#ChampagneWishes #BigAppleBusiness @invintory InVintory Closes First $1.5M Fundraise Led by its Community of Wine Collectors
Wine cellaring app received overwhelming response from its user base
InVintory - a leading wine cellaring platform - is pleased to announce it has closed a $1.5 million seed round, with a third of the investment contributed by its own users.
After deciding to launch its first raise earlier this year, InVintory found itself facing challenging market conditions, highlighted by prominent accelerator Y Combinator's advice to founders in May to prepare for a difficult road ahead.
The team recognized that it needed to think outside the box to complete the round. Rather than pursue the traditional fundraising path of seeking primarily venture capital investment, they reached out to high net worth individuals and prominent athletes who use the platform to manage their personal cellars, and successfully raised funds from JJ Redick and Josh Hart, both of whom are avid collectors.
Off the back of this exciting news, other InVintory users started reaching out to the team to inquire if they could also invest, prompting the company to create a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) - a standalone legal entity into which users could invest, and which in turn would invest in InVintory as a single line on the cap table.
"We are very fortunate to have a highly engaged group of collectors, many of whom are investors in their own right," says Jeff Daiter, InVintory's Co-Founder and CEO. "After we created the SPV, we sent an expression of interest form to our user base, and almost 400 people signed up to learn more, with dozens ultimately investing in amounts ranging from $1000 to $100,000. It has been absolutely incredible to see that level of belief in the company from the people who know it best."
Launched in 2020, InVintory offers a mobile and web app with a simple interface, rich data, and novel technology that makes it easy to track and find wines. With the majority of features available on the free app, and advanced features such as 3D cellar technology and market values available in an in-app subscription, InVintory provides a solution for wine collectors at all stages, whether they are just getting started or already have large cellars to manage.
With the funds from this round, InVintory will invest in product development and growth. The team plans to add even more features to both its free and subscription tiers, and is also working on an exciting new product for collectors with larger home cellars to seamlessly manage all aspects of their collection from the cellar door. In addition, they are finalizing partnerships with other businesses in the wine space to bring more value to their customers through partner benefits.
Daiter adds, "Our overarching goal is to take the work out of managing a collection, so that wine lovers like myself can get back to what matters - enjoying the experience of every bottle. The investment response from our users validates that we're on the right path towards this objective, and I'm looking forward to sharing all the exciting milestones that we will achieve as a direct result of their support."
For more information, please visit invintory.com and @invintory.
About InVintory:
InVintory was started in 2018 by father and son duo Jeff and Josh Daiter, in response to a direct need for a simple solution to track and find bottles in Jeff's personal wine cellar. With an app available on iOS and web, the company has to date released two products – Aspire and Prestige. The free Aspire tier offers a range of features to help collectors at every stage of their journey manage their collections, from scanning labels to add wines, creating custom tags to organize bottles, and cataloging desired bottles in a wishlist. Prestige additionally offers advanced technology to create a 3D cellar or fridge replica and find bottles in an instant, as well as advanced analytics to obtain cellar valuation, track activity, and view collection breakdowns along multiple dimensions. The company currently has users in 150 countries and over two million bottles under management within the app, and that number only continues to grow, indicative of the vast potential of the wine market, which is valued at over $350 billion worldwide – larger than the digital music and fitness markets combined.
