Online wine marketplace Vivino closes $155m Series D funding round

Vivino, a US-based wine app and online wine marketplace, has closed a $155m Series D funding round led by Swedish based investment firm Kinnevik, with Sprints Capital as a new investor.

Other participants in the round include GP Bullhound and existing early-stage investor Creandum.

With this latest round, Vivino so far raised $221m and includes a combination of primary and secondary investment.

Vivino currently has around 50 million wine enthusiasts, who tap the platform for personalised recommendations, rating system and selection of wines from over 700 marketplace partners across the world.

Proceeds from the latest investment round will allow Vivino to boost its core technology and artificial intelligence platform to create more personalised recommendations for its users.

The funds will also help the firm to focus more on select markets with great growth potential, including the US, Germany, the UK, Italy, Japan and Portugal.

Vivino founder and CEO Heini Zachariassen said: “This is a testament to the remarkable work that our teams around the globe have done to build an extraordinary business.

“This round has raised important capital for our rapidly growing company and drawn some exceptional new leaders to our board. The funding will enable us to continue to build on our core strengths, expand industry partnerships drawing more merchants and wineries to our marketplace, and support our continued global growth.”

E-commerce sales of alcohol is estimated to exceed $40bn by 2024.

Since the Series C investment round in February 2018, Vivino has been able to increase its user base from 29 million to 50 million.

For the last seven years, the company posted a 100% annual growth rate and saw a 103% increase in year-over-year sales in 2020.