Aussie wine site Vinomofo eyes global growth

A Melbourne-based online wine retailer has secured AU$25 million (£13.25m) to fund its global expansion plans, which include an “online pop-up” event in the UK this year.

Justin Dry and Andre Eikmeier (Photo: Vinomofo)

The Australian company, which uses a social platform to create a community of customers to buy, review and recommend wines, is gearing up to roll out its concept globally after years of quick expansion.

Set up in 2011 by brothers-in-law Andre Eikmeier and Justin Dry, Vinomofo started out as an online wine club run out of a garage.

After the two founders sold and then repurchased their controlling shares to raise funds and the company’s profile, Vinomofo was named the fastest growing tech company by Deloitte in 2013.

Since then it has grown to employ 100 staff and has over 400,000 members signed up to receive deals on Australian and New Zealand wines, with turnover of around £26 million per year.

Saying that it wants to be “agile” in its global growth, Vinomofo is using its £13.25m investor funding to pay for “pop-up” events across the world this year.

“We are not throwing money at markets that are unproven,” Mr Eikmeier told the Sydney Morning Herald.

“Where markets show real traction we will set up teams on the ground and have local content.”

“We want to harness the early adopters like we did in Australia and get those people talking about Vinomofo and enable them to be ambassadors,” Eikmeier said.

“It’s exciting to be able to get a bit more aggressive with our growth plans.”