Wild Beer Co smashes £1m crowdfunding target for new brewery

Somerset-based brewer Wild Beer Co has smashed its target to raise £1m via crowdfunding for a new brewery with days still to go until its fundraising campaign ends.

More than 1,500 people have already invested in the company as part of its equity raise, which offers levels of investment from £10 upwards.

Funds raised by the campaign will go towards a new £10m brewing facility that will also house bars and a restaurant, built on the Bath & West Showground, in Shepton Mallet.

'Blown away' by support

Wild Beer Co co-founder Andrew Cooper said: "It's three weeks into our Crowdcube fund raise and we have been blown away by the level of support."

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New brewery: artist's rendition of the planned facility

He added: "To have 1,500 new investors in our business is very humbling and, ultimately, incredibly good for our business. We are looking to make the most of our last week on the site and then get on with the hard work of building our new brewery."

Wild Beer Co has brewed two beers, Thai spice-infused pale ale ‘Spicy Crowd’ and ‘Cloudy Crowd’ IPA, to commemorate the campaign.

The beers will be available to investors and via the company’s online shop.

Latest brewer to crowdfund

Wild Beer Co is the latest in a series of brewers to raise serious equity through crowdfunding.

Popular Scottish brewery Innis & Gunn launched a crowdfunding campaign, called Adventure Capital, to raise £1m in equity last November.

It hit its target in just 72 hours and went on to raise a total of £2.5m.

However, during the campaign, Innis & Gunn was forced to address speculation that funds raised could be used to pay off a £900,000 tax bill.

In its explanatory notes, Innis & Gunn said it was currently challenging an inquiry by HM Revenue & Customs into its use of Growth Securities Ownership Plans.

Innis & Gunn’s chairman Tony Hunt told The Morning Advertiser at the time the company did not believe it would ultimately have to pay the bill and had not made provisions to do so.