BrewDog co-founder James Watt recently noted that the founder of Contrarian Thinking, Codie Sanchez, along with comedian Dom Joly will reportedly be joining his advisory panel for The Next Unicorn.
BrewDog pursued multiple securities crowdfunding rounds in the UK and then crossed the Atlantic and raised growth capital under the Reg A+ exemption as it established a foothold in North America.
As first reported by the Bdaily, this will focus on his ongoing search for the “next billion-dollar business” and should assist him with determining which firms to invest £5 million of his own funds in.
Following the establishment of a billion-dollar business, Watt’s “Next Unicorn” search intends to support the next wave of Unicorns. This, after the initial footsteps of his beer business that reportedly reached the valuation back in 2017.
The BrewDog executive has teamed up with Crowdcube in order to receive pitches from various European business owners and professionals.
Impressed by the overall quality among the 400 applications currently received (reportedly one of the most successful campaigns of its kind via Crowdcube), Watt has reportedly made the decision to provide firms a key opportunity to enter the market.
The deadline was extended to April 19, 2023, allowing an extra two days for firms to get their entries turned in the format of a 10-slide pitch deck.
James said he would then be identifying key entrants with the assistance of Crowdcube Chief Executive Matt Cooper, as well as Evelyn McDonald, Chief Exec of Scottish Edge, who assisted BrewDog with getting its initiative started over 15 years ago, before shortlisted companies get invited to pitch live to James, Codie and Dom at his London residence this coming May 15 and 16 (2023).
The BrewDog executive reveals that he had been motived to launch The Next Unicorn following his rejection (twice) from Dragon’s Den (this happened once when he was initially launching his business, and also when he was approached in order become a Dragon).
Motivated by these rejections, as well as with an established track record for scaling firms, the business owner decided to establish his own competition, which will reportedly involve him investing £1 million in three different companies, with another £4 million to be distributed as the winning firms reach key milestones.
James stated:
“I have been incredibly impressed by some of the entries received already and it’s encouraged me to extend the application window to discover what other amazing enterprises are out there. I’m also so excited to be announcing new members of the advisory panel. Codie Sanchez has achieved so much, from building billion-dollar companies to running firms with an annual turnover of $50m.”
He added:
“And, as for Dom Joly, he’s a trusted friend and will provide a totally different outlook to the judging process.”
Three final firms will reportedly he invited to Las Vegas, where they will be acquiring their funding at BrewDog’s bar.
After the Las Vegas announcement, the winning companies will be live on Crowdcube for the general public to invest in the deals as well.
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