A Manchester-based alcohol-free craft brewer has announced it has secured £1m to help it scale-up production and accelerate growth.
Drynks Unlimited secured investment from Bill Roberts, founder and chairman of Welsh gold business Clogau Gold.
The brand has also announced a listing in United Arab Emirates grocery chain Spinneys, which will see five brands front its new no alcohol area, which will launch in the chain’s top 30 stores and then rolled out to the whole Spinneys estate of 64 stores - including Waitrose sites - from September 2020.
To adhere to UAE law, its SMASHED Lager brand must be renamed, while its SMASHED Gold and SMASHED Pale brands will drop the word ale from its packaging.
The investment comes after founder Richard Clark appeared on Dragons’ Den in March and its SMASHED range of 0% beers and cider became the second most popular NoLo brand in high-end supermarket Booths.
This year has also seen the expansion of its portfolio from three to five variants.
Richard Clark, founder and MD of Drynks Unlimited, said: “There is real momentum in the no and low alcohol category and Covid-19 has accelerated this both in the UK and around the world.
“The category is competitive but we believe we have a range of alcohol free drinks that knock the socks off the competition and will change how consumers socialise forever.
“This £1m investment is absolutely key to help us move out of the start-up phase and into a key national and international alcohol-free brand and we’re very proud to have Bill Roberts on the team who brings with him a wealth of experience in scaling businesses.
“The funding will enable us to install a new bigger capacity cool vacuum distillation (CVD) machine in Robinson’s Brewery and support a big marketing push in the run-up to Christmas and into dry January to widen our appeal with consumers.”
Bill Roberts added: “I invested in Drynks for two reasons; Firstly, I saw the massive potential presented by the development of a quality premium alcohol free range of drinks and secondly, I was impressed by the absolute dedication, commitment and entrepreneurial spirit of Richard Clark who is the driving force of the business.”
