BrewDog to launch crowdfunder in the United States

Let’s see how it goes. The maker of Punk IPA is planning to run an “Equity for Punks” crowdfunding campaign in the U.S. in May this year, although admitting that its latest crowdfunder in the UK is still a few million bob short of target it set for April.

BrewDog said on 18 February 2016 that it aimed to increase its brewing capacity almost tenfold (to 1.5 million hl) by the end of 2016, compared with the beginning of last year, on the back of a “craft beer revolution” and a planned entry in to the U.S. market.

The Scottish brewer and bar operator, which was founded in 2007 and exports to 55 countries, said that annual turnover in 2015 had risen 52 percent to GBP 45 million, with profits believed to have reached nearly GBP 8 million.

As well as opening its first U.S. brewery in Ohio, the company this year plans to open bars in Amsterdam, Warsaw, York, Berlin and London.

British investors will be watching the success of the U.S. crowdfunding campaign after criticism that BrewDog had an inflated valuation. The brewer, which values itself at more than GBP 300 million (USD 417 million), has raised almost GBP 20 million since 2010 from the public, more than any other business in the UK.

But at the end of January 2016 BrewDog was forced to admit that it is still GBP 11.5 million short of reaching a GBP 25 million (USD 35 million) fundraising target set for April, despite having collected a record GBP 13.5 million so far in the fourth round of its “Equity for Punks” scheme.

The round, which was launched in April last year, is due to close on 20 April 2016.