With less than two weeks until its equity crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcube comes to an end, London’s Camden Town Brewery has successfully raised over £2 million from close to 1,900 investors.
The brewery was established in 2009 when founder Jasper Cuppaidge took over The Horseshoe Pub in Hampstead. He grew frustrated by the standard of London lager and from those first bottles of Camden Hells Lager, the company’s flagship beer, Camden Town Brewery’s revenue has increased tenfold, from £90k to circa £9m in three years. It currently operates three pubs in London, and plans to continue expanding.
Cuppaidge stated on the campaign’s website, “Camden Town Brewery is committed to becoming one of the best breweries in the world. We are now the fourth biggest brewery in London. When we first started thinking about starting a brewery in 2009, we focused on making the beer as good as it could possibly be.”
During a recent interview with the Telegraph, Cuppaidge revealed that the overwhelming vote of support from investing fans of the brewery is helping him negotiate better terms with lenders:
“We’re talking to all the banks at the moment to see which one will come up with the best financial plan for the next five years. We knew the deal would depend on what we do on Crowdcube, and I want to minimize the interest we pay on the debt.”
Before the Crowdcube campaign, the company turned down multiple brewers, who were seeking a controlling share in return for their investment. Cuppaidge noted that the brewery rejected the offers because they wanted to stay in control.
Cuppaidge also shared that he has done everything he can to insure the company’s success:
“I put everything on the line to start the business. I mortgaged my house, sold my car, I had guarantees coming out of my eyeballs.”
In regards to the future of the brewery, Cuppaidge remarked that the funds from the campaign will allow the business to expand and produce up to 250,0000 hectoliters of beer. He then added:
“If you borrow from bankers, you don’t get bankers going out and buying your beer. These investors will back, drink and market us.”
Update: In early April the Camden Town Campaign revised terms that lowered the valuation from £75 million to £50 million. This occurred when it was revealed that a Belgian family invested £10 million for a significant equity stake at the lower valuation. Terms were reportedly adjusted for the crowdfunding investors.
After Camden Town Brewery successfully raised a very large sum on Crowdcube – valuing the company at £75m, the company sold a 10% stake to a German brewer at a valuation of £50m. This caused criticism towards the equity crowdfunding platform due to this kind of practice, which caused investors to fear for loss of money.
According to FT, co-founder of Crowdcube, Luke Lang stated that investors are protected through the “unfair prejudice rule” in the 2006 Companies Act. This allows shareholders to bring legal action if their stock has been diluted unlawfully for an improper purpose.
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