Press

Scottish craft brewery, BrewDog today announced that it has reached the £5 million milestone in the first 20 days of its record-breaking crowdfunding scheme, Equity for Punks.

• This breaks the previous record set by BrewDog in 2013, when it raised £4.25 million (less costs) in just over six months., and the brewery intends to smash the current crowdfunding record by more than five times, raising £25million in total.

Guerrilla Fat Cats parachute into London

• The Scottish brewery marked the milestone by taking to the skies in a BrewDog helicopter for its latest guerrilla marketing exercise; dispatching taxidermy ‘fat cats’ carrying its share offer prospectus approved by the Financial Conduct Authority in accordance with the Prospectus Rules made under Prt VI of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.
• Intended as ‘anti-propaganda propaganda’, the dead cats openly mock the fat cat banker caricature, donning waistcoats, monocles and handmade velvet top hats.
• Thrown from the skies by co-founders James Watt and Martin Dickie, dozens of the guerrilla felines parachuted slowly into the bustling city below, dissolving the monotony of the rush hour commute and marking the end of an era.
• The ‘cat bombs’ campaign was caught on camera and has been shared with BrewDog’s vast social media communities
• 526,316 shares in the brewery have been made available, for a minimum investment of just £95 for two shares.
• The capital raised from investors will be used in particular to fund an expansion of the BrewDog brewery and its international bar division, as well as launching new projects like a craft beer hotel, custom sour beer facility and a distillation plant.

UK’s Fastest Growing Drinks Brand

• Growing from two men based in a shed in the north east of Scotland in 2007, BrewDog is now Britain’s fastest-growing food & drinks brand, opening 27 bars worldwide since 2010, now exporting to 50 countries and employing more than 365 staff.
• It announced its sixth consecutive year of record growth earlier this year, having increased its annual turnover by a whopping 63 per cent to over £29.6million in 2014, compared with £18million in 2013.
• As well as owning part of the BrewDog business, Equity for Punks shareholders are also given benefits including a discount at BrewDog’s global network of craft beer bars, and at BrewDog.com. Equity for Punks members will also be invited to attend the company’s AGM – the next of which takes place on Saturday 6th June – including punk rock bands and beer tastings.

Funding the craft beer revolution

• With the funds raised, BrewDog plans to build a new 300HL brewhouse to operate in tandem with its existing 100HL brewhouse in Ellon, Aberdeenshire.
• Alongside funding new projects in the UK such as a sour beer facility, a distillation plant, new craft beer bars and a craft beer focused hotel in Scotland called The Kennel, BrewDog intends to use the capital raised to establish a small USA-based brewing operation to quench what it believes will be a growing thirst for its beers in America.

QUOTATIONS

BrewDog co-founder James Watt commented:

“We’re very pleased with the response Equity for Punks has received. Raising £5 million in less than three weeks is no small feat. Many questioned our target of raising £25million, but we’ve passed the record we set in 2013 in a fraction of the time. It’s proof that there is a thirst for alternative finance out there, and that people are sick and tired of the fat cats controlling everyone’s money.”
James Watt continued:

“This round of Equity for Punks has got off to a great start so we went behind enemy lines to conduct a symbolic gesture that heralds the extinction of the City fat cat. This is our way of showcasing the viability of alternative forms of finance, it is our own anti-propaganda propaganda. It’s a glorious combination of art, guerrilla warfare, taxidermy and feline sartorial elegance. Crowdfunding should no longer be seen as a niche alternative, but a proven, workable option for those libertines and change-makers who want to shake up the status quo.”