BrewDog launches £25m crowdfunding bid

BrewDog has launched its biggest crowdfunding bid to date, calling upon investors to help it raise £25 million.

Brewdog co-founders Martin Dickie and James Watt

Equity for Punks, the independent brewer’s crowdfunding scheme, raised £4.25million for the brewery in less than six months in 2013, which at the time made it the world’s most successful independent crowdfunding initiative.

Today, the maverick brewery has announced plans to raise five time as much with a second round of crowdfunding set to see 526,316 shares in the brewery made available for anyone to buy for a minimum investment of just £95 for two shares.

James Watt, BrewDog co-founder said: “We are not Rockefeller. We are Guy Fawkes. We are burning the established system – the status quo – down to the ground and forging a new future for business from the flames. We are putting the fat cats out to pasture and empowering everyone to be masters of their own destiny by investing in our passion for craft beer.”

Capital raised will be used to build a new 300 hectolitre brewhouse to operate in tandem with its existing 100 hectolitre brewhouse in Aberdeenshire in Scotland, expanding its international bar division as well the launch of new projects including a craft beer hotel, custom sour beer facility and distillation plant.

As well as owning part of the BrewDog business, shareholders are given a discount at BrewDog’s global network of craft beer bars and at BrewDog.com, and an invite to the brewery’s AGM.

“Equity for Punks is about so much more than a simple financial investment, it’s about a group of libertines coming together to change the world,” added Watt. “This is about a generation of change-makers ignoring the status quo and building a brand new future in a social economy with a different balance of power.”

BrewDog has opened 27 bars worldwide since 2010, exporting to 55 countries and employing more than 360 staff. Earlier this year it announced a record sixth year of consecutive growth with annual turnover increasing by 64% to more than £29 million in 2014. For more information on becoming a shareholder click here.