Alcohol delivery service secures US$3.4 million in pre-Series A funding round

Mobile-based on-demand beverage delivery service BottlesXO has raised US$3.4 million in a pre-Series A funding round, from an undisclosed private equity firm in Singapore.

This funding round brings the Hong Kong-based company’s total funds raised to US$6.4 million, including earlier seed rounds led by its founding team and angel investors.

Co-founders Thilo Fuchs, Mischa Schulze and Zou Zhengfang created BottlesXO in 2015 to provide a "chilled-delivered-now" solution for all wine, beer and spirits-related needs and emergencies.

Their bottles are personally selected from trusted producers and are curated from independent vineyards and breweries, according to the company. Customers can order via BottlesXO’s app with GPS tracking, access the BottlesXO community loyalty programme, find exclusive flash sales and promotions, along with food-pairing suggestions for their bottles.

BottlesXO operates in Shanghai, Suzhou, Hong Kong and Singapore delivering wine, craft beer and spirits chilled within 60 minutes (with an average delivery time less than 30 minutes) with no minimum order or delivery fee.

The company integrates its online-to- offline (O2O) shopping experience by providing tasting sessions at its brick-and-mortar XO Bars, BXO/XO Block Party Series and pop-up events. Its flagship tasting store, XO Bar by BottlesXO, was launched in June 2016 and it hosts weekly community tastings, corporate events and themed DJ nights.

Mischa Schulze, joint-CEO of BottlesXO International, said: "With a huge market demand for consumption of alcohol and beverages in Asia’s high-density areas and cities, BottlesXO is seizing the opportunity to offer great and fair value to our customers, disrupting the value chain of the traditional wine, beer and spirits industry by offering an on-demand, ready-to-drink and mobile first solution and by connecting consumers with quality producers."

The funds raised will be spent on next-level technology, growth in new Asian markets, development of new product lines, strengthening our strategic position in the O2O market and acquisition of customers, Schulze added.

The company is aiming for Series A in 2018.