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Wine.com, an online wine retailer, has raised $15 million in funding. The investors were not named. Wine.com is a portfolio company of Baker Capital.

PRESS RELEASE

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 17, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — Wine.com, the nation’s leading online wine retailer, has raised $15M from existing investors to capitalize on accelerating growth. The profitable etailer, now over $100M in annual revenue, grew 25% in the quarter ending June 30, double its 5-year average annual growth rate. Simultaneously, the company is announcing two major new releases:

New Website – Released last week, Wine.com’s new website offers a modern, streamlined design with easier filtering capabilities, more granular geographic regions and varietals, enhanced wine and winery content, and a consistent feature set and user experience across all device types — computer, tablet and phone.

New Mobile App – Recently released in the Apple App Store, Wine.com’s new mobile app has quickly achieved a 5 star rating, making it the top rated wine app. The app includes a new label scanner, an enhanced wine database, live chat wine experts and all the purchasing capability of Wine.com’s full website.

The company attributes its accelerating growth to improvements in its customer experience, including:
Biggest Selection – The Wine.com selection has doubled again to over 17,000 wines and counting — 15 times the average specialty wine store and 30 times the average grocery store – exposing customers to wine from all regions, varietals and price points.

Live Chat Service – Wine.com is unique in offering live chat wine experts, non-commissioned and based in San Francisco and New York, available 7 days/week to help customers discover new wine with confidence.

Convenient Delivery – Customers have the option of shipping to 6,000 FedEx and Walgreens locations for local pickup on their schedule, especially helpful due to the adult signature requirement.

Great Value – Competitive prices, frequent promotions and StewardShip – unlimited shipping for an annual $49 membership fee – provide customers with compelling value.

“Wine.com’s rapid growth is a clear indication that the company is aligned with emerging trends in the beverage alcohol space,” said Danny Brager, Senior Vice President, Beverage Alcohol Practice at Nielsen. “As the wine market continues to shift online, Wine.com is tapping into key growth areas such as e-commerce and mobile, alongside the rising influence of millennials – critical components for today’s $33.6 billion U.S. wine market1.”

“It’s still very early in the game,” said Rich Bergsund, Wine.com CEO. “With this capital, we can expand our efforts to innovate and leverage technology to help consumers discover and buy great wine. We’ve sold and shipped nearly a billion dollars worth of wine to date, but we feel like a startup, hungry to earn the trust of customers of all ages and levels of wine knowledge.”
1 According to Nielsen-measured Off Premise and On Premise channels in the U.S.

About Wine.com
Wine.com is the nation’s leading online wine retailer, offering selection, guidance and convenience not found in brick and mortar stores. The company provides its customers access to the world’s largest wine store, with live chat wine experts available 7 days a week. With multiple distribution centers and the most sophisticated retail wine fulfillment network in the United States, Wine.com delivers in 1-2 days to most addresses, offering date-certain delivery and the convenience of shipping to 6,000 FedEx and Walgreens local pick-up sites. The company’s popular StewardShip program provides unlimited wine delivery and exclusive access to new releases for $49 per year. Just launched, the Wine.com iOS app allows users to scan, rate and purchase wines on the go. Wine.com’s mission, to inspire the wine lifestyle through innovation, is captured in its brand manifesto video, viewable here. Wine.com is majority owned by Baker Capital, a New York-based private equity firm. For more information, visit the company’s website at http://www.wine.com.