Firm founder Invoice Shufelt (left) and head brewer John Walker pause on the Athletic Brewing’s non-alcoholic brewery and manufacturing plant on March 20, 2019 in Stratford, Connecticut.
Spencer Platt | Getty Photos
Main non-alcoholic brewer Athletic Brewing Firm introduced Tuesday it is raised an extra $50 million in fairness financing in a spherical led by Basic Atlantic.
The corporate expects Basic Atlantic to “finally make investments considerably past that,” Athletic CEO and founder Invoice Shufelt instructed CNBC’s “Squawk Field” Tuesday morning. The brewer plans to make use of the newest funding to extend manufacturing capability and increase its choices at world retailers to satisfy rising shopper demand for non-alcoholic beer.
“We’re keen about reworking the best way trendy adults drink and changing critics into believers. We’re at the beginning of a long-term development, and we could not be extra excited to have Basic Atlantic by our facet as Athletic begins its subsequent part of progress,” the corporate wrote in a press launch.
Athletic Brewing launched its non-alcoholic craft brewing amenities in 2018 and has since grown to change into the tenth largest U.S. craft brewery and twentieth largest total U.S. brewing firm, regardless of solely providing non-alcoholic choices, in line with rankings by the Brewers Affiliation.
Athletic holds over 19% market share inside non-alcoholic beer and is driving 32% of whole non-alcoholic beer class progress, in line with NielsenIQ knowledge.
“Income has greater than doubled since our Collection D [funding round] about 18 months in the past,” Shufelt mentioned on CNBC.
The Wall Avenue Journal reported Tuesday the corporate’s valuation has additionally doubled with the newest fundraise and now stands at $800 million.
The corporate at the moment has two brewing amenities within the U.S., one in Milford, Connecticut, and the second in San Diego. Athletic not too long ago introduced the acquisition of a 3rd U.S. brewing facility, additionally situated in San Diego. As soon as operational, Athletic expects the ability to assist double its U.S. brewing capability.
“We offered effectively over 3 million instances, over a 100 million cans, did over $90 million in income final yr as an organization, and we’re rising effectively above that this yr,” Shufelt mentioned.
The corporate’s success is essentially attributed to rising well being and wellness traits which are driving shopper curiosity in non-alcoholic drinks.
Greater than 40% of Individuals say they’re actively making an attempt to drink much less alcohol in 2024, in line with current knowledge by NCSolutions. That proportion jumps to 49% when surveying millennials and 61% for members of Era Z, in line with the info.
Established beer corporations like Heineken, Constellation Manufacturers-owned Corona, Anheuser-Busch’s Budweiser and even Diageo’s Guinness have additionally hopped on the development, introducing non-alcoholic beer choices of their very own.
“We need to give folks beer they will drink seven nights every week and be ok with,” Shufelt mentioned. “We have invested over $100 million in our manufacturing which has actually differentiated high quality that this phase has by no means seen earlier than.”