It joins a string of beverage brands boosted by similar campaigns. Drinks firm Square root smashed its £250,000 equity crowdfund raise by more than 200%, allowing it to expand into canned drinks. And alcoholic tea brand Noveltea ran a successful crowdfunding campaign, raising £340,000. The drinks maker went ton to secure a £1.4m investment from the North East Venture Fund.
Cannabrew said it would use the funding to grow its network of off-licenses and develop supermarket relations. It also plans to make its craft beers available in keg form to supply the hospitality sector, which has begun to reopen post COVID-19 lockdown.
The brewer is also pressing ahead with plans to recruit and expand, with the ultimate aim of being listed by a major UK supermarket.
Surprise investment
Founder Elliot Horner said he was surprised and humbled by how quickly the business was backed by such a significant investment.
“We hope that the investors have chosen to back us because they see beyond the business,” he added. “We hope they share our excitement for the beer and our mission to build a unique brand with a purpose.
“As the demand for CBD products grows, we want to become the market leader and go-to company for CBD-infused craft beer. We are grateful to all our supporters and we can’t wait to take them with us on the journey.”
International reach
Since launching in 2019, Cannabrew has sold thousands of cans across the country into most major UK cities and has customers as far as Hong Kong. Its first lager, Soul, was, at the time of publishing, the highest rated product of its kind in the UK on beer rating app Untappd.
The Lancashire craft brewer has also planted over 14,000 trees through a sustainability initiative in Madagascar removing an estimated 350 tonnes of CO2 in six months.