What Vinovest does

Vinovest is a digital investment platform that enables individuals to buy, hold, and sell investment-grade fine wine and whiskey. Founded in 2019 by Anthony Zhang and Brent Akamine and headquartered in Culver City, California, the platform combines a managed portfolio offering (Curated Cellar) with a secondary marketplace (Vinovest Marketplace) for buying and selling authenticated bottles and casks. Underlying the service is a proprietary technology stack that includes an AI-powered wine robo-advisor (launched November 2021 via mobile apps on iOS and Android), data-driven curation logic, fair-market pricing sourced from independent data providers including Liv-ex, and an integrated marketplace with verified provenance.

The business model centers on recurring annual portfolio management fees of 2.25% to 2.85% depending on portfolio tier (Starter $5K minimum, Plus $10K, Premium $50K, Grand Cru $250K), with bundled bonded-warehouse storage, insurance, and authentication. A secondary revenue stream is a 1.5% transaction fee on secondary-market sales executed before the five-year hold period (waived thereafter). Additional offerings include whiskey cask ownership (minimum $1,750 per cask, 3-year minimum storage), wine futures (en primeur), and exclusive Vinovest Experiences events. Pricing is subscription/recurring for managed accounts plus transaction fee for marketplace activity.

Customer acquisition relies on a self-serve direct-to-consumer model via website and mobile apps, augmented by content marketing (extensive blog), social media, PR coverage in Forbes, CNBC, WSJ, Bloomberg, and others, and experiential events. The customer base is primarily U.S.-based, accredited individual investors and high-net-worth individuals seeking uncorrelated alternative assets. On March 17, 2026, Vinovest was acquired by StartEngine via stock merger, issuing 8,750,000 shares to Vinovest stakeholders and positioning the combined platform to access StartEngine's 2.1 million users.

Name

Vinovest

Legal name

Vinovest, Inc.

Website

https://vinovest.co

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Vinovest is a digital platform that enables individual investors to buy, hold, and sell investment-grade fine wine and whiskey through managed portfolio subscriptions and a secondary marketplace, currently operating as a wholly owned subsidiary of StartEngine following its March 2026 acquisition.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Alternative Investment Platform

NAICS

Beer, Wine, and Liquor Retailers (44532), Wine and Distilled Alcoholic Beverage Merchant Wholesalers (424820)

SIC

Wholesale-Beer, Wine & Distilled Alcoholic Beverages (5180)

akta.pro primary industry

Alcohol Subscription & Wine Clubs (Retail) (CRANABAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Premium, Rare & Collectible Alcohol Retail (Fine Wine/Spirits) (CRANAAAJ), Wine Retail (Bottle Shops & Wine Merchants) (CRANABAB)

Keywords

• Wine investment platform
• Whiskey cask investing
• Alternative asset management
• Fractional collectibles
• Wine marketplace trading

Headquarters

HQ city

Culver City

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Annual Portfolio Management Fees: Annual fee charged on assets under management across four tiered plans ranging from 2.25% to 2.85% depending on portfolio size. Fee includes storage, insurance, authentication, and portfolio management services.
2. Curated Cellar Management: Managed account service where Vinovest builds and manages wine and whiskey portfolios on behalf of investors for an annual fee
3. Marketplace Transaction Fees: 1.5% fee for selling wine or whiskey before five years; fee waived for sales after five years holding period

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Vinovest operates a digital investment platform that enables individuals to buy, hold, and sell investment-grade fine wine and whiskey. The company curates personalized portfolios on behalf of investors, sources and authenticates assets, stores them in climate-controlled bonded warehouses, and provides an integrated secondary marketplace for trading. Minimum investments start at $5,000 for wine and $1,750 per whiskey cask.

Product overview

Vinovest is a fine wine and whiskey investment platform offering two primary investment vehicles: managed Curated Cellar portfolios and a peer-to-peer Marketplace for secondary trading. The Curated Cellar service provides personalized portfolio management with four pricing tiers (Starter at $5,000 minimum to Grand Cru at $250,000 minimum), including sourcing, authentication, bonded storage, and insurance. The platform also offers Wine Futures (en primeur) for early-access wine purchases and Whiskey Cask Ownership for investing in whole casks. The Marketplace enables buying and selling among collectors with verified provenance. The platform was acquired by StartEngine in March 2026 and continues operating under its existing brand.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Curated Cellar (Managed Portfolio) Flagship managed wine and whiskey investment service where Vinovest curates and manages a personalized portfolio based on the investor's taste, style, and goals, including sourcing, authentication, bonded storage, insurance, and ongoing portfolio management.
• Vinovest Marketplace Secondary marketplace enabling investors to browse, buy, and sell investment-grade wine and whiskey bottles and casks, with verified provenance, bonded storage, and fair-market pricing.
• Whiskey Cask Ownership Investment in whole whiskey casks (American whiskey and Scotch) that mature in bonded warehouses. Minimum investment of $1,750 per cask with a 3-year minimum storage requirement before selling, bottling, or shipping.
• Wine Futures (En Primeur) Access to en primeur (wine futures) purchases that allow investors to buy wine still in barrel before bottling and release, typically 2-3 years from release.
• Vinovest Mobile App Mobile application available on iOS and Android featuring the AI-powered wine robo advisor, portfolio tracking, marketplace browsing, and account management.

Quantifiable outcome

• Dom Perignon Luminous 2010 achieved 30.7% annualized return over 2-year hold period (11 to 13 years of age)
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Others

• CellarTracker: CellarTracker is the leading consumer wine cellar-management and community platform, providing provenance tracking and peer reviews. Adjacent infrastructure to Vinovest's authenticated marketplace, serving as an enabling data/community resource in the wine-collecting ecosystem.

Broad incumbents

• Sotheby's Wine: Sotheby's Wine is the wine auction arm of the global Sotheby's auction house, dealing in investment-grade fine wine at the high end. A traditional incumbent in collectible wine markets that competes at the Grand Cru tier of Vinovest's offering.
• Wine-Searcher: Wine-Searcher is the dominant global price-comparison and marketplace platform for wine retail, aggregating thousands of merchants. Operates broadly in wine retail and pricing data, providing the pricing transparency infrastructure that Vinovest's marketplace leverages.
• Acker Merrall & Condit: Acker Merrall & Condit is a long-established fine-wine auction house and retailer specializing in collectible Burgundy, Bordeaux, and Champagne. Represents the traditional incumbent model that Vinovest's modern platform is disrupting.

Direct peers

• Rally: Rally operates a fractional-ownership marketplace for collectible alternative assets including cars, sports memorabilia, and wine. Listed alongside Vinovest in the alternative-investment fractional-ownership category with similar accredited-investor GTM.
• Alto (formerly AltoIRA): Alto enables retirement-account investment in alternative assets including fine wine, private equity, and crypto. Directly comparable to Vinovest in offering IRA-eligible wine exposure via fractional ownership.
• Collectable: Collectable is a fractional-ownership platform for sports trading cards and collectibles, directly listed as a Vinovest competitor. Targets retail investors seeking fractional access to traditionally illiquid collectible assets.
• Masterworks: Masterworks is a fractional art-investment platform offering curated portfolios, secondary trading, and tiered fees similar to Vinovest. Targets the same accredited-investor segment seeking uncorrelated tangible-asset exposure.
• Rares: Rares operates fractional ownership of high-value collectibles and is named alongside Vinovest in the alternative-asset investment category. Competes on similar retail-investor onboarding and marketplace liquidity features.
• YieldStreet: YieldStreet offers access to a broad range of alternative investments including art, real estate, and private credit. Operates as a multi-asset alternative-investment platform comparable to Vinovest's positioning post-StartEngine integration.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/vinovest1
• Facebookfacebook.com/vinovestofficial
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/vinovest
• Instagraminstagram.com/vinovest

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds4 records

Investors10 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Vinovest