£3.4m crowdfunding investment for burrito brand Chilango

Mexican restaurant chain Chilango has announced its second successful crowdfunding round, having secured £3.43m investment via equity crowdfunding platform Crowdcube.

Over 1,1500 investors backed the campaign, in exchange for a share of 8.72%, to overfund the business’ original target of £1m – the largest single sum invested was £300,000.

Launched in 2007 by Young Guns Dan Houghton and Eric Partaker, Chilango specialises in Mexican burritos “full of zing” and now operates nine restaurants across central London with a 10th site planned for Soho.

Having previously stated that Chilango is a “global brand in the making”, Houghton and Partaker will use the funding to expand to 50 sites across 20 cities nationwide by 2021. An ambition that it says, if achieved, will create around 600 jobs.

It has also announced that it will be venturing into franchising with plans underway to introduce international franchises, starting with Dubai.

The company’s latest funding builds on its earlier Crowdcube round in August 2014 where it raised over £2m via a “burrito bond” offering.

Partaker, commented: “Once again the power of crowdfunding shows its might. We’ve now completed back-to-back, multi-million pound debt and equity raises on Crowdcube to fund our growth. People love the buzz and immediacy of crowdfunding and nothing beats letting our guests and fans support and profit from our success. More power to the people!”

Crowdcube co-founder, Luke Lang, added:

“As before, Chilango has excited investors with the passion and high quality of its proposal and Eric Partaker’s video pitch particularly grabbed people’s attention as it was so vibrant. Also, the company is backed by a lot of top execs from high profile brands in the hospitality sector and that’s always reassuring for our subscribers.”