MOTH, a ready-to-drink canned cocktail startup, has raised £11 million in funding led by Puma Growth Partners, with participation from Beringea, Guinness Ventures and Rianta Capital. The funding will be used to deepen MOTH's UK retail presence, with a particular focus on the fast-growing convenience channel, and to continue accelerating expansion in the US.
Selling premium cocktails in cans, MOTH offers an alternative to cocktails made at a bar. The range of 12 canned cocktails, including its No.1 SKU the MOTH Margarita, is made with award-winning spirits and presented in fully recyclable cans. Now selling one MOTH every four seconds, the brand is the No.2 RTD brand in UK grocery and is a certified B Corp.
Launched by Sam Hunt and Rob Wallis in February 2021, MOTH has reached turnover of £20.9m, up 67% year on year and 146% over two years, three times the growth rate of the category.
Canned cocktails account for 27% of the UK's £787m RTD market and grew 64% in the past year. Across the US, cocktail RTDs are growing seven times faster than the wider $15.2bn RTD category, where MOTH is outpacing the cocktail RTD category across California, Florida and Illinois through retailers including Whole Foods Market, Target, Trader Joe's and Binny's.
When we started MOTH, the idea that a cocktail from a can could genuinely be delicious and rival one from a bar felt like a provocation. Now we're selling one every four seconds and the momentum we're seeing across grocery and convenience is the strongest it's ever been. This raise is about taking that conviction deeper across the UK and America and we're grateful to have attracted investors who understand our ambition and what we're building at MOTH.
MOTH is one of the most exciting brands in RTD and we are delighted to have led the company's latest investment. The team has built impressive momentum across both grocery and convenience in the UK, with clear evidence of repeat purchase and market share gains and now setting sights on replicating that success in the US. We're excited to be backing a business that understands how to win in a rapidly evolving category and has a clear plan for scaling in the UK and internationally.
As early backers of MOTH, it was clear the business had the ingredients of a standout consumer brand: a clear proposition, an exceptional product, and a team with real ambition. Since our initial investment, Rob, Sam, and the team have translated that promise into impressive growth, not least in the US, where Beringea's transatlantic presence and network have supported their expansion. We're delighted to continue backing MOTH as it builds a category-defining drinks business.
What gives us confidence in MOTH is the rigour behind the growth. The team makes investment decisions backed by evidence and scales only what they've proven works, a discipline that matters enormously as the business expands internationally. We're proud to continue backing a management team that pairs real ambition with that kind of judgement.
