Armchair dragons" give former bartender start-up spirit Alex Kammerling's company used Crowdcube, an online "crowdfunding" platform, to raise finance from 64 small investors in return for a combined 30pc stake. Mr Kammerling started Kamm & Sons two years ago, having decided that there was "a gap in the market for a healthier drink that wasn't a gin or vodka." The venture was the result of half a decade of work in developing a blend for a distilled herbal drink, with the ingredients drawn from "traditional medicine." A number of high-end retailers, bars, restaurants and hotels have ordered the resulting ginseng-based drink, which is distilled and bottled in London. The company is now hoping to secure listings in supermarkets. Kamm & Sons will use the funding to "increase brand awareness" in the UK and grow exports to Europe and America as well as high-growth markets including China. It already has distributors in France, Sweden and Spain, although the majority of its sales come from the UK. Peter Kammerling, a director of the business and Mr Kammerling's father, said: "Launching a new drink in a packed market is incredibly challenging. No one has heard of a ginseng spirit so we have to get out and promote it. We have to raise awareness of the product while also developing distribution. It's a balance between awareness and availability. It is the second time Kamm & Sons has used Crowdcube to raise finance, following a £180,000 backing in 2011. The platform has facilitated more than £5m of investment in small companies since it started two years ago. Alex Kammerling said his company opted to use equity crowd-funding again because conventional bank debt could only be secured at a punitive cost. We didn't even consider the banks for this round because 17pc interest rates are too high for a small business like ours. The ginseng-based spirit is blended with grapefruit and a range of botanical ingredients. Ginseng "on its own, is pretty foul, which is why it needs a little help from the grapefruit and everything else," Mr Kammerling has admitted. But it has a really unique taste and thousands of years of medicinal use.