Irish online wine start-up WineSpark worth €3.1m after first 18 months
Summary
A Dublin online wine start-up backed by high-end winemakers from around the globe has been valued at about 3.1 million in its latest fundraising round after just 18 months in operation.WineSpark, founded by former Accenture management consultant Eamon FitzGerald, effectively operates as an online wine-buying club for members, who each pay 10 per month for access to its cut-price catalogue. Mr FitzGerald says it had sales of 1 million in its first full year of operation.The company initially raised 300,000 at a 1.2 million valuation ahead of its official launch last year, when it was backed by boutique wineries from Italy, Spain, France and Germany.WineSparks latest fundraising, in which it sold shares worth more than 100,000, saw several of its original investors provide further backing, including high-profile Tuscan winemaker Federico Cerelli. He is closely associated with the so-called Super Tuscan wines Tignanello and Solaia which he previously helped to produce at the large Chianti winery Marchesi AntinoriFlorence-based Serena Casabianca, the partner of Tuscan winemaker Stefano di Blasi, one of the original WineSpark backers, has also invested in the latest round. Spanish group Epicure Wines and the GP Winery from Germany have also stumped up again.New investors include Alsace winemaker Melanie Pfister. The wines are sold effectively at cost price while WineSpark makes its money on the monthly fee.The 3.1 million valuation feels like a real validation of what we have achieved in a short space of time, he said.