Kiwi wine company Invivo welcomes public offers
Kiwi wine company Invivo welcomes public offers as it begins the next phase of its capital raising exercise
Innovative NZ wine company Invivo will open investment opportunities to the NZ public on Tuesday 12 June, as part of its current capital raising exercise. Invivo aims to raise $6.5 million to fuel further growth.
This follows the company’s successful 2015 equity crowdfunding exercise which made records at the time, raising $2 million through the local online investing marketplace, Snowball Effect.
The investment will be used for driving further growth of the successful Graham Norton range, expansion into the USA with a new celebrity collaboration, growth in domestic market with Lion (New Zealand partner), further opportunities in Australia, UK and Ireland and working capital as well as growing the Invivo team.
Since 2015, Invivo sales have increased from
$3.7m to a projected $13.9m this financial year. The
innovative wine company is clearly doing something right as
they have experienced a 374% bottle sales growth since their
2015 crowdfunding campaign as well as a 236% growth in 17
overseas markets.
Their latest innovation a Graham
Norton Prosecco, produced in a partnership with an Italian
winery has seen Woolworths in Australia order five
containers for just their first order and Lion about to
launch nationwide in New Zealand.
This year, production is over 3 million bottles – up from 50,000 bottles when they first set out. It’s been a busy last few years for the Invivo boys who have also opened an office in Australia, sponsored and flew to Eurovision in Ukraine, took on a well-known US ambassador, expanded the Graham Norton range to include Sauvignon Blanc, Rose, Shiraz and Prosecco. They have also moved into the historic 116-year-old Te Kauwhata winery in 2016.
ABOUT
INVIVO
Founded by
a couple of mates that liked New Zealand wine so much they
started a winery to make some. Co-founders Tim Lightbourne
and Rob Cameron say their wine is made from “grapes, time
and two maxed out credit cards.”
Invivo make wine their friends would
drink and talk about it the same way they would: honest,
down to earth, and without BS. They create approachable
wines that appeal both to those new to wine and to the
connoisseurs. They also enjoy having a bit of fun doing
it.
Invivo’s
first wine, a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, was released in
2008 in the middle of the GFC and the range has since
expanded to include Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Rosé,
Sparkling, Riesling, Shiraz and Chardonnay. In 2012, Invivo
Wines was named a Deloitte’s Fast 50
Company.
In 2015,
Invivo were the first (and still only) New Zealand winery to
equity crowdfund, offering the NZ public shares in the
company. They set a southern hemisphere equity crowdfunding
record at the time raising, NZD$2million - the maximum
allowed to raise under NZ crowdfunding
legislation.
Their
first vintage of Graham Norton’s Own Sauvignon Blanc was
produced in 2014 in collaboration with the man himself.
Graham’s wines now sell in nine countries and the
Sauvignon Blanc won the most successful consumer launch in
Ireland in 2015.
Invivo has won over 150 medals and 5
trophies since that first wine in 2008, with gongs including
‘World’s Best Sauvignon Blanc’. In February 2016
Invivo moved into one of New Zealand’s oldest wineries, in
Te Kauwhata, where they continue to turn pristine grapes
into top New Zealand wine that’s picking up fans from Cork
to New York.
-ENDS.