News

Fine wine and whisky investment app raises US$1.4M pre-seed round

17 January 2022 By Eloise Feilden

Koia, a new investment platform bringing alternative assets including rare wine and whisky to Europe, has announced a US$1.4 million pre-seed round.

fine wine investment app — Credit: joinkoia.com

The company’s latest funding round is led by Seedcamp, one of Europe’s top seed funds. Investors in the round include RTP Global, Portfolio Ventures and a number of angels. The new investors are joining Koia’s earlier backers, who include co-founders of Monzo and Freetrade.

The aim of Koia, set up last year, is to try and make investing in alternative assets accessible through fractional ownership. It wants to appeal to enthusiasts of the asset they are investing in, such as collectors and fans of fine wine.

The wine investment app has launched with collectibles like watches and Pokémon Cards alongside its wine and whisky offering, with a vision to ultimately be able to fractionalize any kind of physical or digital asset.

“We want to enable a fractional economy and open up access to opportunities previously only accessible to the ultra-wealthy. We want to make buying and selling a fraction of a Rolex, as fast and frictionless as buying a fractional share in your favorite company.” Iris ten Teije, Koia co-founder.

Interest in collectibles is at an all-time high, with 2021 seeing record-breaking sales across a wide range of categories from sneakers to trading cards to whisky. Meanwhile, digital assets are also thriving with NFTs surpassing $40bn in sales, according to PR Newswire.

“We’re thrilled to partner with the Koia team on their journey to create the leading fractional marketplace. We’re seeing a new wave of collectors who are increasingly investing in what they’re passionate about – be that NFTs, basketball collectibles or luxury watches – with a booming alternative asset market as a result. Koia is perfectly placed to further democratise this market by better serving users looking to get access to unique collectibles and we’re excited to see how they will change the alternative asset landscape.“ Tom Wilson, Partner at Seedcamp.

BlockBar, the world’s first direct-to-consumer NFT platform for wine and spirits, just branched out yet further by launching a gifting capability comprised of 300 bottles of Penfolds wine. Read more on that here.