Wine Vault, the company behind WiV, a block chain-based trading platform for fine wines, has made a significant step towards long-term viability by attracting investment from Singapore-based Holland Park Capital. As a result of the move, Holland Park’s founding partner, Frank Holle, has joined WineVault’s board of directors and WineVault has opened an office in Singapore, extending its reach into Asia.
The investment in WineVault comes at an exciting time as the firm gears up for the mid-2019 launch of WiV. The platform will integrate seamlessly with existing systems, and bring new levels of efficiency to three aspects of the trading process:
- Pre-trade: Each wine asset is allocated a digital WiV Wine Asset Token that securely collects and stores provenance and transaction history
- Trade: Users can execute, clear and settle fine wine trades quickly, transparently and securely on the WiV Exchange reducing the need for complex paperwork
- Post-trade: Every bottle is professionally stored and held in secure locations, minimising physical movement of the wine to ensure that it is maintained in ideal condition
Holle brings a wealth of experience to the WineVault team, having spent the last two decades setting up and managing an award winning quantitative hedgefund, successful start-up companies and a venture capital firm. Originally trained as a business lawyer, Holle spent the first decade at ABN AMRO, Amsterdam and later as a director at Merrill Lynch in London.
“The additional investment and Frank joining our board strengthens us as we move into our launch phase,” says Tommy Nordam Jensen, CEO at WineVault. “Having a formal presence in Asia is also very exciting given the region’s lively market for fine wine. We genuinely believe that removing the friction from wine trading will benefit every part of the industry, whether you represent a chateaux, négociant, merchant distributor or investor.”
