Chapel Down crowdfunding target triples after strong demand

English wine producer Chapel Down has raised its funding target after a crowdfunding campaign for a new brewery for craft beer business Curious Drinks reached its £1m target inside one month.

Chapel Down crowdfunding campaign:

Curious Drinks, the brewery owned by Chapel Down wines, has reached its initial crowdfunding campaign target of £1m just 27 days after launching.

This is Chapel Down’s second crowdfunding drive to expand its craft beer and cider business, which was initially funded by a £4m campaign.

Curious Drinks has now increased its target to £3.65m to be reached by 29 February 2016.

Of the £1m raised so far, £655,300 has been raised through crowdfunding with 529 people pledging between £100 and £25,000.

Another £345,000 has been raised through share placing, including £275,000 from the directors of Curious Drinks and Chapel Down.

Investors will receive a number of benefits, from free tours of the brewery and discounts on beers to their names etched on brewery fermentation tanks.

Chapel Down and Curious Drinks’ home county of Kent has been a source of around a third of investments to date.

Chapel Down and Curious Drinks founder, Frazer Thompson, said: ‘We are delighted with how the Curious Drinks fundraising has gone in its first four weeks and are humbled by the phenomenal response we have received.’

The funds will be used to construct a new brewery in Ashford, Kent, which is expected to be fully operational by December 2016.