Dead Bird Brewing, a brewery and arcade that opened September 2019 in Milwaukee, is seeking funding to stay afloat not from a bank loan but from individual investors via the website Mainvest – a Kickstarter-esque fundraising platform.

According to WTMJ, the investment campaign – which has to raise at least $50,000 by May 26 in order to be funded – was put together by owner Nick Kocis in an effort to help offset costs brought on by the pandemic. As of May 5, they were more than halfway to their goal.

“We had to put a lot of things on hold that we weren’t expecting to put on hold in our first year,” he said. One of those was their own large-scale brewing equipment. The taproom had just opened in September 2019 before closures in March 2020 and again last October. They’re aiming to reopen this month.

Those who invested $1,000 or more were incentivized with owning their own barstool at Dead Bird Brewing – complete with their name on it and 10% off orders for life. For $5,000 or more, patrons can become brewmaster for a day – coming up with a specially-crafted beer to serve.

“Most of our investors are from the Milwaukee and southern Wisconsin area, which is really exciting because they are also our customers,” Kocis added. Click here to invest or visit www.deadbirdbrewing.com for more information.