Sullivan's Brewing Company today announced the successful closing of its Series A follow-on round of investment led by investors in the United States and Europe. The company raised over $1,265,000 in proceeds in the round, including €175k in further investment from Enterprise Ireland, an Irish governmental development agency. The proceeds will be used to continue the company's investment in growth and sales across the U.S. and Europe, and for working capital. The company has raised approximately $4,600,000 in funding since its launch in Ireland in 2016.
Located inKilkenny, in the heart of the city where Irish craft brewing has been a mainstay for over 800 years, Sullivan's has fast become a premium Irish craft brewery of choice for beer enthusiasts across the world. Sullivan's was originally established in 1702, thrived until just after the First World War, and was re-launched in 2016. Sullivan's Maltings Red Ale was chosen as "Best Ale in the World" (2017-18) at the International Brewing Awards in Burton-on-Trent, renowned as the "Oscars of the Beer Industry" (out of 1,200 beers); of note, Sullivan's was the first Irish brewery to ever win that prestigious award since the contest began in 1886. Today, their beers include classic Maltings Red Ale, Irish Gold Ale, and Black Marble Stout.
Sullivan's is led by an experienced team with global premium branding, sales, and world class brewing experience that has been there since the start. The leadership team across Ireland and the United States focuses on brewing and selling great beer with real character. The team is led Alan Quane, CEO Sullivan's Global (ex-Heineken, Diageo); Michael Meade, CEO Sullivan's USA (ex-Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley, Citi); Dan Smithwick, CFO (ex-KPMG, Citi); and renowned Master Brewer, Ian Hamilton (ex-Diageo), who together helped execute Sullivan's re-launch back in 2016 and have steered its continued growth on to today.
And indeed, the growth has continued. Sullivan's first entered the U.S. market in Buffalo, NY in 2017, and has quickly expanded to other U.S. markets. In 2019, Sullivan's added six new markets, primarily around the Great Lakes region. In 2020, they added nine new markets, including southern Michigan, Columbus OH, Pittsburgh PA, Savannah GA, northern New Jersey, Philadelphia and eastern Pennsylvania, and finally New York City, and its suburbs including Westchester County and Long Island.Sullivan's currently distributes its ales in six states with live plans to add even more. The current capital raise will further enable management's continued efforts and focus on execution of its growth strategy.
"With the closing of this financing, we bring additional capital resources that further strengthen our balance sheet as we pursue continued expansion across the US and abroad," said Michael Meade, CEO Sullivan's USA. "This private placement represents another significant milestone for all of the company's stakeholders and is a testament to the full team, inside and outside of the Company, who were able to collaborate to help us get this accomplished amidst a currently challenging operating environment."
"We spent a lot of time up front working on our product, distribution partners, supply chain, operational controls, and digital investments so that we could be well positioned for the future. Our business will continue to evolve by leveraging the experience and expertise of our team with the best industry practices, while never forgetting that Sullivan's Brewing Company has a 318-year brewing history in Ireland that has thrived down through the centuries and has its eye on a future that is global in scope," said John Brown, Chairman. "Sullivan's will emerge from the Pandemic of 2020 as a team of partners delivering the World's Best Ales to our customers with a more robust business than before this crisis began. We are incredibly excited about our future and the loyal customer and investor base we've built over the last several years, and looking forward to continuing that journey and bringing joy to our strong bar partners and customers by serving up our great ales for many years to come."
Advisors to the Company included, Magstar Capital LLC, a FINRA broker-dealer (financial advisory), Panamax Capital LLC (financial advisory), Warshaw Burstein (legal), Connor Robinson (legal), and Cremin McCarthy Company (auditors).
This press release includes forward-looking statements that relate to the business and expected future events or future performance of Sullivan's Brewing Company and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause its actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200623005030/en/
Contacts:
United States
Michael Meade
CEO, Sullivan's USA
212-729-1567
michaelmeade@sullivansbrewingcompany.com
Ireland
Dan Smithwick
Financial Director
00-353-834741840
dansmithwick@sullivansbrewingcompany.com
www.sullivansbrewingcompany.com
https://www.instagram.com/sullivansbrewco_/
