BrewDog, founded by
Martin Dickie and James Watt in 2006, has already raised almost £7 million
through its “Equity for Punks” scheme, and earlier this month raised the target
for its latest funding round to £4.25m.
The economy
committee was taking evidence as part of its probe into access to finance among
small firms, and Tim Wright, director of Glasgow-based advisory firm
Twintangibles, said there are now 900 crowdfunding platforms around the world.
Wright said there
was a “general lack of awareness” of crowdfunding among institutions such as
Scottish Enterprise, although some banks have told him they would be more
willing to lend to a company if it had already succeeded in raising funds from
individual investors.
Asked by Green MSP
Patrick Harvie why BrewDog had gone down the “homebrew” route rather than
turning to established crowdfunding sites such as Crowdcube or Kickstarter,
Simpson said the costs of going it alone were “significantly” lower than using
a platform, although it would explore those options if it had to start from
scratch again.
Simpson said it was
difficult to put an exact figure on the extra value generated by raising funds
directly from the company’s fans, “but we have 12,000 sales reps on the road
for our brand and they have a vested interest in its success”.
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