England cricket captain Ben Stokes has become a strategic investor at alcohol-free spirits brand CleanCo as part of a $5m fundraise.
CleanCo was set up by former Made in Chelsea star Spencer Matthews in 2019 and sells a variety of 0% drinks including whisky, rum and tequila.
Stokes will join the company as both an investor and brand partner, representing CleanCo in the UK and the US, plus other potential new markets around the world.
After giving up alcohol during a recent injury rehabilitation, the England captain said he initially toyed with the idea of creating his own alcohol-free spirits brand before coming across CleanCo.
“Discovering that they are the best in the game and their products are really that good, I knew I wanted to be involved in a serious capacity,” he said.
“Getting to know Spencer, the team and the category potential only fuelled my intent to be part of this pioneering brand. I was seriously impressed to learn of the market opportunity and CleanCo’s dominance in the space.”
CleanCo launched into the US in 2021 in a bid to become “one of the world’s largest” non-alcoholic spirits brands. Earlier that year, it raised £7m to bring its total investment at the time to more than £9m.
The global low & no category is booming and is now predicted to grow at 7% a year over the near term, according to NIQ, while alcoholic spirits remain in decline.
Over a third of UK drinkers are now consuming low & no products “semi-regularly” according to a YouGov survey, up from 29% in 2022.
Younger adults were still the biggest consumers of low & no, with close to half (46%) of 25 to 34-year-olds surveyed considering themselves either an occasional or regular drinker of alcohol alternatives.
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