Drinkly to expand into 150 UK towns and cities with new crowdfunding round

On-demand drinks delivery start-up Drinkly is looking to crowdfund £250,000 to drive its expansion into 150 towns and cities across the UK.

From left: Drinkly's Ailidh Forlan, Glen Stocco, John Robertson, Paul Finlayson and Shabaz Ali. Picture: Contributed

The Edinburgh-based e-commerce firm, which also operates in Glasgow and London, will today launch the ambitious investment round on equity crowdfunding platform Seedrs.

Drinkly aims to plug a retail gap in the convenience economy, delivering chilled drinks to customers’ doorsteps within one hour.

Backers include BrewDog founder James Watt and Skyscanner’s chief commercial officer Stuart Middleton.

Backers of Edinburgh's Drinkly include BrewDog founder James Watt. Picture: Contributed

Drinkly founder and chief executive John Robertson said: “The UK drinks market is huge; it’s forecast to be worth £55.5 billion by 2022 with the e-commerce segment forecast to be worth £19.6 billion (growing 16 per cent year-on-year.”

He added that Drinkly is “well positioned” to capitalise on this opportunity and scale up quickly, with the business planning to launch in 150 locations by December next year.

Watt added: “I backed Drinkly because they are doing things differently, using technology to innovate and putting the customer at the forefront of everything they do."

The business has delivered more than 14,000 orders this year, boosting revenues by £110,000, and has also engaged in exclusive partnerships with global drinks brands such as Heineken, Asahi and Innis & Gunn.

In October Drinkly appointed business development manager Shabaz Ali, who has already onboarded close to 40 retailers.