A CRAFT brewer has broken through its £600,000 fundraising target in just 19 days.

WooHa Brewing Company, based in Kinloss, Moray, launched the crowdfunding campaign at the beginning of January and has already reached the initial planned amount, leading to it shortening the campaign period with the crowdfunding page closing this Friday, January 31.

So far the campaign has raised £612,780 from 199 individual investors.

READ MORE: WooHa in funding campaign as it targets China 

Heather McDonald, WooHa founder and chief executive, said: “We are blown away by the high level of interest from investors in this campaign and look forward to welcoming nearly 200 new investors to our clan.

“WooHa Brewing Company is a craft beer brewery with a difference. It has big aspirations, a strong growth plan focused on the export market and an exit strategy to maximise return on investment.

“We are all very excited about the opportunities this crucial funding will unlock.”

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The investment, which is WooHa’s second crowdfunding campaign after earlier raising £700,000, and will be used to support international expansion.

WooHa plans to fund a number of new sales staff in international markets and also launch new products, including a 500ml can for its growing Chinese audience.

The brewery moved into a new 6.2-acre site in Kinloss in 2017 and recently appointed a new head of sales, Scott McCallion, who brings with him international experience from BrewDog, Red Bull and Carlsberg.

The brewery’s current capacity is 5,000 hectolitres per year and the aim is to grow in-house production to 88,000 hectolitres by June 2023.