Tommy Nordam Jensen, chief executive and founder of WiV, said: “The WiV platform has made something that would previously have been prohibitively complicated relatively simple."
Working in partnership with Fiduciam, WiV Finance has secured a €100m line of credit to support businesses that have collections of fine and investment-grade wine valued at around €1m as collateral.
Trading fine wine can be a complex process that is slowed down by extensive paper trails, bureaucracy and broker processes, all of which add to the total cost of trade. WiV’s blockchain-based approach is said to remove many of these speed bumps and make it faster and easier to trade fine wine.
Tommy Nordam Jensen, chief executive and founder of WiV, said: “The WiV platform has made something that would previously have been prohibitively complicated relatively simple.
“It’s another example of how our system can make it possible for a wider variety of investors to be involved in the wine industry.
“We work as an independent party supporting wine merchants, negociants, brokers and château.
“WiV makes it simple to invest in wine, and now we are making it easier to use wine as collateral for business loans. Offering this facility underlines our philosophy of making the wine industry more liquid so that it can continue to grow efficiently.”
Johan Groothaert, chief executive and founder at Fiduciam, added: “We are looking forward to working with WiV as its blockchain solution makes it easier to take wine as collateral and reduces the overall risk profile of the wine held as security.
“We are eager to provide loans secured over fine wine in cooperation with WiV.”
WiV is in the process of raising funds to bolster the platform as it moves into the next phase of its development. The funding round is expected to close in mid-July.
There is thought to be fine wine worth around $80bn held in bond and private cellars which could be used as collateral to help businesses grow.
The WiV platform provides an accurate account of how much wine is held in a specific collection. This gives all parties involved in an agreement confidence to support the loan, which is particularly important if it crosses multiple jurisdictions.
WiV Technology has extended its offering to include business loans.
