Alcohol-free beer brand Lucky Saint has raised £10m to fund its next stage of growth.
The funding, thought to be the largest for an alcohol-free beer brand in Europe, was led by Beringea, a venture capital firm, and JamJar Investments, set up by the founders of Innocent Drinks.
The London-based business is seeking to profit from the growth in Britain’s ‘low and no’ segment of the drinks industry, with the reduced or zero-alcohol sector is expected to be worth more than £450m by next year.
Established in 2018, it is already the UK’s largest independent alcohol-free beer brand and its drinks are available in 5,000 pubs, bars and restaurants, as well as in leading supermarkets.
Other investors in the funding round include Jonathan Warburton, chairman of Warburtons, the baking group, and Will Greenwood, a member of England’s Rugby World Cup-winning team in 2003.
Luke Boase, 41, founder of Lucky Saint, said he had started the company on the back of frustration with the quality of both the beer and the brands in the industry. “Alcohol-free beer is a great proposition, but there wasn’t a bottle good enough to drink or a brand compelling enough to bring me in,” he said. He wanted to bring a “much-maligned proposition into the 21st century. We’ve all apologised for not drinking. You’ve almost had to order alcohol-free beer under your breath.”
He hoped to follow the path of Guinness, the Diageo-owned brand that is the UK’s most widely distributed draught beer. “You don’t go into the pub and order a stout, you order a Guinness. Our ambition is to be [equally] synonymous with alcohol-free beer.”
This year a report commissioned by Lucky Saint suggested that one in three pub visits do not involve alcohol as more people moderate their drinking, and the business is expecting bumper trade this month as consumers take up January’s abstinence trend. It is forecasting 25 per cent year-on-year growth in people giving up alcohol for the month, bringing estimated participation up to about ten million Britons.
“Beer in general is in decline, Boase said. “Alcohol-free is the only part that’s in growth, reflecting changing attitudes towards moderation. Now it’s perfectly acceptable to have an alcohol-free beer in the pub. Four years ago, that wasn’t the case.” He said the new funding would help the company to speed up the availability of its beer on draught in pubs and would finance a planned European expansion.
