UK-based CBD and nootropics drinks business Common Drinks is winding up, its founder Julian Liban has confirmed.

Liban, who is also Common's majority shareholder, told Just Drinks plans to rebrand and expand to the US collapsed.

"We had been working on a pivot for nine months with full board support," Liban said.

"The new project involved a full rebrand and a huge talent backing us. We had recruited a US-based CEO, had big investors lined up and were close to bringing it all together before the deal collapsed."

Common's drinks were sold across the UK and had listings with retailers like Planet Organic and WHSmith, as well as distributors such as Diverse Fine Foods and Wholegood.

In 2024, the functional drinks group received investment from executives including BrewDog founder James Watt and Rubicon Drinks managing director Neel Nagrecha.

The money was used to develop Common's nootropic drinks range, made with lion's mane. Common's portfolio also included CBD drinks.

Liban said the group had intended to "sunset" the Common brand and that it " should have been announcing a new brand at this stage".

In a separate statement on LinkedIn, Liban said Common had intended to develop a new drink for launch in the US, as CBD laws in the UK "stifled the market and innovation".

Liban told Just Drinks: "Common's momentum wasn't going to propel it into a major international player and that was our aspiration. We didn't want to constantly fundraise and die slowly, we wanted to grow fast and dominate, as is the case of many recent success stories in FMCG, given the amount of capital being thrown around."

"Government regulations around CBD had killed the market and any innovation - what they said would take a few months to regulate has taken [at least] six years. Even Trip is still stuck with the same three CBD flavours as six years ago.

Common's staff were let go from the business five months ago, Liban said. The business is still due some outstanding invoices from retailers.

The business has also sold some brand assets in the winding-up process. These include formulation and customer relationship management software, which have been sold to another drinks company. Liban did not disclose the name of the business that had bought these assets.

Production of Common's drinks was handled by third parties.