Crowd funding Chapel Down secures £3.95m

Chapel Down, the market leader in English wines and beers, has completed its equity crowdfunding offer in 24 days by raising the maximum allowable amount of £3.95m and achieving a new world record in the process.

CEO Frazer Thompson said: “We are really thrilled by the success of the offer. Raising the money is obviously fantastic, but the speed at which it happened and the fact that it’s the largest amount ever raised in this way is also quite humbling. That over 1,400 private investors have decided to buy into Chapel Down makes us immensely proud of our business. We wanted to build a significant body of shareholders who will support our brands, buy our products and encourage their friends to do the same.”

Chapel Down launched its share offer via equity crowd-funding site Seedrs on September 8. Its initial target of £1.6m was reached within three days. The final total of £3.95 million, confirmed today (October 2), includes individual investments ranging from £10 to more than £250,000.

The company sells all of the wine it produces and will use the new funding to plant more vines to meet demand, build a new winery and a brewery as well as extending its Tenterden, Kent, hospitality facility.