Since late last year, we’ve been trying to update our 2018/2019 WineTech investment series. However, little has happened in the field with existing companies profiled, or with  new investments that meet our “low bar” cutoff of $1 million total investment.

We’ve spent way too many weeks and hours chasing a story that seems in hibernation

So far, the best wine article we have come up with so far is a non-story about BeatBox.

See the non-communication in the notes section at the bottom. Crunchbase and other sources tell us they did have a round last October, but the company confirmation is MIA.

They’re good at hiding. They never responded to our original 2019 article either.

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AgriFoodTech

Thanks to the  the hibernation situation, we started looking at the growing field of AgriFoodTech. We published a major article: Breaking the doom loop: Wine desperately needs AgTech to get out of its slump, but, of our 32,000 wine industry subscribers, only those in finance and investments were interested. That can change if the recognition of the benefits of new AgriFoodTech gains a better recognition.

Obviously, a lot of AgriFoodTech can be repurposed for wine and viticulture use. But the wine industry is notoriously allergic to new technologies and data. We hope to change that,

However, adding to the situation is that fact that AgriFoodTech companies simply do not  promote their products and services in wine and viticulture. We did contact several that looked promising, but none of them returned emails or phone calls.

Wine killers: The rising stars in hard seltzer, cocktails, spirits and craft drinks.

The activity in adult drinks investment seems to be happening with the new breed of companies that are eating wine alive and stealing its market share.

We’ll start with a brief look at Hooch, a subscription-only cocktail app and discovery platform.

This may look strange to the traditional wine market, but that’s the point: Strange is disruptive, has a different profit model, but deserves thought.

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ICYMI — Previous Wine Industry Insight/Wine Executive News wine tech funding profiles:

• Venture investments in wine – 2019 gets started: Top 48 total approaches $1 Bil – + Vinebox & Wine.com update

• Drizly more than doubles funding with New $34.5 Million Series C — Powers ahead of Coravin & Vivino to #3 position overall

• VinoVolo landed $17 million before being bought

• Minibar Delivery: #18 in Wine Executive News Wine Tech Funding Series

• Wine Communications Group/Wine Business #17 in Wine Executive News Wine Tech Funding Series

• Kuvée brings in $8.25 million before biting the dust at #16 in WineTech funding

• SevenFifty Ranks #15 in U.S. WineTech Funding (premium subscribers only, no free version)

• At $20 million, Vinfolio (after 15 years of financial instability) moves into #12 position in wine tech funding series

• Saucey #2 in on-demand delivery

• WX Brands – Edges out DRINKS.

• $15 million in new funding elevates DRINKS into Wine Tech Funding Top 10

• Plum Wine rounds out top 10 Wine Tech Fundings

• eSkye Solutions moves up to #4 in wine-tech funding. Overall rankings adjusted by new data.

• Vinventions restructures company finances, moves into #1 position in wine investments ahead of Wine.Com

• Winc (Formerly Club W) comes in at #7 In WII’s Winetech funding survey

• Lot 18 funding: $44.5 million good enough for 6th place in winetech venture funding

• At $53 million, Drizly places #4 in winetech funding, but #1 in the total number of investors.

• Vivino surfs to online prominence atop a wave of Euro Cash

• Wine.Com’s $140 million funding foundation takes #1 position in WII’s wine venture funding series

• List of top 50 wine business venture fundings + Coravin #1 in total financing

• Chinese wine venture capital investments blow away United States efforts

• Wine industry missing out on investment due to its lack of financial transparency

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