The Wine Collective intends to raise $7.5 million in capital raising to further the growth of the ‘super site’ that was formed by the merger of The Wine Society and Cracka Wines.
The company already forms a formidable presence in the digital wine marketplace with a database of more than 400,000 consumers.
The capital raise is open to “sophisticated investors focused on delivering significant technological innovation to the Australian wine landscape” and will run until 14 April 2020.
Lloyd Heinrich, CEO, The Wine Collective, says the $7.5m will fund the twin strategies of building a world class marketplace and personalising the experience for users to enable pain free purchasing.
“Our aspiration is to use the capital raised to accelerate our marketplace build while focusing on digital personalisation. This will enable us to push ahead towards 10,000 wines available (over 6800 products are listed to date) by the end of the year and back this with an intelligent engine that knows just which ones are for you.
“The key to the success of The Wine Collective will be in focusing on collaboration and community building with both our supplier base and customer networks.”
Heinrich is most excited about the opportunity to bring to bear the best technology the world has to offer on an industry that has been constrained by narrow supply channels.
“Building the biggest marketplace for wine in the country enables us to bring all of the colour and light that exists within this very old and highly engaging category to life in the digital realm.”
The Wine Collective was officially launched in March 2019 and since then the business has been focused on improving customer service and growth.
Heinrich has been focused on a digital transformation of the group, enhancing the DNA of personalised wine service and offering an improved range of wines through a new digital marketplace concept.
“We have had great traction with our customer base as we provide an even better level of service and an ever-expanding range of wines. We are focused on the small to medium sized producer and providing the choice that we know consumers demand.
“We know that globally, online channels are outgrowing all other retail and there will be a time in the not too distant future where going to a physical bottle shop to purchase wine will be a thing of the past. Our model gives us the ability to provide a huge range, as well as a personalised service using digital means.”
Interested parties can contact The Wine Collective directly.