BrewDog is an increasingly bizarre case study in the microbrewery/crowdfunding space. Their 'Equity For Punks' money- raising efforts received a wide range of legal opinions in different jurisdictions.
Pretty sure no one expected -- given their very loud anti-'sell-out' rhetoric -- that they would sell a 22% stake for £100M to a private equity firm (TSG Consumer Partners) and actually deliver a serious return to said 'punks.'
Oh wow! I am only mildly familiar with them (mostly been hearing about how they have been trying to enter the US market). I didn't realize they crowdfunded. But yeah, this is a really good example of why microbreweries could be a good niche for crowdfunding. Operating your own brewpubs is a really good business because of the markup, but the challenge is in the expansion phase.
Also, looks like they are offering another round of equity in the US[1]. I was under the impression that crowdfunding was limited to $1M, but looks like they are raising $50M under 'Regulation A+'. Not sure what that is.
Pretty sure no one expected -- given their very loud anti-'sell-out' rhetoric -- that they would sell a 22% stake for £100M to a private equity firm (TSG Consumer Partners) and actually deliver a serious return to said 'punks.'
Edit - 'Serious Return' per BrewDog's own reporting at anywhere between 2,765% and 177% depending on the 'fund' you invested in (https://www.brewdog.com/lowdown/press-hub/tsg-deal)