WooHa Brewing Company, based in Kinloss, Scotland, is launching a £600,000 crowdfunding campaign with Crowdcube.
This is part of an overall £1.5m campaign, to raise investment to continue its successful expansion. People can invest any amount from £10 upwards, and investors could benefit from tax reliefs through the EIS scheme.
This is the second crowdfunding campaign for WooHa, which describes itself as a bold, ambitious Scottish brewery, with a focus on exporting.
With an established portfolio of export partners, funding is required to continue to build WooHa’s sales team, grow its international customer base, and fund promotional activity.
WooHa was set-up in 2015 and started exporting to the US in the same year. Its international portfolio now comprises countries across Europe and south east Asia, including the vast and rapidly growing market of China.
Money raised from the crowdfunding will also go towards the launch of WooHa’s new 500ml can for the Chinese market. This is part of its strategy of tailoring its products to each market, having recently developed a steel keg range specifically for the US.
‘We have a strong vision about how we plan to grow the brand rapidly and in a sustainable way’
The brewery moved to a fully-equipped 6.2-acre site in Kinloss in 2017 and after appointing a new head of sales, who brings with him experience from BrewDog, Red Bull, and Carlsberg, WooHa is primed for further expansion.
The brewery’s current capacity is 5,000 hectolitres per year and the aim is to grow in-house production to 88,000 hectolitres by June 2023.
As part of its fundraising campaign, WooHa is holding a series of investor events this month in London, Manchester, Edinburgh and Inverness. These will give people the chance to hear from WooHa founder Heather McDonald (pictured) about the next stage of the brewery’s journey and will offer potential investors the chance to ask questions about the business.
Heather said: “We have a strong vision about how we plan to grow the brand rapidly and in a sustainable way. Key to this expansion will be our sales team as we need more people on the ground in our key markets.
“We also need robust marketing and strong support for our international partners. The funding secured through our crowdfunding campaign will help make our ambitions a reality.
“There are many things that make WooHa stand out in the marketplace that appeal to investors, as well as existing and new customers. For example, WooHa’s experience with and focus on export markets, as well as a well-defined three- to five-year exit strategy. We even have our own WooHa tartan, listed with the Tartan Register of Scotland.
“We have big growth plans and want to give everyone a little WooHa, so now is your chance to join our clan.”
