Ringier Digital Ventures acquires stake in Wine & Gourmet Digital

The Zurich-based start-up Wine & Gourmet Digital was founded in 2014 by Sebastian Post, Erik Heinzmann and experienced business angels and specializes in combining content, community and commerce. The contributions of the online magazines Wine.com and Gourmet.com inspire a large number of users in their purchases on the e-commerce platform Wine club.com. Weinclub.com currently offers around 5'000 different wines from all over the world. Furthermore, the platform offers a transparent bonus program, where users collect points for purchases, reviews and social media activities, which they can redeem for their next purchase. Particularly noteworthy is the first online sommelier consultation in Europe with wine experts such as Meike Porz, Ina Finn and Wolfgang Hubert. Together, Wine & Gourmet Digital and the Ringier Group will develop further topics in order to ideally market products in need of explanation in the areas of content and commerce and to provide standardized platforms for this purpose. Wine & Gourmet Digital receives seven-figure financing.

Sebastian Post, founder of Wine & Gourmet Digital, in a statement: "We are proud to have Ringier Digital Ventures as a partner. With Ringier's digital expertise, we will be able to accelerate the growth of our platforms once again." David Hug, Managing Director Ringier Digital Ventures: "The business approach of Wein & Gourmet Digital and the team around Sebastian Post convinced us. Thanks to Ringier's very broad media performance, we will be able to place the three platforms precisely with the target group." Thomas Kaiser, Chief Executive Officer Ringier Digital, adds: "It is not easy to find a suitable formula for linking content, community and commerce. With the team from Wine & Gourmet Digital, we will gain interesting experience in this exciting growth field as a media company."

The venture capital company Ringier Digital Ventures, founded in January 2015, has an investment volume of CHF 30 million and plans to complete five to eight lead or co-investments per year. To date, Ringier Digital Ventures has invested in the companies Recommerce (Verkaufen.ch), Campanda and Movu.