Forget Wall Street: BrewDog places bets on US crowdfunder instead

Second time lucky? Scottish brewer BrewDog has launched another crowdfunding campaign in the US with a goal to raise USD ten million. The brewer made the announcement by parachuting soft toy ‘fat cats’ (slang for self-enriching business types) from a helicopter above Manhattan. They produced a video of this stunt, which can be watched at vimeo.com

The response to BrewDog’s first US crowdfunder, which launched in 2016 and closed in 2017, was underwhelming. It only flushed in USD seven million. Apparently, this was not enough to cover BrewDog’s ambitious investment schemes and forced the founders James Watt and Martin Dickie to sell a 22 percent stake to a private equity investor.

BrewDog plans to use the proceeds from the campaign to expand its footprint in the United States. From its brewery in Columbus, Ohio, BrewDog has been providing its beers to seven states including Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, New York, Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Illinois.

The Scottish brewer currently runs three bars in Columbus, aiming to launch many more in the next twelve months. BrewDog promised that it will seek to open bars in cities where more than 500 people have invested in its Equity for Punks USA scheme.

In previous rounds BrewDog and BrewDog USA have raised more than GBP 57 million (USD 75 million) from over 80,000 people around the world.