Õllenaut | Fundwise

Quick Pitch

Õllenaut brewery is a small, independent, Estonian craft brewery, with a brand well known throughout Europe. We started brewing and selling beer in 2013 and are exporting to 10 countries.

We have ambitions to further strengthen our brand in our current domestic and international markets, and expand exports to more markets in the future and therefore seek to increase our production sixfold while reducing our cost base at the same time.

Currently, we are looking to raise a minimum of € 310thous to co-invest in a new state of the art brew-house, counter-pressure filling line and steel KEGs with all the necessary hardware and quality assurance equipment. We offer you an opportunity to join us in writing Õllenaut's success-story.

Õllenaut has already secured a €494thous agriculture development support grant from the EU, which covers 39% of the total investment. Current owners have invested €370thous (new share capital is in the registration process) and rest of the funds will be raised via crowdfunding campaign.

Problem & Solution

The craft beer segment in Estonia and globally is saturated and provides limited opportunites for organic growth, while the market for alcohol-free drinks (beer and kvass) is currently experiencing double digit growth. Õllenaut's production equipment is not capable of brewing either alcohol free beer or kvass and total capacity is currently too low to enter and compete effectively in larger export markets.

Estonian craft beer makes up ca 3% of the total local beer market, while in the US, where the craft beer revolution started, craft beer sales already exceed 10-15% market share. Therefore, Õllenaut positions itself towards mass-beer consumers by meeting their flavor expectations, but is also attractive to craft beer consumers by having more taste than average mass produced beer.

The new brew-house will provide many new advantages by enabling:
- an improved core product range;
- more refined and polished beers for current mass beer consumers;
- lager beers for huge Scandinavian monopolies' price-driven tenders;
- private label beers for pub and supermarket chains;
- alcohol free beers and kvass for the growing alcohol free drinks segment;
- a lower cost base.

The planned investment will take Õllenaut from a "garage" to a "stadium" producer!

Product/Service Details

Õllenaut's core product range consists of:
Estonian rye ale "Eesti Rukki Eil" 5.3% alc vol 33cl
American pale ale "Simko Eil" 5.0% alc vol 33cl
Amber ale "Kuldne Eil" 5.6% alc vol 33cl
Baltic porter "Must Ekport" 7.9% alc vol 33cl
IPA "Väike Raidur" 7.0% alc vol 33cl
Rye saison "Sesoon" 5.3% alc vol 33cl
Birch saison "Sauna Alus" 4.5% alc vol 33cl

Plus newly introduced 0.5L beers:
Golden ale "Õllenaut Hele" 4.9% alc vol 50cl
Dark ale "Õllenaut Tume" 4.9% alc vol 50cl
Vienna ale "Õllenaut Vaskne" 4.9% alc vol 50cl

Business model

Õllenaut brews craft beer in its own brewery using local raw materials as much as possible, for example Estonian rye malt (beers "Sesoon" and "Estonian Rye Ale") or Estonian wild hops (beer "Metsik"). Quality raw materials are purchased right now from local importers, but in the future we plan to buy malt, hops and yeast straight from producers. Bottles and kegs are bought from producers already now.

Beers merchandising and distribution are outsourced to one of the Õllenaut's owner's group companies (Balmerk) and after new facilities go live, we plan to outsource full wholesales to raise efficiency.

The new brewery from ZIP Technology will be with such a high automisation degree that additional Estonian heavily taxed labour will be needed at a very minimum level. In the beginning, we will only need 2 more employees.

Market

We currently sell 80% of our beer in Estonia, but our export markets include Finland (ALKO and Prisma chain), Russia, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Lithuania, Latvia, Denmark, the UK, Sweden, and Hong Kong.

With the new brewery, increased capacity, and improved product range, our goal is to export at least 50% of our beer production. Our Finnish importer has signed a purchase agreement with Finnish K-Group's retail chain for sales starting in August this year and we have ongoing negotiations with Swedish "The Bishops Arms" pub-chain and a Southern China importer.

Traction & Accomplishments

Õllenaut was one of the first new wave craft breweries in Estonia and is now sold in all Estonian premium and mid-range supermarket chains (Selver, COOP, Rimi, Prisma, Kaupmees) reaching ca 28% market share.

We have three beers in the Finnish alcohol monopoly ALKO and from this year we managed to get our birch saison "Sauna Alus" also to a Finnish S-Group retail chain (Prisma), followed in August by two beers ("Sauna Alus" and "Sesoon") to K-Group retail chain (Citymarket).

We have broadened strategic ownership in Õllenaut to include the leading Estonian pub-chain Vana Villem, leading alcohol wholesellers Balmerk (fka Dunker), and two top managers formerly of Carlsberg Ukraine with a large contact networks and vast experience in beer production, sales and marketing.

Õllenaut's beer packaging design (bottles+box) won bronze in the Estonian design awards competition "Kuldmuna".

How We’re Different

Competition in the craft beer segment is tight - Estonian supermarket shelves are filled besides us also with beers from Põhjala, Lehe, Tanker, Pühaste, Sori, Moe and several smaller breweries.

The fight for hardcore beergeeks is fierce, and consumers are generally unloyal as the don't make repetitive purchases. Õllenaut's niche is offering more taste to drinks that are commonly understandable as beer, which should be attractive to customers that are bored with yellow, tasteless, fizzy lagers and are looking for leveling up their beer delights. Õllenaut puts taste to their volume :-)

Additionally we'll have a pasteurizer, which is unique on the Estonian craft beer scene and which allows us to enter the alcohol free beer market divided right now only in between a big beer group and imported beers. The pasteurizer will allow us to brew alcohol free beer, leaving all the beer tastes and smells in place, rather than eliminating alcohol afterwards, which makes the end product taste distinctly unpleasantly "alcohol-free".

Kvass has an historic footprint in Estonia and is another opportunity due to the pasteurizer. Almost all kvass is imported to Estonia right now; the only small-brewery kvass is coming from Raasiku Brewery.

Alcohol free beer and kvass will be added to our product portfolio when the new brewery is operational.

Uses of Funds & Timeline

Õllenaut's current equipment's production capacity is just 150,000 litres annually using a bottle-conditioned production process, which leaves too much sediment in the bottle for the average beer lover. The new brewhouse will enable us to brew more polished beers and to upgrade to a counter-pressure filling line and replace our current bottling machine.

Minimum targeted fund raising of € 310thous together with a co-financing grant from the EU of € 494thous) and current owners will be used for:

10HL brewhouse € 767thous
Filling line € 477thous
Steel KEG's+equipment € 23thous
Quality assurance equipment € 15thous
TOTAL € 1282thous

In case we are able to secure funds of € 750thous, then we plan to invest additionally in:

Fermenters € 190thous
Canning line € 210thous
Laboratory € 40thous
TOTAL € 440thous

The new premises in Tänassilma have been secured in May; contracts and prepayments for equipment were done in June.

The new brewery will be up and running by January 2020.

Obligations to Investors, Profit Distribution

We expect to reach break-even in 2020 and promise to distribute a minimum of 20% of net profits as dividends each year thereafter.

There are also the following investor rewards for different investment levels:

€104
Be official õllenaut
Your name on your brewery wall
Club Õllenaut membership
Club Õllenaut named t-shirt

€507
All previous rewards plus:
Free 12 pack of beers

€1001
All previous rewards plus:
VIP Invite for you and your guest to our Annual Shareholder Party with unlimited free Õllenaut beer

€10,010
All previous rewards plus:
Become a brew master and brew you own official beer*

*select style, color, abv, IBU, additional ingredients and name the beer; sales revenues belong to Õllenaut Ltd

Risks and Mitigation

Our biggest risk is too slow sales growth. To mitigate that risk we have signed a sales agreement with the Estonian largest and leading pub-chain "Vana-Villem" and a distribution agreement with leading alcohol wholesellers "Balmerk" (fka "Dunker").

Additionally, lower cost of goods sold from the new brewery will give us a competitive price-edge in Scandinavian alcohol monopolies' purchase-tenders while alcohol-free products open up an entirely new market segment both locally and internationally.

Company's contact address: Pärnasalu 19, 76505 Saue, Estonia
Company's contact phone:
+372 5245715
Company's contact email: urmas@ollenaut.ee
Fundwise's contact email: info@fundwise.me

Company name: Õllenaut OÜ
Company's registration code: 12424314
Company's address: Pärnasalu 19, SAUE 76505, Estonia
Company's e-mail: urmas@ollenaut.ee
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Fundwise's e-mail: info@fundwise.me

Investment amount

309 998 - 749 996 €

Equity offered

13,33 % to 27,12 %

Equity offered per investor

104 € to 75 010 €

Current share capital

155000 €

Company current valuation

2 015 000 €

Share capital after campaign

178 846 - 212 692 €

Company valuation after campaign

2 324 998 - 2 764 996 €

1 € nominal share price

13 €

* At the start of the campaign the nominal value of the registered share capital is EUR 62 500. The recently made additional emission is currently under registration: after its finalization, the nominal value of the share capital will become EUR 155 000.