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The powerhouse of online liquor marketplaces is SeventyFifty...

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    The powerhouse of online liquor marketplaces is SeventyFifty from USA. Comes in at No.10 in Applico's 2021 Top 50 B2B Marketplace Ranking.
    https://www.mdm.com/blog/tech-operations/technology/applicos-top-50-b2b-marketplace-ranking/

    https://go.sevenfifty.com/

    They grew GMV over 100% YOY to $1B USD.

    Highly active M&A space. Massive $1.4T USD market.

    SevenFifty Announces $23 Million Growth Equity Financing to Further Accelerate Digital Transformation for Beverage Alcohol Industry


    May 25, 2021·4 min read

    The new funding will expand SevenFifty's footprint as the leading software and technology provider for wineries, breweries, distributors, importers, restaurants, and alcohol retailers

    NEW YORK, May 24, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- SevenFifty, a provider of web-based and mobile technology solutions for the beverage alcohol industry, announced $23 million in new funding today. Led by Level Equity, the Series B will accelerate SevenFifty's expansion within the massive $1.4 trillion industry as it builds on innovative digital tools and ecommerce solutions that touch every part of the highly complex and fragmented supply chain.

    The hospitality and beverage alcohol industries are accelerating their adoption of next generation technology as they emerge from the pandemic and position themselves for a period of dramatic expansion. SevenFifty attracted the investment following a period of nearly 100% year over year growth. Professionals across the supply chain turn to the company's ecommerce marketplace, which acts as the de-facto system of exchange for distributors as well as their integrated sales and marketing toolkit—each connecting hundreds of thousands of professionals across a disparate supply chain.


    Since its launch in 2011 by founders Aaron Sherman and Gianfranco Verga, both alcohol and hospitality industry veterans, SevenFifty has brought digital transformation to one of the most fragmented industries in America. The company experienced tremendous early adoption across the trade with its ground-breaking online wholesale marketplace, and has built a reputation for creating a suite of digital sales and marketing tools now considered essential across the industry's unique three-tier supply chain.

    Today, over 90,000 restaurant and retail buyers use the marketplace, which reached nearly $1 billion in sales volume in 2020. The company has brought the entire supply chain into a centralized and interconnected digital platform, with powerful, integrated data management tools that include:

    • Custom ecommerce solutions for distributors and retailers

    • The largest B2B aggregated marketplace for the U.S. wholesale alcohol trade

    • Sales enablement and CRM tools that connect distributors and buyers

    "SevenFifty's mission is to power a connected beverage alcohol supply chain, and with this new funding we unlock the capacity to accelerate our growth and meet the demands of our partners across every category of the industry," said Aaron Sherman, SevenFifty co-founder and CEO. "Our team's deep experience within both the beverage alcohol and technology industries, combined with our expansive network of customers, make us a unique partner to provide the tools and infrastructure for the industry's increasing demand for digital transformation."

    This round of funding will drive the continued development of SevenFifty's software and data services that now span nearly every area of the business, with a focus on connected systems that enable better communication and more efficient transactions. The company has immediate plans to accelerate hiring across engineering, customer support, sales, operations, and marketing, guided by its initiatives for recruiting diverse talent. The funding will also enhance SevenFifty's ability to explore future M&A prospects that could boost its tech capabilities and its market reach.

    "We've done exceptionally well backing domain experts who build critical technology in complex and fragmented industries, especially as those industries undergo secular shifts towards technology adoption. We have been impressed by SevenFifty's ability to expand its footprint over the past few years, growing the value of the platform beyond just restaurant and retail buyers and earning the trust of producers, importers, and distributors working across the trade," said Ben Levin, Founder and Co-CEO of Level Equity, who will join SevenFifty's board of directors. "The company stands out for its industry-specific deep technology solutions and superior, specialized dataset that powers a dynamic suite of products and services. We're excited to support their commitment to meaningful innovation."

    ABOUT SEVENFIFTY
    SevenFifty brings innovative technology and data insights to the beverage alcohol industry with next-generation solutions that power the three-tier supply chain. The company's people-first approach to technology enables producers, distributors, importers, retailers, and restaurants with the tools they need to connect with each other and do business in a modern world. http://www.sevenfifty.com

    ABOUT LEVEL EQUITY
    Based in New York, NY and San Francisco, CA, Level Equity is a growth equity firm focused on providing capital to rapidly growing software and internet companies. The firm manages over $1.7 billion across a series of long term committed investment partnerships. For more information about Level Equity, visit http://www.levelequity.com


    Tampa tech company Bridge sells to SevenFifty Technologies

    SevenFifty, an online marketplace and data platform for the U.S. alcohol beverage industry, has acquired Bridge, a Tampa tech company that specializes in ecommerce platforms for independent retailers of wine, beer and spirits.

    Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

    There’s a lot of operational and product overlap between Bridge and SevenFifty, said Alex Miningham, Bridge co-founder. He will transition to a new role as vice president of data strategy for SevenFifty.

    “They work with 20,000-plus retailers. That’s our target market. They want to do more with the data they have,” Miningham said.

    With the acquisition of Bridge and its retail platform, SevenFifty will fast-track its new ecommerce platform for off-premise retail. The platform will be branded as SevenFifty Storefronts and will roll out to 750 retail storefronts, likely around the end of July, Miningham said.

    The COVID-19 pandemic was a boon for Bridge and for online alcohol sales overall. Sales were up 234 percent during the seven-week period ended April 18, according to Nielsen US research quoted in a news release about the deal. The retailers Bridge serves saw sales jump 400 percent between mid-March and mid-April, Miningham said.

    Bridge, originally named Proof Network Ventures Inc., was founded in 2018 as a result of a merger with Tipsi and a subsequent acquisition of Drync. The company rebranded as Bridge in October 2019.

    Florida Funders, a hybrid venture capital and crowd-funding platform in Tampa, was the lead investor in Bridge’s equity round in November 2019, which also included Manole Capital Management and a number of angel investors.

    “Florida Funders celebrates Bridge’s acquisition by SevenFifty as it marks a notably successful exit for our firm,” Tom Wallace, managing partner for Florida Funders, said in a separate news release. “Bridge brought an invaluable service to companies and made them a key player in the beverage alcohol space. We look forward to adding startups as diverse and distinctive as Bridge to our portfolio and bringing more success stories to the Startup State.”

    Bridge has a small team that also will stay on with SevenFifty, Miningham said.

    SevenFifty’s headquarters is in New York, but the company has a fully distributed workforce that works remotely. The same is true for Bridge, which is a member of Embarc Collective in downtown Tampa. Miningham said he expects SevenFifty to consider Tampa as a secondary headquarters.

 
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