17 NOV 2020
Redsip, Inc, a Palo Alto, California-based social network platform for the wine industry, is sounding out investors for its up to USD 15m Series A financing round for product development, co-founder and Chairman Andy Lau told this news service.
“We aim to raise USD 10m-USD 15m by issuing 10%-20% new shares,” Lau said.
With a heavy user base in Hong Kong, the application platform and marketplace designed for global wine lover community has been in talks with several investors and is seeking for anchor investors who have good knowledge in platform business and are interested in the wine industry, Lau said.
It prefers investors who could bring in synergies, for example, the ability to attract talents namely engineers, product designers, user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) designers, Lau said. Strategic partners, with experience in food and beverage, and hospitality elds, who can help grow the ecosystem are welcomed, he said, adding that it has no geographical preference on investors selection.
Most of the proceeds will be set aside for product engineering, while the remainder is earmarked for marketing, technology innovation and infrastructure, he said.
The company is receptive to approaches from financial and legal advisors for the fundraising deal,
Lau said.
It hopes to close the fundraise by first half of next year, he noted.
Prior to that, Redsip will complete a USD 500k of bridge round by end of this month, CEO and co-founder Qing Li noted. This would bring the company’s total funds raised to around USD 2m since2017 inception, she continued.
The company is backed by more than 30 angel investors including US-based law rm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati P.C., venture capitals and executives from tech giants, Lau said.
Established in 2017, Redsip’s social platform connects people ranging from wine suppliers, wine distributors, logistic partners, to end-users and wine lovers. The platform helps decode the wine labels by its augmented reality (AR) features, provides pairing, decanting, wine pronouncing information, documents wines tasting records and connects wine lovers, Li said.
With thousands of users, the company targets to hit one million user base next year, Lau said. The application is currently serving wine enthusiasts from over 50 countries, with Hong Kong users dominating, he added.
Redsip was founded in Palo Alto. It then expanded and established two offices in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, with less than 10 employees, Li said.
The start-up plans to launch a new business feature – “event module” next year, in a bid to help winetasting event organizers and participants design wine tasting sheets, digitalize wine data and facilitate the whole wine tasting experience by using Redsip platform, Li said.
The new service will be debuted in Hong Kong as the city is seen to be a prime target market to Redsip, Li said. Hong Kong, as an international wine hub, has a high population, higher engagement in Redsip and could grasp the enormous opportunities from the Greater Bay Area, she elaborated. In addition, the company could receive help from Hong Kong’s Cyberport where the company is enrolled in its incubation program.
The company earned trading commission from wine suppliers by connecting customers to wine wholesalers or distributors, Lau said. He expected the company could achieve breakeven in 2021.
by Florence Shiu in Hong Kong
Grade: Conrmed
TARGET
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Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & RosatiP.C.
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