44. Beer Hawk

Founders: Mark Roberts and Christopher France
Founded: October 2012
Website: www.beerhawk.co.uk

Over the past few years, craft beer has enjoyed an explosion in popularity – indeed, the flavoursome, individual brews are now so in demand that some experts have predicted a worldwide hop shortage. Online craft beer delivery service Beerhawk is well placed to take advantage of this through its online craft beer delivery service; the start-up scans the world for the best that craft beer has to offer, delivering hand-picked selections of more than 300 individual bottles to customers at competitive prices. In addition to the e-commerce service, customers can sign up for a monthly ‘Beer Club’ which delivers a case of 15 different beers to their door for a monthly fee.

BeerHawk also generates revenues through corporate partnerships, utilising their scale to acquire new customers and quickly boost brand awareness (current partners include big names such as HSBC, First Direct, FHM and Moonpig) as well as selling beer through 3^rd party platforms including notonthehighstreet, Amazon, and Play.com. This smart multi-pronged revenue model has seen BeerHawk grow to become the UK’s largest beer delivery platform (and our highest beer subscription entry!) and with the craft beer craze showing no signs of slowing (potential hops shortage notwithstanding), the start-up is well placed to continue this growth across 2014.