Meet the Founder: Folc is Redefining English Rosé
The premium wine world has long been dominated by the established houses of Provence and Champagne. But right now, one of England’s most decorated rosé producers is rewriting the script.
With over 100,000 bottles sold, 125% year-on-year growth, and an impressive 340% surge in DTC revenue for H1 FY25/26, Folc is building a modern, design-led, and unapologetically British challenger brand. Their award-winning still and sparkling wines are already poured everywhere from local premium pubs to Fortnum & Mason and Michelin-starred restaurants.
Operating a highly capital-light, vineyard-free model, Folc is currently 136% overfunded on Republic Europe as investors rush to back the next chapter of British wine.
We sat down with the founder of Folc, Tom Cannon, to discuss the inspiration behind the brand, why English rosé is at a massive tipping point, and how they plan to use this raise to scale national distribution.
What inspired you to begin this mission to build the brand that defines English rosé?
Folc was born back in 2019 from a pretty simple frustration: I felt the wine world, particularly rosé, looked and sounded incredibly similar. At the same time, English wine quality was improving rapidly, yet most of the conversation was still focused on sparkling wine. Hardly anyone was talking seriously about still English rosé.
I genuinely believed England had the potential to produce world-class rosé that could stand alongside the very best wines from Provence, but presented through a more modern, design-led and culturally relevant brand.
From day one, the ambition was never just to make wine. It was to build a British brand with real personality and longevity behind it. Something people genuinely wanted to drink, talk about and be part of.
Six years on, seeing Folc stocked in places like Fortnum & Mason, poured in Michelin-starred restaurants and served nationally in Young’s and Fuller’s pubs has been incredibly rewarding. But honestly, it still feels like very early days for both Folc and the wider English rosé category.
Why do you believe English rosé is at such an exciting point as a category?
I think English rosé is where English sparkling wine perhaps was 10 to 15 years ago: right at the beginning of a very exciting shift in both quality and perception.
The quality of English fruit today is exceptional and improving year-on-year, largely thanks to a combination of climate, winemaking expertise and investment into the wider category. Yet despite the UK importing around 99% of the wine it consumes, English rosé still remains relatively underdeveloped as a category.
That creates a really interesting opportunity.
Consumers are also becoming far more open to premium domestic products across food and drink generally. People increasingly want provenance, authenticity and brands that feel culturally relevant, and I think English wine is benefiting from that broader shift.
Whilst Folc is best known for rosé, we’ve also seen that same momentum translate into sparkling wine, which has been incredibly exciting for us as a brand. More broadly though, we believe there is a huge opportunity to build a modern English wine brand that resonates beyond just traditional wine audiences.
For us specifically, the opportunity is not simply to participate in the category, but to help define what modern English rosé looks and feels like.
In many ways, it still feels like very early days, which is what makes it so exciting.
We are so excited to be supporting your fundraising campaign. What made you choose equity crowdfunding at this time to raise investment for Folc?
Crowdfunding felt like a very natural fit for Folc because community has always sat at the heart of the brand.
Over the last few years, we’ve built an incredibly loyal customer base and many people have followed the journey from the very beginning. We were increasingly getting asked, “Can I invest?” or “How do I become part of this properly?” so opening the door felt like the right next step.
Timing-wise, the business is also at a really exciting inflection point. Revenue is growing strongly, we’ve built national hospitality partnerships and our DTC channel continues to scale, meaning the business is now entering a very exciting next chapter.
Importantly though, this raise isn’t just about capital. We see it as an opportunity to bring more people into the story and build a genuinely engaged shareholder community around the brand.
How have you funded the business so far and how have you used that funding?
To date, Folc has been funded through a combination of founder capital, angel investment and previous EIS investment rounds.
We’ve always tried to build the business in a relatively capital-efficient way. Rather than owning vineyards or large production facilities, we operate a more flexible négociant-style model, partnering with some of the best growers and winemakers in the country whilst focusing our own resources on the brand, quality, sales and distribution.
The majority of investment to date has gone into three key areas:
- Building the brand and customer experience
- Inventory and production as we’ve scaled volumes
- Growing distribution across hospitality, wholesale and DTC
One thing I’m particularly proud of is how much we’ve achieved with a relatively lean team and comparatively little capital.
How would you define the market opportunity for Folc, and in your opinion how do you stand out from competitors?
The opportunity is significant.
The UK imports around 99% of the wine it consumes and is one of the world’s largest rosé markets by value, yet English rosé is still incredibly underpenetrated. In many ways, the category is still in its infancy.
We believe Folc has the opportunity to become the defining modern English rosé brand within that emerging space.
Where we stand out is really the combination of product quality and brand. Winning major awards is important validation, but ultimately wine is an emotional purchase and branding matters enormously in modern consumer categories.
From the beginning, we’ve tried to build a brand that feels more culturally relevant, design-led and lifestyle-oriented than traditional wine brands. We don’t take ourselves too seriously, but we take the quality extremely seriously.
That balance seems to resonate with consumers who love premium wine but are looking for brands that feel more modern, approachable and culturally relevant.
Talk us through your team – how have you built your team so far, and what key hires are you planning to make in the near future?
One of the things I’ve learned as a founder is that great businesses are ultimately built by great people.
We’ve intentionally kept the team relatively lean, but focused on hiring people who genuinely believed in the vision early on. A lot of the team came from backgrounds across premium wine, hospitality and consumer brands, and importantly they bring a huge amount of energy and creativity to the business.
We’ve also been fortunate to build a very strong board around the business, including industry figures such as Frazer Thompson, former CEO of Chapel Down, whose experience has been hugely valuable as we scale.
Looking ahead, the next phase of hiring will largely focus around sales, marketing and operations as the business continues to grow nationally. As a founder, I’m increasingly trying to build the infrastructure and leadership team that can support a much larger business over the next five years.
You must be thrilled at the traction you’ve seen so far. What’s been your proudest achievement?
There have been a few surreal moments along the way.
But honestly, I think the proudest moment was seeing Folc listed at The Crooked Billet in Wimbledon. It’s long been one of my favourite pubs and I remember thinking back in the very early days how incredible it would feel if, one day, Folc was stocked there.
Seeing that actually happen felt very full circle.
Winning major international wine awards has also been hugely rewarding because quality has always been central to the brand. But ultimately, I think I’m most proud of the fact we’ve managed to build a brand people genuinely care about.
Building any consumer brand from scratch is incredibly difficult, particularly in wine, so the fact we’ve managed to create real momentum and emotional connection around an English rosé brand is something I’m very proud of.
What are you most excited about for the next six months at Folc?
The next six months feel like a really important period for the business.
We’re launching new wines, continuing to expand nationally across hospitality and wholesale and investing further into DTC growth and brand-building. We’ve also got some exciting partnership conversations underway which I hope we’ll be able to share more on soon.
More broadly though, I think English wine is entering a genuinely exciting chapter. Quality across the category has improved enormously over the last few years and consumer perception is shifting quickly alongside it.
For Folc specifically, it feels like we’re moving from those early startup years into something much more established and scalable now. That’s exciting, slightly daunting at times, but ultimately incredibly motivating.
Want to join Folc on their growth journey?