WineFi
WineFi is a London-based fintech that enables retail and high-net-worth investors to invest in diversified fine wine portfolios from £3,000, using a proprietary quantitative scoring model (WIS) analysing 18m+ data points to identify wines likely to outperform the market.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2023
- HeadquartersLondon, United Kingdom
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
What WineFi does
WineFi is a London-based fintech founded in October 2023 by Callum Woodcock (ex-J.P. Morgan Asset Management and Fidelity International) and Oliver Thorpe, operating as WineFi Management Limited. The company runs a quantitative fine wine investment platform that serves retail and high-net-worth investors across 18 countries, offering two main products: Fine Wine Syndicates (themed co-investment vehicles with a £3,000 minimum, each built around a specific investment theme and benchmarked against Liv-ex sub-indices) and Private Wine Portfolios (bespoke, individually-owned portfolios from £25,000+). Assets are custodied in a UK government bonded warehouse (Coterie Vaults) under clients' own names, with full market-value insurance and on-demand sale or delivery.
The platform is built around a proprietary WineFi Investment Score (WIS) that systematically ranks wines on their probability of outperforming the wider market by analysing 18m+ data points across 100,000+ vintages for market liquidity, critic scores, price metrics and brand power, sourced from Liv-ex and Wine-Searcher. The model is operated as a hybrid machine-learning-plus-human-expertise process, with quantitative outputs vetted by an Investment Committee that includes a Master of Wine, a wine academic and a veteran wine investor. Selected wine exposures are also distributed through partner platforms including Splint Invest, Lympid, Wealt, NBRHD Capital, Alts.co/Altea, Timeless Investments and Darksquare Capital, with blockchain-based fractionalisation via Lympid.
WineFi's primary revenue stream is an upfront investment management fee of 12.5% (equivalent to 2.5% per annum over a 5-year holding period) covering sourcing, brokerage, insurance and storage; storage and insurance after year five are charged at cost from sale proceeds. Forbes and WealthBriefing report a seven-figure revenue year and 24% average month-on-month growth within the first year of launch. The company has raised an oversubscribed pre-seed led by SFC Capital (2023), an unquantified strategic investment from Coterie Holdings that delivered a ~10% stake and a board seat for Coterie CEO Michael Saunders (2024), and a £1.5m seed round led by Coterie Holdings with a crowdfund leg (April 2025). Management has publicly targeted £100m+ in AUM, backed by approximately twelve named team members across leadership, the Investment Committee and a data team.
WineFi firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- WineFi
- Legal name
- WineFi Management Limited
- Website
- https://winefi.co
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2023
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- WineFi is a London-based fintech that enables retail and high-net-worth investors to invest in diversified fine wine portfolios from £3,000, using a proprietary quantitative scoring model (WIS) analysing 18m+ data points to identify wines likely to outperform the market.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
WineFi industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Alternative Investments - Fine Wine
- NAICS
- Beer, Wine, and Liquor Retailers (445320), Wine and Distilled Alcoholic Beverage Merchant Wholesalers (42482)
- SIC
- Wholesale-Beer, Wine & Distilled Alcoholic Beverages (5180)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Fine Wine & Luxury Spirits Retail (CRANABAE)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Wine Retail (Bottle Shops & Wine Merchants) (CRANABAB)
Keywords
Where WineFi is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- London
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Markets served
WineFi business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Upfront Investment Management Fee: WineFi charges an upfront fee equivalent to 12.5% (which equates to 2.5% per annum over a 5-year holding period). This covers storage, insurance, and uniquely, brokerage at sale. Forbes notes: 'typically 12.5% upfront, which is equivalent to 2.5% per annum over a five year holding period, which covers sourcing, brokerage, insurance and the relevant amount of storage.'
- Storage and Insurance At-Cost Charges (post-5 years): If wines are held longer than 5 years, storage and insurance are taken 'at cost' from the eventual sale price of the wine. This is passed-through rather than marked up.
- Sourcing Margin / Discount to Market: WineFi secures wines at discount to prevailing market prices through scale and relationships across recent Syndicate launches, generating margin on acquisition.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| One time/ perpetual license | Multi-year contract | Fine Wine Investment Syndicates - minimum £3,000 |
| One time/ perpetual license | Multi-year contract | Private Wine Portfolios - minimum £25,000+ |
| One time/ perpetual license | Multi-year contract | Fee structure: 12.5% upfront (2.5% per annum over 5 years) |
| Unit Pricing | One time/ perpetual license | Channel partner entry (e.g., via Splint Invest) - from €50 |
Go-to-market motion1 record
WineFi product offering
Product offeringCore offering
WineFi is a UK-based fintech that enables individual and high-net-worth investors to buy into diversified, professionally managed portfolios of investment-grade fine wine. Portfolios are constructed and overseen by the WineFi Investment Committee using the proprietary WineFi Investment Score (WIS), a quantitative model that ranks wines across eight categories using more than 18 million data points, combined with expert curation and ongoing portfolio monitoring via a dedicated investor platform.
Product overview
WineFi is a single-platform fintech offering that pairs a quantitative fine-wine analytics engine with two customer-facing investment products. The WineFi Investor Platform (investment.winefi.co) provides the client-facing layer, while the proprietary WineFi Investment Score (WIS) — a machine-learning-augmented model trained on 18m+ data points across 100,000+ vintages — underpins both product lines: Fine Wine Syndicates (themed co-investment vehicles from £3,000, with named collections such as The Italian Collection, The Signal Collection, The Lay & Wheeler Collection, Burgundy II, Champagne II and The Icon Collection) and Private Wine Portfolios (bespoke individually-owned portfolios from £25,000). All assets are custodied through WineFi's partner product Coterie Vaults Bonded Storage & Insurance (a UK government bonded warehouse with full market-value insurance), and selected wine exposures are also delivered to investors through partner integrations with Splint Invest, Lympid, Wealt, NBRHD Capital, Alts.co / Altea, Timeless Investments and Darksquare Capital.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Fine Wine Syndicates The Fine Wine Syndicate is a pooled investment product that aggregates investor capital to buy a basket of wines ranked by the WineFi Investment Score (WIS), with a £3,000 minimum. It is designed for individual investors who want diversified, professionally curated exposure to the top 100 wines by WIS without having to source, authenticate, or store individual cases.
- Private Wine Portfolios Private Wine Portfolios are bespoke, tailored fine wine portfolios designed and managed by the WineFi Investment Committee for clients with £25,000+ to invest. They offer personalised portfolio construction, ongoing committee oversight, and integrated bonded storage and insurance for high-net-worth and sophisticated investors.
Companies that use WineFi
Customer profileIdeal customer profiles2 records
WineFi technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration6 records
AI capability1 record
Feature6 records
WineFi partnerships and signals
Strategic signalRecent moves7 records
Expansion highlights7 records
WineFi competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Cult Wines: Direct competitor in fine wine investment, offering managed portfolios and trading on the secondary market. Highly comparable in business model, target customer (HNW individuals), and use of Liv-ex pricing benchmarks.
- Vin-X: UK-based fine wine investment platform offering managed portfolios and live trading. Directly comparable product offering and target market, with a longer operating history than WineFi.
Broad incumbents
- Berry Bros. & Rudd: Historic London fine wine merchant with a significant investment wine business. Comparable customer base and product (investment-grade wine), but operates as a broad incumbent across retail, auctions and investment, not as a quantitative fintech.
- Lay & Wheeler: Coterie-owned fine wine merchant and WineFi's strategic partner; offers managed wine portfolios comparable in product, though through a traditional merchant relationship model rather than a quantitative fintech platform.
- Octavian Vaults: UK-based provider of fine wine storage, custody and managed investment services. Comparable in custody/storage and broader investment offerings, but as a broader incumbent in the fine wine custody ecosystem rather than a fintech-led platform.
Others
- Liv-ex: The dominant global fine wine trading platform and price data provider; WineFi explicitly uses Liv-ex data to benchmark pricing and portfolio returns. Functions as an infrastructure / data vendor to WineFi rather than a competitor.
Emerging players
- Splint Invest: European fractional alternative-asset platform that distributes WineFi-managed wine portfolios (Champagne Stars, Bordeaux Royals) from €50. Comparable in enabling fractional access to illiquid assets, but operates as a broader alt-asset marketplace rather than wine specialist.
- Masterworks: US-based fractional investment platform focused on blue-chip art; comparable as a category leader in fractionalised alternatives to consumers, with similar tokenisation and secondary-market mechanics, though in art rather than wine.
- Mintus: London-based fractional investment platform for blue-chip art, with comparable mechanics (low-ticket entry, regulated structure, master-feeder vehicles) and overlapping investor audience with WineFi.
Regional players
- Timeless Investments: Switzerland-based fractional alternative-asset platform that distributes WineFi products. Overlap in product mechanism and customer segment, but geographically differentiated from WineFi's UK core.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
WineFi social profiles
Digital presenceWineFi compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance1 record
WineFi financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
WineFi leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles14 records
WineFi subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries1 record
WineFi funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds2 records
Investors3 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
WineFi M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about WineFi
What does WineFi do?
WineFi is a UK-based fintech that enables individual and high-net-worth investors to buy into diversified, professionally managed portfolios of investment-grade fine wine. Portfolios are constructed and overseen by the WineFi Investment Committee using the proprietary WineFi Investment Score (WIS), a quantitative model that ranks wines across eight categories using more than 18 million data points, combined with expert curation and ongoing portfolio monitoring via a dedicated investor platform.
Is WineFi a public or private company?
WineFi is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was WineFi founded?
WineFi was founded in 2023. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is WineFi based?
WineFi is headquartered in London, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does WineFi make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Upfront Investment Management Fee is the primary driver. The others are storage and Insurance At-Cost Charges (post-5 years) and sourcing Margin / Discount to Market.
Who are WineFi's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Cult Wines and Vin-X. Broad incumbents are Berry Bros. & Rudd, Lay & Wheeler and Octavian Vaults. Liv-ex is listed as an others. Emerging players are Splint Invest, Masterworks and Mintus. Timeless Investments is listed as a regional player.
Does WineFi have an API?
No public API is recorded for WineFi.
What industry is WineFi in?
WineFi's product category is Alternative Investments - Fine Wine. Its primary akta.pro industry code is CRANABAE, Fine Wine & Luxury Spirits Retail, with a secondary code of CRANABAB, Wine Retail (Bottle Shops & Wine Merchants). Its NAICS code is 445320 and its SIC code is 5180.