Vivino Announces $25 Million in Series B Funding

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - Jan 12, 2016) - Vivino, the world's largest wine community and most downloaded mobile wine app, today announced a $25 million Series B round led by SCP Neptune International to fuel Vivino's explosive growth and disruption of the global wine market. Balderton Capital (formerly known as Benchmark Europe), Creandum, SEED Capital and Iconical, all existing investors in Vivino, are contributing to the round as well. This follows Seed and Series A funding rounds bringing Vivino's total funding to date to $37 million since the company was founded in 2010.

SCP Neptune International, advised by Dial Partners LLP in London, is the family office investment vehicle of industry icon, Christophe Navarre. Mr. Navarre has also agreed to join the main Board of Vivino as a non-executive Director, representing his Family office, to advise on the company's future growth.

Vivino's massive growth and community of 13 million global users prove there is a paradigm shift happening in the industry and that the way consumers discover and select wine is changing rapidly. The Vivino community is democratizing an industry that was typically left to the critics, with users contributing tens of thousands of ratings every single day, forming the world's largest wine library.

Vivino will use this investment to expand its presence in the world's top wine consumption regions like the United States, Italy, France, Spain and Germany. The funding will also allow Vivino to continue to build the world's largest wine marketplace, helping users worldwide discover their next wine from one of the 11,000 merchants on Vivino.

"Today's news cements our position as a dominant leader in the global wine industry," said Heini Zachariassen, Vivino Founder and CEO. "Our mission to help people, all around the world, find great wine requires significant resources across the wine and technology industries. Thanks to the incredible investment and insights of Christophe Navarre, we're incredibly well suited to continue to attack our mission in unprecedented fashion."

The Series B funding coincides with a newly formed partnership between renowned wine author Karen MacNeil and Vivino. MacNeil, author of the single bestselling wine book in the United States, The Wine Bible, will serve as an editorial advisor to Vivino. MacNeil will provide real-time insights, intel and advice on wine trends and the greater wine industry and she will also develop content for Vivino.com and the Vivino app.

Skype Co-Founder Janus Friis was Vivino's inaugurating angel investor in 2010 and in 2011, Seed Capital contributed preseed funding. Creandum was behind the Series A funding in 2012, and follow on Series A funding of $10.3 million was led by Balderton Capital (formerly known as Benchmark Europe). In May of 2015, Vivino added several new wine loving angel investors, including Melo7 Tech Partners, LLC, cofounded by eight time NBA All-Star Carmelo Anthony.

ABOUT VIVINO
Vivino was founded in Copenhagen in 2010 by Heini Zachariassen and cofounder Theis Søndergaard as an everyday resource for wine lovers to discover, enjoy and rate wines, while forming their own personal wine library. The Vivino mobile app allows users to take photos of wine labels and restaurant wine lists and, using proprietary image recognition technology, match the images against a database of millions of wines. Vivino connects users via a network of posted reviews and allows users to share their experiences via Facebook, Twitter and email. The app is available on Android, Apple and Windows devices. For more information, visit www.vivino.com.

ABOUT SCP NEPTUNE INTERNATIONAL AND DIAL PARTNERS LLP
SCP Neptune International is a Monaco based company, owned and controlled by the family office of Christophe Navarre. Dial Partners LLP is an independent Corporate Finance Advisory Merchant Bank based in London, UK and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. The business specializes in mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, strategic consultancy, sourcing of acquisitions and investment opportunities and the raising of investment capital. The team was led by founder and Executive Chairman, Andrew Taee and fellow partner, Stephen Willis, assisted by Managing Director, Colin Rowlinson and Vice President, Philip van der Burg.