Start-up Shaken Cocktails closes business

Start-up cocktail subscription service Shaken Cocktails has closed its business due to cash flow struggles.

Cash flow difficulties have forced start-up business Shaken Cocktails to fold

The group issued a statement on its website claiming that it has shipped its final box of cocktail ingredients.

Established in 2014 by Mark Jennings, Alex Heeton and David Varela, Shaken produces boxes of cocktail ingredients and recipes delivered directly to consumers as part of a monthly subscription service.

The London-based company sought to raise £100,000 by selling equity on crowd-funding platform Seedrs towards the end of last year, making £200,000 by the time the campaign closed in January 2016.

Shaken’s first round of crowd-funding saw the company raise more than £118,000 in March last year, surpassing its initial target of £60,000 in four days.

Shaken’s value increased 20% between the first and second round of investment, but this was not enough to keep it afloat.

The company’s founders issued a statement on its website, stating: “Without new investment, we couldn’t scale fast enough to make the business successful.

“The upsetting irony is that we were starting to see industry-leading retention numbers, more and more spirit brands sign up exclusively, and many other indicators that we were at the tipping point. No business has an innate right to succeed, but we gave it everything.”

The founders went on to apologise to their investors and said they “tried everything in their power” to make Shaken a success, adding that most of the funders will benefit from SEIS/EIS tax relief.

“We poured every ounce of ourselves into Shaken,” they continued. “It will take a little time to accept that we won’t be steering this fine ship anymore, but we will all live to fight another day, stronger and wiser but hopefully just as ready to try new things, to experiment, to break rules and to have fun.”