A venture capital fund has injected $5 million into online wine retailer Crackawines.com.au in return for a 30 per cent stake.
Constant Innovation, an ESVCLP (Early Stage Venture Capital Limited Partnership), was established in 2010 by a group of highly regarded internet entrepreneurs whose prior investments include Australia’s automotive website, Carsales.com Ltd.
Crackawines.com.au is a new website that is creating “a wealth of opportunities in the sale and distribution of mid-range wines”.
Offering ‘Falling Price auctions’ (a new take on the group buying model where the prices fall until everything has sold) and a direct-to-consumer listing engine, Crackawines.com.au provides their consumers savings of up to 70 per cent off RRP.
Launched less than 12 months ago, Crackawines.com.au already represents more than 450 Australian wineries, has sold more than 250,000 bottles of wine and saved its customers in excess of $2.5 million.
Dean Taylor, founder and MD of Crackawines.com.au, said the venture’s objective was to “break the stranglehold that Coles and Woolworths have on wineries by providing them with a completely new sales channel that allows them to connect directly with consumers”.
“The $5 million investment made by Constant Innovation will allow us to establish Crackawines.com.au as a household brand,” said Taylor.
Grant Taylor former CTO of Carsales.com Ltd and director of Constant Innovation who has joined the Crackawines.com.au board, said Constant Innovation had evaluated a lot of different investment opportunities in the online retail space over the last couple of years.
“Crackawines.com.au is one of the most exciting we have come across. We believe that their model is a real game changer; and can be applied to many different markets with the potential to be a truly global dot com.”