Lucky Saint, the alcohol-free beer brand, has closed a £3.5 million fundraise from leaders across the consumer goods and marketing industries.
Its shareholders now include: JamJar, the venture capital fund of the founders of Innocent Drinks; Warburtons chairman, Jonathan Warburton; adam&eveDDB co-foundersm James Murphy and David Golding; Karmarama chief executive, Ben Bilboul; vice-president of Facebook Northern Europe, Steve Hatch; and Wahaca chief executive and co-founder, Mark Selby.
Launched in 2018, Lucky Saint saw terrific growth in 2020, with some industry firsts. It was the first alcohol-free producer to launch across the UK on draught, and the first to join the British Beer & Pub Association in the organisation’s 116-year history.
Despite losing 70% of its volume when the UK on-trade shut down during the first lockdown in
March 2020, Lucky Saint diversified into a strong multi-channel business and grew revenues 300% during the year.
January 2021 saw that success continue with revenues up 215% year on year, despite zero sales from the all important on-trade. Retail and e-commerce sales alone are up 610% year on year.
Due to increasing demand, Lucky Saint has continued to make new hires, creating jobs in a widely struggling sector. The team grew more than three-fold during lockdown, from five to 18, including managing director, Emma Heal, former MD of snack brand Graze.
It also increased distribution in the off-trade in September 2020 from 130 to 500 Sainsbury’s stores, added 600 Tesco stores, all 200 Majestic stores nationwide, and was listed with Ocado.
Luke Boase, founder of Lucky Saint, said: “I started out with a mission to reward those who aren’t drinking with the beer they deserve. Two years on, receiving the backing of such an esteemed group of investors is the culmination of the incredible work that our team have done to grow through such difficult times. We remain as excited as ever about the future.”
Lucky Saint will use the funds raised to build the team, grow draught distribution in the on-trade and start growing internationally with selected partners and markets.
