BrewDog’s Equity for Punks: from a 2,765% claim in 2017 to nothing in 2026

The round

BrewDog did not use a crowdfunding platform. It sold its own shares directly to customers and fans, under the name Equity for Punks, from 2009. The Conversation ↗ (opens in a new tab) records about £75m raised from more than 200,000 small investors, typically around £500 each, until the scheme closed in 2021. There were several rounds at different prices, the last at £25.15 a share ↗ (opens in a new tab), according to the company.

What happened

For a time the numbers looked remarkable. In May 2017 BrewDog took a minority investment from the private equity firm TSG Consumer Partners, at a valuation of $1.24bn, and co-founder James Watt told Entrepreneur ↗ (opens in a new tab) that shares bought in the first round were now worth 2,765 percent of their original value. Investors could sell 15% of their shares at that price, capped at 40 shares each.

On 2 March 2026 the UK and Irish business was sold to Tilray, the US drinks and cannabis company, for £33m. Restaurant Online ↗ (opens in a new tab) reported that equity holders in the brewing business would receive no return, Equity for Punks investors included. In July 2026 The Drinks Business ↗ (opens in a new tab) reported a bid by Watt to buy the business back, offering former investors free shares if it succeeded. That is an offer, not a payment, and we have not recorded an outcome.

What the figure does and does not say

The 2,765 figure ↗ (opens in a new tab) was the value of a share as a percentage of its price, so the gain it implied was about 2,665%, and it applied only to the first round's shares. Later buyers paid much more. It also rested on one private valuation, at which only a capped 40 shares each could be sold. For anyone who sold those 40 shares, part of a gain became money. Everything else stayed on paper, and paper can go to nothing.

Hence the 0x. A sale of a company's assets out of administration pays creditors and those ranking first, and ordinary shares come last. The Conversation ↗ (opens in a new tab) names TSG as a partial owner, and small investors as holding almost a third of the company by 2025.

BrewDog is on this page because it is the same story as the others until the last line. It reached a valuation ↗ (opens in a new tab) few crowd-backed companies ever reach, it was well known and had a loyal following, and none of that protected a holder. For the reader, the useful comparison is the date of each number: a 2017 claim and a 2026 result.