Coterie-backed wine tech company raises nearly £1.1 million in crowdfunding

WineFi, a fine wine investment platform that is is part-owned by Coterie Holdings, has smashed its £750,000 target to raise more almost £1.1 million as part of a crowdfunding drive. As part of its Crowdcube pitch, WineFi says it aims to "make investing in fine wine seamless and cost-effective, offering access to diversified portfolios of fine wine at a fraction of the cost of traditional routes". "Our ambition is to make fine wine so accessible that it can feasibly form a part of every portfolio for the very first time," it stated. The crowdfunding drive, which launched on 20 March, allowed investors to invest as little at £10 to become a founding member or as much as £25,000. So far, it has attracted 344 investors altogether, and raised £1,080,732. As a result of the latest round of funding, Coterie Holdings is now the largest minority shareholder with around 10% of the business. Speaking to db about the news, WineFi CEO Callum Woodcock said that the small team had been "amazed" at the response, which will set it up for the company's next phase of growth.  This includes scaling up distribution, growing its affiliate network and embarking on paid advertising, as well as enhancing  and rolling out new features. The new shareholders will also be "advocates" for the business, he said. The company was  launched in October 2023, after Woodcock, whose background is in financial asset management and who came to wine through investing, wanted a cost-effective way of investing in fine wine with a professional asset management ethos. The company targets “working-age, financially savvy professionals" such as lawyers, bankers, salespeople, consultants, and founders who are interested in making money rather than collecting wine and "who already have an investment portfolio, and want to diversify further into alternative assets," WineFi's operations director Oliver Thorpe previously told db. 

Investment not the same as collecting

It provides a syndicate structure that allows investors to co-invest in a fine wine portfolio of around £3,000 giving exposure to a more diversified portfolio than many others, at a smaller cost of entry, and has consciously tried to look very different to a traditional wine investment business, and focussing on an asset management slant, Woodcock said. "If you're collecting wine, that's great, you go to a wine merchant... but people should accept that collecting is for pleasure rather than anticipated financial gain and if you are looking to maximise your chances in a market that has gone down, then we want WineFi to be the go-to solution," he said. Coterie Holdings, which is helmed by industry stalwart Michael Saunders, was brought in "very early in the platform's development", Woodcock told db as the two companies enjoyed a natural "fit", with Saunders being appointed as one of its director in Feb 2024, according to documents filed at Companies House. Other members of the investment committee include Peter Lunzer, Alan Griffiths MW and James Fletcher, while Shenil Patil, co-founder of advisory group Drinks Sherpa and former CEO of Lucky Saint, joining the board. Matthew Small, the former senior portfolio manager of Cru Wine was also named yesterday as WineFi's new Head of Investment. Speaking to db last October, Woodcock added that this enabled WineFi to use Coterie Vaults to store its wines, source and broker wine through Coterie's subsidiary merchant Lay & Wheeler, and offer clients the ability to borrow against the value of their portfolios with Jera, Coterie's fine wine finance arm. In addition, Woodcock said the relationship boosted WineFi's credibility, and "made a lot of people sit up and take notice of what we are doing”. WineFi has celebrating a 7-figure sum in revenue within 12 months of launching, and seen a 24% increase month-on-month between January to December 2024. In addition to Coterie Holdings, the company also counts SFC Capital and Founders Capital among its investors. Speaking to db last June, Saunders said that data would be a key plank of the wider business’ ambitions as it added to the Coterie "family of businesses" and broadened its knowledge of what’s going on in the market. “What we’re trying to do across all our businesses is become the repository of the best fine wine data in the game,” Saunders said.