Hospitality Business Magazine

Renaissance Brewing plays to the crowd

Renaissance

Renaissance Brewing is looking to raise capital via crowdfunding

The award-winning brewery is appealing to the general public in more ways than one, looking to raise capital with an Auckland-based crowdfunding organization.

The new funding platform, Snowball Effect, has joined the growing global movement of leveraging technology to reduce the friction of matching investors to companies in need of funds. In New Zealand, each Kiwi company may raise up to $2 million in any 12 month period by offering up shares to the general public.

The landscape for craft beer has changed, not only in New Zealand but around the world, with demand for high-quality unique brews on the rise. This increasing demand has altered the landscape at Marlborough-based Renaissance, so much so that they had the shock of having to actually pay tax on a profit for the first time ever this year. Launched nine years ago, Renaissance Brewing wants to grow even faster.

During the last few months, Renaissance has restructured a bit, adding new shareholders alongside new management to help fuel the brewery’s growth. Their beers have been winning awards and the number of export markets they have been shipping to have increased. Some of the new brews they have in the pipeline sound fascinating, like a Brandy Barrel Aged version of Craftsman Chocolate Stout that is getting very close to being ready to go on the shelves.

The expected injection of capital means more great beer going to more places, so it’s a win-win all round.