Napa texting platform RedChirp buys Napa wine martech startup Vimbibe

Business texting platform RedChirp, based in Napa, has acquired Vimbibe, also a Napa, offering direct-to-consumer marketing services.

Vimbibe was created in 2020 by Highway 29 Creative. No price was disclosed.

“This acquisition is a huge step forward for the DTC wine industry,” stated Simon Solis-Cohen, founder of Highway 29 Creative and Vimbibe, in the announcement. “We all joke that the wine industry is slow to adopt new technology. I saw how business texting was taking off in other industries. Instead of waiting for someone else to innovate, I decided to do it ourselves. I was impressed when RedChirp opened their platform to the wine industry and saw how our missions aligned to bring best-in-class engagement tools. It is a natural fit for them to carry my vision forward and create one top solution for the wine industry.”

RedChirp states that its webchat feature lets customers initiate inbound text conversations, and routes them to the right team members “without anyone having to actively monitor it.“ It offers marketing texts distributed with automated systems.

“Here at RedChirp, we’re so excited to continue Vimbibe’s mission of revolutionizing DTC communications,” stated Jennie Gilbert, co-founder of RedChirp. “We look forward to welcoming their customers — some of the very first wineries to embrace the power of text messaging — and growing with them as we raise the bar with effortless compliance, powerful automation, and meaningful integrations.”

Officials stated that the RedChirp and Vimbibe teams will work together to transition Vimbibe customers over to the RedChirp platform before the end of the year.

RedChirp was a 2021 WINnovation award winner among North Bay Business Journal’s Wine Beer and Spirits Industry Awards in December.