Matugga Distillery, a Scotland based and Black female, co-founded venture, has raised an impressive £300,000 through crowdfunding in just two weeks, showing the consumer desire for a diverse-led rum brand and the greater funding access and inclusion this form of fundraising can offer.

As a result of Matugga’s successful fundraising campaign, which they will use to invest in a new distillery kit and team expansion, the UK’s first Black female-owned distillery has 200 new shareholders who are backing their plans to take their Scottish rum brand, which has strong African and Caribbean roots, global.

With a pre-money valuation of over £1.2m and currently at full capacity, the new funding will help Matugga Distillery fulfil the high demand for its products. They have 15 days left of their fundraising campaign on Crowdcube, which allows them to seek further funding beyond their smashed target.

The firm’s crowdfunding campaign was led by married co-founders Jacine Rutasikwa and Ugandan-born Paul Rutasikwa. Jacine is a descendant of the ‘Windrush’ generation, where around half a million people moved from the Caribbean to Britain following the Second World War to fill severe labour shortages.

At the launch of Matugga’s campaign, she highlighted the “systemic inequalities” that Black entrepreneurs face as a reason that they decided to explore crowdfunding as an alternative fundraising option. A clear statistic that points to racial inequality in the UK startup funding climate is the low levels of venture capital (VC) investment Black business owners receive in the UK, which between 2009 and 2019 amounted to just 0.24%.

Commenting on Matugga’s great fundraising success, Jacine said: “Not only do people get invested in our products, but they become invested in our story. People think what we’re doing is different, and there’s been incredible support and goodwill from our community.

“We know our worth, and we are focused. We make a product worth backing, and we know that because of all the incredible feedback we get from customers. I hope our funding success will inspire other entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds.

“We’ve faced huge challenges along the way; it hasn’t been easy – we’ve had to be incredibly resilient, so we’re incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved, and we’re so grateful to everyone who has invested. 

“The journey is far from over. Rum is on the up, and there aren’t many other dedicated rum distilleries in the UK that you can invest in – there’s still time to become part of Matugga and help us take Scottish rum worldwide.”

You can still invest in Matugga Distillery by visiting Crowdcube here.