With construction already underway at its 100,000 sq. ft. Ohio production facility, Scottish craft brewery BrewDog yesterday announced the formal launch of an ambitious $50 million crowdfunding campaign to help finance the company’s first U.S. brewery expansion.
Called Equity for Punks, the newly launched campaign on Bankroll Ventures invites U.S. investors to purchase shares of BrewDog USA at $47.50 each; BrewDog is requiring investors to purchase a minimum of two shares.
“Equity for Punks is a completely new business model in the States,” brewery co-founder James Watt said via a press release. “It is a revolution in small business finance. It’s an opportunity to enlist the people of the nation that changed the beer landscape forever.”
This isn’t the first time BrewDog has turned to crowdfunding to help fuel its growth: Over the last five years, the company has raised more than $33 million from 46,000 investors via four equity crowdfunding rounds, to finance its European brewing and expansion initiatives.
In the U.S., BrewDog is taking advantage of new JOBS Act regulations that enable small businesses to offer equity stakes to non-accredited investors.
“It (Equity for Punks) is about connecting us with the people who love our beer,” Watt said. “It is about building a new type of business. It is about taking beer lovers on this amazing journey with us. It is about working together to build something we can all be proud of.”
BrewDog’s Ohio facility is slated to open in late 2016, the company said.
“We are combining Europe’s leading brewer with the world’s biggest craft beer market. Expect fireworks,” Watt added.
A full press release with additional details is included below.
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Irreverent Scottish brewer, BrewDog is taking matters into its own hands as it charts its course in America and turns the traditional investment business model known to Wall Street on its head. With its expansion into the US firmly in its cross hairs, the leading British craft brewery has today announced a $50 million crowdfunding round marking the fifth iteration of its international-renowned investment program, Equity for Punks. This will be the first time BrewDog has raised funds in the USA.
The Scots are attempting to break their own equity crowdfunding world record of $35 million* by raising a further $50 million in six months. Utilizing the newly launched Regulation A+, under the JOBS act, which launched in summer last year, the brewery will be turning to the masses to accrue the investment it needs to turbo-charge its US expansion. No other business worldwide, let alone a brewery, has acquired so many investors and capital in this fashion. This American equity crowdfunding round marks an unprecedented move by any small business, with BrewDog set to further pioneer its audacious new approach to community-fuelled business in the USA.
Cofounder James Watt commented;
“Equity for Punks is a completely new business model in the States. It is a revolution in small business finance. It’s an opportunity to enlist the people of the nation that changed the beer landscape forever, and invite them to join our existing 46,000-strong global investor community and help us change the face of small business finance in the US as we share our passion for great craft beer. Few companies have been so bold as to turn their backs on traditional financial institutions in favor of a brave new world of community-driven business. We’ve pioneered the Equity Punk model in the UK, and now we’re bringing our unconventional approach to alternative business stateside.”
BrewDog’s strategy has always been to try to shorten the distance between itself and the people who enjoy its beers; Equity for Punks is the ultimate incarnation of this philosophy. A stake in the business and kick-ass beer aren’t the only benefits of being a shareholder; investors also receive lifetime discounts in BrewDog bars, free brewery tours and an invite to the annual general meeting (AGM), a festival of legendary beer, music and food. BrewDog’s previous most recent crowdfunding raise closed in April 2016, when it notched up $25 million for its brewing operation in Scotland, which also operates 44 bars worldwide, across 10 countries from Scotland to Stockholm and as far afield as Sao Paulo and Tokyo.
Watt continued;
“Equity for punks is about community. It is about connecting us with the people who love our beer. It is about building a new type of business. It is about taking beer lovers on this amazing journey with us. It is about working together to build something we can all be proud of. In 2010, we tore up convention, turned the traditional business model on its head and launched Equity for Punks, giving thousands of people a front row seat to the craft beer revolution in Europe. Now, we are coming to America. We are combining Europe’s leading brewer with the world’s biggest craft beer market. Expect fireworks.”
Founded in 2007 by James Watt and Martin Dickie, BrewDog is an alternative small business owned by thousands of people who love, and bleed, craft beer. BrewDog leads the crusade as the fastest growing food and drinks business in the UK for the last five years, employing over 600 people, including 248 qualified Cicerones and three world renowned Master Cicerones (out of a total of 11 worldwide), and distributing craft beer to over 55 countries worldwide.
BrewDog is set up for rapid growth and expansion into the U.S. with the current construction of a 100,000 square foot brewery in Columbus, Ohio, which will feature a restaurant, taproom, retail space, visitor center and beer garden. The brewery is scheduled to open in late 2016, and the majority of the build is now complete, with first brews scheduled for release in November.
BrewDog’s eclectic lineup of beer is lead by the scene-stealing flagship brew, Punk IPA, an India Pale Ale that charges the barricades to fly its colors from the ramparts – full on, full flavor, at full-throttle. This is the number one craft beer in UK supermarkets, and is set to take the US by storm when BrewDog’s Ohio brewery comes online later this year. Rounding out the company’s portfolio of Headliner beers includes the West Coast pale ale Dead Pony Club; oatmeal milk stout Jet Black Heart; complex American red ale 5AM Saint; and 21st century lager Kingpin.
Equity for Punks USA shares cost $47.50 each and the minimum investment is two shares – a small price to pay to own a craft brewery. Advocates can put their money where their mouth is and get richer with every beer they drink, by investing in BrewDog’s USA business. Interested shareholders can visit www.brewdog.com/usa/equityforpunks to find out more, or head to www.equityforpunksusa.com to invest.
About BrewDog
Since 2007 BrewDog has been on a mission to make other people as passionate about great craft beer as we are. From the Headliner series, which includes bold, uncompromising pack leaders like the flagship Punk IPA, to the Amplified range (beer, but turned up to 11), BrewDog creates beer that blows people’s minds and has kick-started a revolution.
Cofounders James Watt and Martin Dickie shook up the business world in 2010 with the launch of pioneering crowdfunding scheme Equity for Punks, an initiative that has seen the company raise $33 million* over four rounds, taking more money through crowdfunding than any other on record. The funds, and the army of punk shareholders (46,000) enabled the Scottish craft brewery to scale up without selling out.
With over 44 global bar launches, export into 55 countries, and a brand new brewery in Ohio opening in 2016, BrewDog continues to take the craft beer revolution stratospheric, whilst continuing to push the boundaries, invest in people, put the beer first, and champion other small breweries in its venues.