Inertia lands $14 million in additional funding

Thursday, December 17, 2009, 11:29 am

By Jeff Quackenbush, Business Journal Staff Reporter

NAPA — Wine direct-to-consumer and direct-to-trade conduit Inertia Beverage Group today said it obtained $14 million in capital from existing and new investors, named a new chairman of the board and expanded its customer base by 40 to 350 in the past three months.

“We now have access to all of the necessary resources to execute our vision of providing industry leading capabilities and unmatched service to our customers seeking to reach trade and consumer markets directly,” said Ted Jansen, president and chief executive officer.

The latest round of funding comes from existing investors Allegis Capital of Palo Alto and Sid R. Bass Associates as well as newcomers such as New York-based PEI Funds.

“The need to expand marketing reach, lower costs and complexity, and improve margins is essential for wineries confronting an increasingly challenging market environment,” said Robert Ackerman, Allegis managing director and founder.

Inertia Beverage said it has completed the integration of its core wine e-commerce and regulatory compliance services with the order-fulfillment operations based in New Vine’s former 136,000-square-foot facility in American Canyon. “Significant cost savings” and “elimination of redundant roles” resulted, the company said.

In other company news, Dave Manougian, former chief executive officer of The Golf Channel and a senior manager at E&J Gallo, Nike and Comcast, was named chairman of Inertia Beverage’s board.