Freddie Martignetti is a co-founder and Chairman of Rosaluna, the mezcal brand built around a six-generation Oaxaca family tradition. He co-founded the company alongside Nate Brown, Terry Lee, and Pepe Mireles, working in partnership with JJ and Frida Méndez León Jiménez, whose family has produced agave spirits for generations.
Rosaluna entered the market in 2020 with a distinctive proposition: a handmade, all-natural mezcal produced in Santiago Matatlán, Oaxaca, using agave grown and processed through the family’s own agricultural and production operation.
The company’s approach eventually attracted major industry attention. In April 2025, Rosaluna announced a Series A financing led by Sacha Lichine, the founder of Château d’Esclans and creator of Whispering Angel, alongside a new national partnership with Shaw-Ross International Importers.
You can learn more about the brand and its product philosophy through the official Rosaluna website.
For Denote Press readers interested in how founders turn traditional industries into modern businesses, Rosaluna is particularly compelling. Similar founder stories, such as Nopalera’s Series A journey, show how cultural identity and consumer branding can become important parts of a company’s growth strategy.
Who Is Freddie Martignetti?
Freddie Martignetti is an entrepreneur, investor, and co-founder and Chairman of Rosaluna, a modern mezcal brand produced in Oaxaca, Mexico.
His background is broader than the spirits industry. Martignetti grew up around a family business environment in the Boston area and later developed experience across finance, entrepreneurship, venture investing, and consumer businesses.
He attended Harvard and began his professional career in finance, including experience at Lehman Brothers and Barclays.
He later founded Suffolk Equity Partners, where he worked with a number of high-growth businesses and consumer-focused companies. His investment experience has included companies such as Warby Parker, FIGS, Drizly, Omaze, Grab, and RapidSOS.
Martignetti is also associated with Nava Ventures, where he serves as Founder and General Partner.
This combination of financial experience and consumer-brand exposure became particularly valuable when he entered the spirits business.
Rather than treating Rosaluna as simply a traditional liquor company, the founding team approached it as a modern consumer brand with a strong origin story and differentiated product positioning.
That approach has similarities with other founders featured by Denote Press, including Randall Hom and his work building Hostie, where operational experience and entrepreneurial thinking played an important role in developing a scalable business.
From Family Business to Venture Investing
One of the most interesting parts of the Freddie Martignetti Rosaluna story is the way his earlier career shaped his approach to entrepreneurship.
Martignetti understood that building a consumer brand requires more than having a good product.
A successful company needs:
- A recognizable identity
- Strong distribution
- Customer demand
- Reliable production
- Brand differentiation
- Strategic capital
- Long-term positioning
Those principles are particularly important in the spirits industry, where consumers have many options and brand storytelling can strongly influence purchasing decisions.
Rosaluna provided Martignetti and his partners with an opportunity to combine those business principles with a product category they genuinely enjoyed.
This ability to combine business fundamentals with a clear market opportunity is also visible in other founder-led companies covered by Denote Press, such as Andrew Berman’s Runlayer story.
How Rosaluna Started
Rosaluna’s origins can be traced to a group of entrepreneurs who shared an appreciation for mezcal.
The founding team included Freddie Martignetti, Nate Brown, Terry Lee, and Pepe Mireles.
But the brand’s story goes far beyond the four founders.
They partnered with JJ and Frida Méndez León Jiménez, members of a six-generation family of mezcal producers in Santiago Matatlán, Oaxaca.
This partnership became one of Rosaluna’s defining advantages.
Instead of building a brand first and searching for a producer later, Rosaluna was closely connected to a family with deep agricultural and production knowledge.
The Rosaluna farm story explains that JJ and Frida’s family has more than six generations of experience and that the company operates through a vertically integrated model.
That means the relationship between the land, agave, fermentation, distillation, and finished spirit is central to the business.
The Four Founders Behind Rosaluna
Although much of the business story can be explored through Freddie Martignetti’s leadership, Rosaluna is fundamentally a co-founder-led company.
The four main business founders are:
Freddie Martignetti
Martignetti brought experience in finance, investing, entrepreneurship, and consumer businesses. He became a key strategic leader for Rosaluna and serves as its Chairman.
Nate Brown
Nate Brown brought significant creative and branding experience to the company. His previous creative work included projects connected with major names in entertainment and fashion.
His background helped Rosaluna approach mezcal not only as a beverage but also as a lifestyle-oriented consumer brand.
Terry Lee
Terry Lee brought operating and startup experience to the founding team. Before Rosaluna, he was associated with companies including MeUndies and Thrive Market.
His experience in scaling consumer businesses gave Rosaluna another important perspective on growth.
Pepe Mireles
Pepe Mireles brought an entrepreneurial background spanning areas such as real estate, hospitality, interior design, and film.
Together, the four founders combined finance, operations, creative direction, and entrepreneurship.
That combination gave Rosaluna a multidisciplinary foundation.
Why the Founders Chose Mezcal
The founders did not enter the category simply because mezcal was becoming popular.
They had a genuine interest in the spirit.
In early launch coverage, Nate Brown explained that the founders loved mezcal so much that they decided to make their own.
That simple motivation became the starting point for Rosaluna.
At the time, many mezcal brands were emphasizing traditional production techniques, high-smoke profiles, and highly distinctive flavor experiences.
Rosaluna took a somewhat different direction.
The founders wanted to create a mezcal that could appeal to consumers who appreciated the authenticity of the category but wanted something approachable.
This meant emphasizing the natural sweetness and character of the agave rather than making intense smoke the central feature of the drinking experience.
The strategy reflects a broader lesson in consumer entrepreneurship: a product can respect its category’s heritage while still being designed for a new audience.
Building a Different Kind of Mezcal Brand
Rosaluna’s positioning is built around several important ideas.
Authenticity.
The brand is connected directly to an established Oaxaca family with generations of mezcal-making experience.
Vertical integration.
Rosaluna’s production model connects its agricultural resources with fermentation and distillation.
Natural production.
The company emphasizes an all-natural approach without additives.
Modern branding.
Rather than presenting mezcal only as an artisanal Mexican spirit, Rosaluna developed a contemporary visual and lifestyle identity.
Accessibility.
The brand aims to introduce more consumers to mezcal through a smoother and more approachable flavor profile.
This combination helped distinguish Rosaluna in a crowded premium spirits market.
It also reflects an important consumer-brand strategy: make the product easier to understand without removing the story that makes it special.
The Six-Generation Oaxaca Connection
Perhaps the most important asset behind Rosaluna is its relationship with the Méndez León Jiménez family.
The family is based in Santiago Matatlán, Oaxaca, a region widely recognized for its importance to mezcal production.
Rosaluna’s official materials explain that the family has more than six generations of craft experience.
The relationship also provides something that many emerging beverage companies cannot easily replicate: a direct connection between the brand and its raw materials.
Agave is not a crop that can simply be produced overnight.
According to Rosaluna, its agave can take up to eight years to mature.
That long agricultural timeline creates a very different business model from many conventional consumer products.
Brand growth must ultimately be connected to agricultural planning and production capacity.
The result is a business where the supply chain is part of the brand story itself.
Rosaluna’s Single-Estate Advantage
The phrase single-estate is important to understanding Rosaluna’s positioning.
Rosaluna describes its production as vertically integrated, meaning the business has greater control over the journey from agave cultivation to finished spirit.
The company’s explanation of vertically integrated single-estate farms highlights how this model connects the land, farming, and production process.
For a premium spirits brand, that can create several advantages.
First, it provides greater visibility into sourcing.
Second, it gives the company more control over consistency.
Third, it creates a stronger story for consumers.
Instead of simply saying that a bottle comes from Oaxaca, Rosaluna can connect the product to a specific family, farming operation, and production philosophy.
That creates a deeper form of product authenticity.
For modern consumer brands, this kind of traceability can become an important competitive advantage.
The Problem Rosaluna Wanted to Solve
Rosaluna entered a spirits market where mezcal was growing in visibility but could still appear unfamiliar to mainstream consumers.
For someone new to mezcal, the category could sometimes be associated with strong smoke, unusual flavor profiles, and complex production terminology.
Rosaluna’s founders saw an opportunity to make the category more approachable.
The brand’s positioning focuses on the natural qualities of the agave while maintaining the craft identity of traditional mezcal production.
This created a bridge between two consumer groups:
Traditional mezcal enthusiasts looking for authenticity.
And:
Newer spirits consumers looking for a more accessible introduction to mezcal.
That balance became a major part of Rosaluna’s brand strategy.
From Startup Idea to Consumer Brand
Creating a beverage brand is significantly different from launching a software startup.
The company needs physical production, packaging, regulatory compliance, logistics, distribution, marketing, retail relationships, and consumer awareness.
Rosaluna therefore had to build both a product and a supply chain.
The company’s launch strategy combined traditional production with modern branding.
That approach reflects the different backgrounds of its founders.
Martignetti brought investment and business experience.
Brown contributed creative expertise.
Lee brought operating and startup experience.
Mireles contributed entrepreneurial and hospitality-related experience.
Meanwhile, JJ and Frida brought generations of knowledge about agave cultivation and mezcal production.
This combination created a business model where heritage and modern entrepreneurship worked together.
The strategy is particularly relevant for founders working in traditional industries, where differentiation often comes from improving the customer experience rather than completely reinventing the underlying product.
Rosaluna’s Series A Funding
One of the biggest milestones in the Freddie Martignetti Rosaluna story came in April 2025.
Rosaluna announced that it had secured Series A financing led by Sacha Lichine, the founder of Château d’Esclans and creator of Whispering Angel.
The financing was accompanied by a strategic partnership with Shaw-Ross International Importers.
According to the company’s announcement, the partnership was designed to help expand Rosaluna’s presence across the United States.
This is significant because distribution is one of the biggest challenges for emerging beverage brands.
A product can have strong branding and loyal customers, but national growth requires a sophisticated distribution network.
The Series A therefore represented more than just additional capital.
It also brought strategic industry relationships.
The original Rosaluna Series A announcement provides additional details about the financing and partnership.
Why Sacha Lichine Invested in Rosaluna
Sacha Lichine’s involvement is particularly interesting because of his history in premium beverages.
Lichine is known for building Château d’Esclans and creating Whispering Angel, a globally recognized rosé brand.
His investment in Rosaluna suggests that the company’s opportunity extends beyond the traditional mezcal category.
There is a broader consumer-brand thesis:
Can an authentic regional product become a globally recognized premium lifestyle brand?
Rosaluna has many of the ingredients required to attempt that transformation:
- Strong geographic identity
- Generational production heritage
- Premium positioning
- Distinctive packaging
- Modern brand storytelling
- Growing distribution
- A recognizable product category
For Martignetti and his co-founders, the partnership could provide valuable experience as Rosaluna moves into its next stage of growth.
Rosaluna’s Competitive Position
The premium spirits industry is highly competitive.
Consumers can choose from tequila, mezcal, whiskey, gin, vodka, rum, wine, ready-to-drink beverages, and countless emerging spirits brands.
Rosaluna therefore needs to answer a simple question:
Why choose this mezcal instead of another one?
Its answer is built around differentiation.
Rosaluna combines:
- Six generations of family production
- Oaxaca heritage
- Vertically integrated farming
- Natural ingredients
- Approachable flavor
- Modern consumer branding
- Strategic distribution partnerships
That positioning gives Rosaluna a story that goes beyond the bottle.
The product has a cultural and agricultural narrative that can be communicated through content, packaging, hospitality, events, retail, and digital marketing.
This type of storytelling is also central to many successful modern consumer companies, particularly brands that compete in established categories rather than inventing entirely new products.
Sustainability and Vertical Integration
Sustainability has become increasingly important in the beverage industry.
Rosaluna emphasizes several sustainability-related characteristics, including its use of its own agave resources and vertically integrated production.
The company also identifies its mezcal as USDA Organic, gluten-free, Non-GMO, Kosher, Vegan, Zero Carb, plant-based, and carbon neutral.
These claims are part of Rosaluna’s broader effort to position the product as a modern, conscious consumer choice.
But vertical integration is especially important.
When a company has greater involvement in the supply chain, it can potentially improve visibility and control over sourcing.
For Rosaluna, the agricultural story starts with agave.
The plant takes years to mature.
That means responsible growth requires long-term thinking.
In that sense, Rosaluna’s business model is closely tied to the realities of agriculture rather than purely to short-term consumer demand.
What Comes Next for Rosaluna?
The Series A financing and Shaw-Ross partnership provide Rosaluna with a stronger foundation for expansion.
The next stage will likely revolve around three major priorities.
Expanding Distribution
Increasing availability across the United States will be essential for turning brand awareness into sustainable revenue growth.
Building Brand Recognition
Rosaluna needs to continue educating consumers about mezcal while making the category feel accessible.
Protecting Authenticity
As the company grows, maintaining its connection to the Méndez León Jiménez family and Oaxaca production heritage will be critical.
This is one of the biggest challenges facing fast-growing consumer brands.
Growth can create scale, but scale can also make a brand feel less authentic.
Rosaluna’s future success will depend partly on how well it balances those two forces.
That balance is a recurring theme across the founder stories published by Denote Press: strong businesses often grow by scaling what makes them distinctive rather than abandoning it.
Lessons From Freddie Martignetti’s Founder Journey
The Freddie Martignetti Rosaluna story offers several useful lessons for entrepreneurs.
1. Build Around a Real Product
Rosaluna started with genuine enthusiasm for mezcal.
The founders were consumers of the category before becoming producers.
That gave the brand a more authentic starting point.
2. Combine Different Founder Strengths
Rosaluna did not rely on one person’s expertise.
Finance, operations, creative direction, entrepreneurship, and production knowledge all came together.
That kind of complementary founding team can be powerful.
3. Protect Your Supply Chain
The partnership with a six-generation Oaxaca family gives Rosaluna a significant foundation.
For physical consumer products, reliable sourcing can be just as important as marketing.
4. Make Heritage Relevant
Traditional heritage does not have to mean old-fashioned branding.
Rosaluna demonstrates how an established production tradition can be presented through modern packaging and consumer storytelling.
5. Use Capital Strategically
The Series A was accompanied by a strategic distribution partnership.
For a beverage company, that can be more valuable than capital alone.
6. Find a Clear Point of Difference
Rosaluna did not attempt to become another generic mezcal brand.
Its positioning around natural production, approachable flavor, single-estate sourcing, and family heritage gives consumers a clear reason to understand the brand.
7. Think Beyond the Product
The strongest consumer brands do not only sell products.
They sell an experience, a story, an identity, or a connection.
Rosaluna’s Oaxaca heritage gives the company a natural foundation for that kind of storytelling.
Frequently Asked Questions About Freddie Martignetti and Rosaluna
Who is Freddie Martignetti?
Freddie Martignetti is an entrepreneur, investor, and co-founder and Chairman of Rosaluna, a modern mezcal brand produced in Oaxaca, Mexico.
Is Freddie Martignetti the sole founder of Rosaluna?
No. Rosaluna was co-founded by Freddie Martignetti, Nate Brown, Terry Lee, and Pepe Mireles, in partnership with JJ and Frida Méndez León Jiménez of a six-generation Oaxaca family.
What is Rosaluna?
Rosaluna is a modern mezcal brand producing an all-natural agave spirit in Santiago Matatlán, Oaxaca. The company emphasizes its family heritage, vertically integrated production, and natural product positioning.
Where is Rosaluna mezcal made?
Rosaluna mezcal is produced in Santiago Matatlán, Oaxaca, Mexico, through its partnership with the Méndez León Jiménez family.
Who are the founders of Rosaluna?
The business founders are Freddie Martignetti, Nate Brown, Terry Lee, and Pepe Mireles. They partnered with JJ and Frida Méndez León Jiménez, whose family has more than six generations of mezcal-making experience.
When did Rosaluna launch?
Rosaluna publicly launched in 2020, following the development of the brand and its production relationship in Oaxaca.
Did Rosaluna raise Series A funding?
Yes. Rosaluna announced a Series A financing in April 2025, led by Sacha Lichine, alongside a national partnership with Shaw-Ross International Importers.
Why is Rosaluna different from other mezcal brands?
Rosaluna differentiates itself through its six-generation Oaxaca family connection, vertically integrated production, natural positioning, and a modern approach to mezcal branding.
Final Thoughts
The Freddie Martignetti Rosaluna story demonstrates how a traditional product can be transformed into a modern consumer brand without abandoning its roots.
Rosaluna’s success is not based on one founder alone. It comes from the combination of Martignetti’s business and investment experience, the creative and operating strengths of his co-founders, and the deep production expertise of the Méndez León Jiménez family in Oaxaca.
That combination is what makes the company interesting.
Rosaluna is selling mezcal, but its broader business is built around heritage, authenticity, modern branding, and scalable distribution.
The company’s Series A financing and partnership with Shaw-Ross represent an important step toward expanding that model.
For entrepreneurs, the larger lesson is clear: sometimes the strongest modern brands are created by taking something deeply rooted in tradition and presenting it in a way that a new generation of consumers can understand.
And for Rosaluna, the next chapter will be about proving that a six-generation Oaxaca tradition can become a globally recognizable modern spirits brand—without losing the authenticity that made the story compelling in the first place.
