News

Private equity buys into Vinfolio

Fine wine marketplace Vinfolio has raised US$4.5 million in a funding round led by Panorama Capital. Prior to this, the company had been funded by private investors.

Named one of the San Francisco’s top five fastest growing private companies by the San Francisco Business Times for the past two years, Vinfolio, which launched the Vinfolio Marketplace in July, offers a full complement of integrated services and resources to help wine enthusiasts and collectors buy, sell, manage and enjoy fine wine.

"This additional funding enables Vinfolio to move forward on its continued growth path," stated Vinfolio founder and CEO Stephen J. Bachmann. "The investment will accelerate the growth of the Vinfolio Marketplace and our expansion in Hong Kong."

The marketplace has become the world's largest fine wine source with over 250,000 wines open for bidding. Following the elimination of wine duties in Hong Kong, Vinfolio launched operations there in 2008 to better serve and expand its business in the Asian market.

• Vinfolio performance indicators for the global wine auction market updated through May 2009. Wineprices.com Fine Wine Indexes show an increase in May alone of between 10% to 17% for the most actively traded fine wines, compared to the Dow Jones average which was up 4.1% in May. While most indexes are still down 10% to 24% from May 2008, all signs indicate that the upward trend which began in January/February of this year will continue, especially with the influence that Asian buyers are having on the market.