Celebrities Ed Sheeran, Russell Crowe, Jimmy Carr and Ronan Keating take a punt on Muff Liquor

A company co-founded by Oscar winner Russell Crowe, comedian Jimmy Carr and singers Ed Sheeran and Ronan Keating has invested €750,000 in a distillery in Co Donegal.

News of the prominent investment in Donegal’s Muff Liquor Company, which offers a range of gins, vodkas and whiskey, first plummeted earlier this year. However, recent filings with the Companies Registration Office showed the value of the investment made.

The celebrities, along with Noel Kelly, an agent for a number of Irish celebrities, formed the company MLM Distillery Investments, which made the investment.

According to CRO filings, MLM Distillery Investments has invested €750,000 in Muff Liquor Company’s parent company, Vega & Wallace. The investment vehicle has around 30 pieces of muff.

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Laura Bonner from Muff Liquor

Laura Bonner from Muff Liquor

Laura Bonner, founder and CEO of Muff Liquor, said the investment round closed around Christmas Eve and will be used primarily in haberdashery and marketing.

Bonner flew to Australia in January, where the company launched on March 1 with supermarket group Coles and its First Choice Liquor brand.

“Our plan then is to enter the US market,” she said.

“We’re a scaling start-up, but we’ve had a pandemic for two and a half years, so we’re going step by step.”

Bonner said she has plans for a distillery and visitor center in Muff, Co Donegal.

“It’s so expensive,” she says.

Broadcaster Laura Whitmore had also been an investor in Muff but exited last August.

“We went on really good terms,” ​​said Bonner.