Last week, New Zealand-based Invivo Wines announced the excited news that it has raised over $2 million NZD through its equity crowdfunding campaign on Snowball Effect. The wine startup’s campaign launched and almost immediately jumped to $1 million (doubling its initial $500,000 goal). Now, Invivo’s co-founder, Tim Lightbourne, is ready to share details about the funding success.
As previously reported, Invivo Wines is said to be the fastest growing wine brand in New Zealand. The company has experienced 207% sales growth since 2011 and named one of Deloitte’s Fast 50 companies in 2012. The winery has been profitable for quite some time with annual revenues above $5 million. Invivo is currently selling over 10,500 bottles per week that retail in price from $18.99 up to $50.
The new capital will assist in an expansion of their business including a push into the United States. Invivo is already in over 17 different markets and 75% of their sales are international. The winery wants to take all that a step further. The operators have diversified into a range of spritzers, “a new take on an 80’s classic” and they want to invest more in this product line.
The company was founded by Rob Cameron and Lightbourne. According to the story, seven years ago they were chatting in a bar in London and talking about how to make wine – better. Jump back to today and here they are “making wine they would like to drink themselves” having created an investment opportunity they would buy into.
During a recent interview with the New Zealand Herald, Lightbourne stated that at the time of the interview 439 new shareholders had invested in the company through the campaign. He shared:
“We’re ecstatic to hit the $2 million mark. It’s a vote of confidence in us but also in New Zealand wine.”
Twenty percent of the company has been sold through the offer so far. Lightbourne previously told the media outlet:
“We’ve been watching Snowball for a while and [have] been really impressed with their approach. I like the fact that with crowdfunding you get potentially two or three hundred odd ambassadors around the country.”
Those looking to invest in Invivo’s campaign have until April 13th.
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