Halfwine.com looks to crowdfunding to finance expansion

By Gemma McKenna

Published: 16 July, 2014

Halfwine.com, which specialises in selling 37.5cl bottles of wine, is looking to raise £30,000 in exchange for 15% of the company in order to drive the next phase in its development.

Halfwine Halfwine.com is looking for investmentThe online retailer, which specialises in selling 37.5cl bottles of wine, is looking to raise £30,000 through crowdfunding to finance the next stage of its development, says founder Kevin Dilton-Hill.

Chief executive Kevin Dilton-Hill, a chartered accountant and management consultant, says the cash injection will boost stock levels, improve its website and allow it to invest in more marketing.

The firm was set up in 2011, and says it has experienced "continued growth" in that time. Dilton-Hill observed a gap in the market after research showed that many consumers admitted to throwing away, using quality wine for cooking or even drinking the rest of the bottle when it was past its best because they did not want it to go to waste.

The company is using Crowd Cube to push its message - having gone live one week ago it has so far attracted £5,420 through 15 investors, with the largest investment being £1,000.

Dilton-Hill said: "Some wine companies offer customers the chance to provide loans to winemakers in return for discount prices on their wines, what we are doing is different, in return for investment halfwine.com is offering a share of the company (as well as a sales discount) that is forecast to yield a profit in excess of 200% in five years when the business has grown sufficiently to be of interest to other drinks or luxury businesses as an acquisition."

Customers will be offered one free half bottle for every dozen ordered.

Dilton-Hill says the firm has identified 4 million potential customers in the UK, and has 200 returning customers to date, meaning there is "plenty of room for growth". He looks for wines from family firms, with organic backgrounds. In order to maintain a low cost base, it outsources most of its activities, which Dilton-Hill says offers "instant scaleability".

Crowdcube has almost 80,000 registered investors and has raised funds of almost £30million for 128 businesses to date.

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