The rise and rise of craft beer companies in New Zealand has seen unprecedented demand for shares in one of our top companies.

Auckland based Behemoth Brewing set out with a crowdfunding target of $1.8 million.

After initially making the offer to current shareholders, the capital raise offer went public and sold within 20 minutes.

It not only set a record for investment platform Snowball Effect but demand crashed their site, with numbers 40 times higher than they’ve ever had before.

Founder of Behemoth Brewing Andrew Childs told Francesca Rudkin that they initially did crowdfunding 18 months ago, and it took the whole month to raise the money they needed.

"It was the most stressful month of my life and my wife's life."

He says that this time was "completely and utterly unexpected", with people emailing in annoyance that they couldn't invest.

Childs says that craft beer has started a big community during lockdown, and there is a big push to support local businesses. 

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