Hop Stuff Brewery smashes crowdfunding investment target
The brewery announced the fundraising initiative last month, and passed its initial target of £400,000 within less than 35 hours. The decision was then taken to ‘overfund’ to help advance the groups taproom ambitions further. The final total raised was over £770,000.
The latest round of crowfunding takes the total amount the brewery has raised via Crowdcube since 2013 to more than £1.5m.
'Incredible reception'
Hop Stuff founder James Yeomans said: “The reception to Funding III has been incredible. We had, of course, hoped it would be successful but never imagined funding in just two days. It goes to show how much our message resonates with people, offering uncomplicated and approachable craft beer to more and more people.
“The funds will be pumped directly into our taproom business, helping us open five more in the next two years. This platform of investors and funds position us perfectly for rapid growth and we’re incredibly excited to see what we can do in 2018."
The brewery invested the proceeds from its earlier fundraising – Funding II – into a new £1.5m brewhouse in 2016. Hop Stuff now employs 50 people, exports across the world and hopes to brew more than 1m pints of beer in 2018.
Kent site opening
The company is also planning to add a further 70 team members in 2018 across three new bars, the first of which (Ashford, Kent) is due to open next month.
In a note to investors on Monday 19 February, Yeomans added: “Thank you for the incredible support received throughout Funding III, now it’s time for us to deliver on the promises you’ve supported with your hard-earned cash – promoting social, uncomplicated and accessible craft beer to more people than ever before."
