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London’s Taylor St Baristas raises £1.8 million on Crowdcube

London-based speciality coffee house chain, Taylor St Baristas, has raised £1.8 million from Crowdcube Mini-Bond.

The Coffee Bond beat its £1.5 million target, topping out at £1,864,000 and attracting 504 investors from Taylor St’s own customers as well as Crowdcube’s registered members.

In November 2014, the coffee chain announced plans to raise up to £3 millionusing the ‘mini-bond’ offered by crowdfunding platform Crowdcube.

Bondholders will receive 8% fixed rate interest per annum for the four year term of the bond, or can elect to have their dividend paid in coffee, in the form of store credit at the equivalent rate of 12% per annum.

Taylor St plans to double the size of its business in the next two years.

A proportion of the money will be used to expand its barista training programme which is key to differentiating its cafes from the scores of neighbouring competitors.

And finally, there are plans to extend the brand through sales of Taylor St-branded coffee and merchandise in-store and online.

CEO of Taylor St, Richard Shaer said: “Crowdcube gave us the opportunity to offer our customers and supporters a safe, efficient and robust platform through which they could invest in Taylor St, reducing our administrative burden and allowing us to reach a wider base of investors.”

Luke Lang, co-founder and CMO of Crowdcube said: “Established businesses that have large, regular customer followings are realising that our retail bonds offer an ideal option for raising growth capital. We are getting enquiries from all sectors, including some familiar household names, so the public will have plenty of exciting opportunities to get involved in the coming year.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .