Last month, London wine bar, Vini Italiani, launched an equity crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs to capture £250,000 with an equity offering of 11.25% so that it can continue expansion to other locations throughout the UK.
Vini Italiani’s owners, Matteo Berlucchi and Bruno Cernecca, noted that the UK is one of the biggest markets for Italian wines (over £1.7 billion per year) and that the wine bar entirely dedicated to giving UK wine lovers the best Italian wine experience they can get in retail, wine bars and online. They stated:
“We enjoy a multi-channel revenue approach: wine bars/stores, online and wholesale all focused on helping the UK market appreciate and discover the huge variety and quality of our wines.
“The founding team (all Italian wine lovers) believe that by having an undivided focus on Italian wines the company can build a brand which will be recognized and identified as the leader in promoting and commercializing Italian wines in the UK.”
Also revealing Vini Italiani’s impact on the market since its establishment in 2011, the company team shared:
“In 2013 we launched our website at the enviable internet address www.italianwines.com, launched our wholesale operation in London and added the wine bar to the store at the end of the year. We have also become a main supplier of Italian wines to Ocado, where we run our own-branded ‘shop in the shop’
“The company has already achieved some important results: we have built a very loyal customer base and have already been recognised as the undisputed leading Italian wine merchant in the UK. In only two years we have gone from just over 20,000 bottles sold in year one to 100,000 and just shy of £1M in revenue in 2014.
“Now that we have fine tuned our format (wine + food + retail) we are ready to open more wine bars/stores in Central London. This would generate economies of scale thanks to centralised costs for admin, marketing and logistics.”
Other accomplishments include:
- Currently 5 stars and number 127 out of 18,328 restaurants in London on Tripadvisor (3/2/2015)
- Specialist Retailer of the year: Italy 2014 – (Decanter)
- Best Top Merchant Online Retailer of the Year 2014 – Finalist (Harpers Awards)
- Specialist Merchant of the Year: Italy 2014 – Shortlisted (International Wine Challenge)
- Specialist Wine Merchant of the Year 2013 – WINNER (Decanter WWA)
In regards to what the 250,000 funds will be used for, the company noted that it plans to open a new location in London.
“We are now ready to open a new location in London as we have the platform, experience and resources to easily replicate the successful wine bar in South Kensington. We have pretty much everything ready (branding, menus, wines, uniforms, formats, online presence, etc). We need to find a suitable location, carry out the refurbishment works and open for business.”
Ini Italiani is also offering a special perk to those who invest a minimum of £2,000: They will also enjoy a massive shareholder discount of 20% on our range of products and services including wine, events, wine bar lunches or dinners, online orders, wine trips for as long as they hold their shares.
Since its launch, the campaign has raised over £62,000. It is set to close on May 13th.
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