Impossibrew founder Mark Wong appeared on Dragon's Den in 2022 but came away empty handed.
Not every business has an 800-year-old text from a Japanese monk at its heart, but it was just the connection Mark Wong needed to mesh ancient traditions with modern tech for Impossibrew, the alcohol alternative company he founded in 2021.
As the alcohol-free beer market continues to grow in the UK, Impossibrew has sold over 1 million cans in the last 12 months and recorded around £500,000 alone from last month’s Dry January sales.
Turnover was just shy of £3m in 2024, with pre-money valuation standing at £12m ahead of a second fundraising round in January. All this after Wong was turned down for investment by Dragon’s Den in 2022.
His journey to beer brewing started at Durham University where he was studying philosophy. He opted for financial planning in his year out and, thinking of a potential future career with drinks giant Diageo (DGE.L), Wong bartended for seven months and became one of the highest scorers at the Wine Scholar Guild.
However, as a 21-year-old and enjoying university social life, a health check up then revealed that he had the liver of “someone consistent in their forties, not early twenties.”
Impossibrew is a team of London-based beer lovers who are harnessing tech to create enhanced functional non-alcoholic beers.
“They aren’t sure whether it was genetic but told me it wasn't a good idea to continue [drinking],” says Wong.
It was the catalyst to pursue the Impossibrew journey. On a trip to his native Hong Kong, he visited a herbal medicine shop, delved into research and discovered a Japanese text from 1211, the Kissa Yojoki, which detailed natural herbs with relaxation properties.
“It was at a time when they were trying to find an alternative, teas and plants which could do more for you than just the flavour,” adds Wong. “It was kind of like a guide to how to live better with nature and plants.
“It was a connection of quite a few dots and we looked to see if we could extract the early tradition and apply it in a modern context.”
Back at Durham he partnered with Dr Paul Chazot, a bioservices professor, who saw the student's vision and allowed him to use his lab to concoct early experiments. “There were people there thinking outside of the box,” says Wong
They created Social Blend, a patent-pending technology combining Chazot’s expertise in pharmaceuticals with the tradition of Wong’s herbal medicine heritage and plants including organic ashwagandha root extract.
A health diagnosis in 2019 forced Mark Wong to stop drinking entirely and set up his non-alcoholic beer brand.
“We wanted to have that first choice,” says Wong. “It was a problem I had where I couldn’t find that choice. It was either you are drinking or aren’t, with no middle option."
Wong then won a university competition, although the £10,000 prize money was spent with a branding agency who failed with their brief. Lacking funds was “a bit of a hiccup”, says Wong.
Instead they set up for pre-order, a three-month lead time and handed out to friends and family before launching in 2021’s Dry January.
Two crowdfunds have proved successful; the first after Wong went on Dragon’s Den accrued £800,000 with 700 investors. A Crowdcube last month attracted 1,200 investors and Impossibrew reached its target of £500,000 just 35 minutes into priority access phase.
It surpassed £1.2m within 24 hours of public launch.
The alcohol-free beer market continues to grow, with 32% of Brits reducing their alcohol intake (Mintel) in the past year.
Based in London, the four-strong company has worked with breweries in the north of the UK due to the water quality, renting space from craft brewers and mimicking the brewing style to avoid watering down the beer. Impossibrew still sells 96% of its products online, while partnering with around 100 independent stockists.
“The way we see it now is a three-way journey; the supplementary option where no one cared for flavour, then some of the craft players came in to up the quality, as well as Guinness Zero," adds Wong.
"The adoption is much faster and what we are seeing now is the third phase of alcohol-free evolution, of the functional side where brands are focusing on things that do more for you in the same way that Red Bull split themselves away from the traditional carbonated soft drink industry and were delivering more.”
With Frazer Thompson, founder of English vineyard Chapel Down (CDGP.L), as one of the advisors and investors on board with Wong, Impossibrew’s goal based on market growth is now to double sales annually.
“A few years ago, non-alcoholic drinks were seen as the gluten-free bread of alcohol in a way. It didn’t pick up the mainstream traction,” says Wong. Anything is possible now for Impossibrew.
Behind the brand: Founder Mark Wong on..
Entrepreneurial learnings
I’ve always loved Dragon’s Den and it looked for me to be easier to run a business than it actually was. Our products are full natural beers and no artificials, but we didn’t realise that one of the batches could get a bacterial infection. It was expecting the unexpected and learning as much as you can.
The key learning was that no matter how scrappy things could be, it could work if you are running with limited resources and trying to be creative to deliver as much value as possible without diverting resources elsewhere.
