On Friday, award-winning Stourton brand, Cotswold Distillery, announced the launch of its first crowdfunding project on Crowdbnk, known as Angels’ Share, to raise a minimum of £500,500.
The company, which was founded in 2013 and began operations in September 2014, produces maturing stocks of whisky at the rate of 175,000 bottles equivalent per annum and have introduced a range of other branded spirits to the market including gin, espresso martini, liqueurs and fruit brandies.
Cotswold Distillery was notably created to capitalise on the significant opportunities in the ultra-premium craft spirits market, already very much in evidence in the USA, and now increasingly in the UK, and its ideal location in one of England’s wealthiest and most visited areas, the Cotswolds.
Sharing why anyone should invest in its company, Cotswold Distillery stated:
“Although the company has only been trading since 2014, it is now a well-established business that is well ahead of its initial plan on all key metrics: whisky production, gin sales, export sales and overall revenues. The Cotswolds Distilleries’ products have achieved very strong reviews from customers [13] and expert reviewers alike, with noted whisky writer Jim Murray recently awarding its young single malt 94 out of 100 points and classifying it as Liquid Gold [14].”
In regards to what its future growth goals are, the company explained:
“In the coming three years the Company believes that growth will be driven by several key elements: 1) launch of its whisky onto the market in October 2017, 2) building on the early success of its gin and other spirits with further market penetration across all sales channels, 3) increased visitor traffic through the distillery and onsite shop. Underpinning this is the extraordinary level of demand growth for premium craft spirits, reported at approximately 50% pa [15]. The capital raised in this crowdfunding round will enable the company to fund all these elements of its growth plan. Additional growth opportunities for a later phase are planned through: 1) a low cost doubling of whisky production, 2) expansion of the visitor centre and 3) opening of a satellite storefront in a nearby Cotswolds town.”
During a recent interview with Harpers, founder and chief executive of Cotswold Distillery, Daniel Szor, stated:
“We have come a lot further, a lot faster, than we could ever have hoped. Our outstanding natural spirits – in particular our Cotswolds Dry Gin – have been extremely well-received, our distillery and visitor center are now among the top 20 Cotswolds attractions according to TripAdvisor and our young single malt is already getting excellent reviews. We are over the moon.
“We have built a wonder community of loyal customers and fans and our Angels’ Share round is a way of allowing them own a piece of the distillery and become brand ambassadors while sharing in the upside of this fast-growing business.”
Founder and chief executive of CrowdBnk, Ayan Mitra, added:
“We are very proud to support the Cotswolds Distillery. This is a unique opportunity to invest in a revenue generating and high growth premium brand. The company is led by a very impressive management team and supported by first-class angel investors.”
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