Scottish craft brewer Innis & Gunn has launched AdventureCapital, a new crowdfunding campaign to raise £1m in equity.
The campaign powered by Crowdcube will see the brewery sell 2% of its share capital, with backers invited to invest a minimum of £10.
After initially offering shares to its 57 employees, Innis & Gunn launched the crowdfunding campaign to the public yesterday. It is already over halfway towards reaching its target – with 374 investors raising £563,640 so far.
Innis & Gunn Founder and Master Brewer, Dougal Gunn Sharp, said the company intends to double its turnover to £25 million over the next three years.
The money raised will fund the Edinburgh-based group’s continued experimentation with beers, and increase capacity at its newly acquired Inveralmond Brewery in Perth, which has been renamed Innis & Gunn Brewery. The company bought the brewery after raising £3.1 million from a ‘BeerBond’ and BeerBucks crowdfunding programme last year.
The campaign will also support the roll-out of its bar and restaurant concept, The Beer Kitchens. Last month, the company announced plans to open its third Beer Kitchen in St Andrews in November, following successful opening in Dundee and Edinburgh. A future four sites are planned for 2017, including one in Glasgow.
Dougal Gunn Sharp, said, “Through Adventure Capital we’re inviting people to own a piece of Innis & Gunn. We are building a community of like-minded, passionate beer lovers who care deeply about quality, innovation, flavour and integrity.
“Consumer tastes are changing. Beer drinkers are becoming more discerning about what they drink, and insipid mass produced beers are losing favour with a broad base of consumers who are looking for more diverse and unique flavours. Despite this, craft beer still accounts for a small fraction of the beer consumed annually. This means we have substantial opportunities for growth.
“Experimentation is in our blood, and we’re incredibly excited to invite beer lovers and investors everywhere to join us on our quest to push the boundaries of beer.”
To mark the crowdfunding campaign, the brewer has also unveiled a new experimental beer, Sky.P.A. The innovative Indian Pale Ale is made using water harvested from the clouds above Moffat, Scotland.
Innis & Gunn created a bespoke airborne device fitted with a turbine and condenser that sucked moisture directly from the clouds and cooled it into enough cloud water to brew 500 pints.
Dougal Gunn Sharp added, “Now, we’re brewing a beer by harvesting water straight from the Scottish clouds!
“We’ve never made shares available before, and I couldn’t think of anyone better to offer them to than the people who want to help us discover where we can take the beer of tomorrow.
“Through AdventureCapital, we’re hoping we can invent more brews like Sky.P.A. with a group of people as passionate as we are about beer.
“We can’t wait to begin the next chapter of our journey with them.”
Innis & Gunn was founded in 2003 and is now the UK’s second-largest independent craft brewer, behind its Scottish rival BrewDog.
To view the details of the AdventureCapital investment opportunity and to invest in Innis & Gunn, click here.
