Mobile wine tech app company, Vivino, has raised $25 million through a Series B led by SCP Neptune International, the investment arm of Christophe Navarre, the global CEO of Moet Hennessy, and including existing Vivino investors, Balderton Capital, Creandum, SEED Capital, and Iconical, according to Closing Circle.  When including Vivino’s seed and Series A fundraising rounds, this round brings the company’s valuation to $37 million. As part of the deal, Mr. Navarre will join Vivino’s board of directors as a non-executive director.

 

Founded in Copenhagen in 2010, Vivino’s app uses image recognition technology to scan and identify bottles of wine, allowing its 1.3 million users to save their favorites while suggesting similar ones to try. Vivino has built a community of users who, through the addition of tens of thousands of reviews per day, has personalized a process that had previously been left to the opinion of experts and sommeliers.

 

“Trying to determine which wine to try and buy is overwhelming,” Vivino CEO Heini Zachariassen told Venture Beat.  “When I founded Vivino, apart from scores from a few critics, there was so little helpful information available to help wine drinkers find their next wine to enjoy…Now, we have the world’s largest wine library — we are the only resource available where you can find a rating on nearly every single wine in the world.”

 

Vivino will use the fresh capital to support its expansion throughout the top wine consuming markets in the world including Italy, the U.S., France, Spain, and Germany, while also funding the growth of its wine marketplace which currently boasts 11,000 wine merchants. Vivino also expressed to Venture Beat that future plans for the company include expansion into new markets including Mexico, Canada, Brazil, Sweden, and Portugal, however a timeline for such activity was not disclosed.

 

To strengthen its position in an increasingly crowded space that is seeing mounting competition from the likes of Naked Wines, Cork’d, and Delectable, Vivino has set itself above the field with a newly forged partnership with wine author, Karen MacNeil, author of the iconic The Wine Bible. MacNeil will serve Vivino in the capacity of an editorial advisor, providing the company with her expertise, advice, and insight, while also contributing content for both the company’s website and mobile app.