Amass Brands Acquires Assets Of Bankrupt D2C Wine Platform Winc


 

Botanically focused beverage and spirits marketer Amass Brands has acquired the wine brands and D2C assets of Winc, which has been in bankruptcy proceedings since early December of last year.

As part of the deal announced last week, Los Angeles-based Amass will add Winc’s Summer Water rosé, Pizzolato prosecco and Biokult organic wine brands to its ultra-premium gin, vodka, hard seltzer and non-alcoholic beverage portfolio.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Amass said in a news release that acquiring Winc’s assets expands the reach of its portfolio “across a wide cross-section of consumers and their drinking occasions” while enhancing Amass’ “omnichannel approach to growing brands.”

The result, according to Amass CEO Mark Thomas Lynn, will be another step toward creating a “next-generation beverage company.”

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Based in Santa Monica, Winc was founded in 2012 as Club W, but changed its name in 2016 just after it began to produce its own wine personalized to consumers’ tastes based on an online quiz and subsequent feedback.

The company raised $22 million in an initial public offering in November of 2021 but never posted a profit.

Last November, Winc reported that its Q2 wholesale revenue had risen 32% year over year, but that D2C sales had declined by nearly 12%.

As previously reported, D2C wine shipments posted the first-ever decline in volume and dollar sales in 2022 for the first time in more than a decade, according to Sovos ShipCompliant and Wines Vines Analytics.

When it filed for voluntary bankruptcy on Nov. 30 of 2022, Winc Inc. listed total assets of $50,318,000 and debts of $36,751,000.

Its single biggest creditor was Meta/Facebook at $724,162 followed by transportation logistics provider J.F. Hillebrand USA ($699,425) and transport company FedEx ($568,748).

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