b-to-v enters Wine in Black shareholding

The funding round is understood to stand at between €5-9m. The online shop for premium wines will use the fresh capital for the development of its technology and sales.

b-to-v said that Wine in Black's rapidly generated customer loyalty was the deciding factor for its investment. The company claims two thirds of new customers repeatedly buy from them.

According to the company, Germany is Europe's third-largest wine market, with a €9bn share of a total of €60bn sales across the continent. The company expects the German share of the online wine market to increase from its current 5% to 20% in the next five years, pulling in €2bn.

In June, b-to-v announced it had opened an office in Berlin to increase its activity in the German market. The VC's recent German investments include participation in a €9m series-B round for Cologne-based Ayoxxa Biosystems.

Previous funding
According to unquote" data, Bright Capital led a series-B funding round for Wine in Black in March 2013. The capital was earmarked for international expansion.

Company
Founded in June 2011 by Stephan Linden and Christian Hoya, Wine in Black is headquartered in Berlin. Outside Germany, the company also operates in France, the Netherlands and Austria. On average, Wine in Black sells its wines online for €15 a bottle, while it retails at €7 per bottle in store. German supermarkets sell their wine for an average of €2.63 per bottle, the compay says.

Since inception, Wine in Black has sold more than one million bottles of wine, with sales tripling in 2013 compared to 2012. The company states its membership numbers are growing by approximately 10,000 per month and currently stand at 350,000. It targets 25-45-year-olds who have grown up in the digital age and are interested in premium wines, using the tagline "Quality not Quantity".

The business employs around 45 staff.

People
Holger Hengstler led the deal for b-to-v, accompanied by Luca Martinelli. Florian Heinemann is managing director at Project A Ventures.

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• Topics
• DACH
• Consumer
• Expansion
• Germany
• Passion Capital