Cardinal Spirits opens community equity round
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Bloomington-based Cardinal Spirits is looking for some of its biggest supporters to become investors. The craft distillery has launched its first Community Equity Round, in which individuals can invest in the company starting at $100 in exchange for equity.
The company said the funding will help fuel growth of its canned cocktail distribution, bourbon production, and co-packing operations.
Co-founder Jeff Wuslich told Inside INdiana Business the idea of the round is to engage fans who already love the brand and want to get behind it in a more significant way.
“We’ve gotten a lot of interest, especially from people that love our brand, but maybe can’t always support us in the way they’d like to,” Wuslich said. “It means people in different parts of the country that want to see us come to them, and have our brand there. But it also means people that want to be a part of a business but can’t make like a huge significant investment as well.”
The equity round, which is being hosted on Wefunder, is not like a traditional crowdfunding campaign, Wuslich said. The investment made in the distillery is a convertible note that gives the investors equity in the company from which they could be paid out in profits.
“But it is investment,” he said. “We always encourage people to do their due diligence and to review our financials and review our deck. But we’re excited to have them on board and hopefully get a lot of good investments.”
To date, the company has raised over $178,000 from 185 investors. The lead investor is Gerry Hays, an Indiana entrepreneur and senior lecturer of finance at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business.
Wuslich said the distillery decided to go with the community equity round as a means to find more ways to grow the business. He said the company did get an investment from the IU Angel Network and other sources, but they were open to more strategic investments from different parties.
“We want to have more fans in the field. We want people to go into their local bars or restaurant or their liquor store or their chain grocery store and say, ‘Are you carrying Cardinal Spirits? I really want it,'” he said. “And, you know, those bars and restaurants want to support what their customers want, and we hope that works beneficially for all parties involved.”
Cardinal Spirits has grown from having its products old in 1,000 retail outlets in 2018 to 8,400 across 13 states and the District of Columbia this year. The distillery is also boasting $6.3 million in annual revenue and $32 million in cumulative revenue.
The company has about 50 employees across its two facilities in Bloomington,
Part of the growth the company aims to achieve with the funding, Wuslich said, is boosting the distillery’s whiskey business, which takes larger financial commitment than the Vodka products that Cardinal Spirits is known for.
But Cardinal is also looking to grow its canned cocktail business that began in 2018.
“Canned cocktails continue to be one of the hottest industry segments, and so we feel really well poised to make sure that we’re at the front end of those. This [funding] is going to allow us to have some additional marketing, some initial salespeople, maybe some additional products as well but really to make sure that we capture that that part of the market.”
You can connect to the community equity round by clicking here.
Wuslich also talked about the state of craft distilling in Indiana.