Winc Files Chapter 11, Leaves Behind Thousands of Creditors

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Subscription club wine seller Winc, Inc., (WBEV-NYSE, Small Cap) — filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on November 30, in United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

 

Two of its affiliated companies — Winc Lost Poet and BWSC LLC — also filed bankruptcies. Winc was founded as Club W.

 

The bankruptcy comes after years of high customer churn, over-the-top claims, and multiple rounds of fundraising that failed to hit investment goals (for background on Winc’s crash and burn, scroll down to the links from previous Wine Industry Insight coverage).

 

Winc’s initial bankruptcy petition listed more than 100,000 creditors, most of whom may be club members with unfulfilled orders. The filing claimed estimated assets of $50.318  million and liabilities of $36.751 million with debt securities of more than 500 holders.

 

The massive Chapter 11 filing (free) is 432 pages long, and the additional creditors list consists of 5,495 pages (link available for premium subscribers. Scroll down).

IPO Last November

Winc raised $22 million in mid-November last year after reducing the offering by 73% after postponement, and bailing on its “white shoe” underwriters.

 

The stock price has gone downhill since.

Top Creditors

The remainder of the top 30 unsecured creditors can be found in the premium edition.

Major Stockholders

Entities that directly or indirectly own, control, or hold — with power to vote — 5% or more of the voting securities of debtor:

 

• Affiliates of Bessemer Venture Partners VIII Institutional L.P. and Bessemer Venture Partners VIII L.P.
• Affiliates of Shining Capital Holdings II L.P. and Shining Capital Management III Limited
• Affiliates of CJF Palate Holdings LLC and Cool Japan Fund Inc.
• Geoffrey McFarlane
• Brian Smith
• Xiangwei Weng

More To Come From Wine Industry Insight

More articles are forthcoming as we break down the elements of the massive bankruptcy documents.

 

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Previous Wine Industry Insight Articles

• Winc slashes IPO 73% after postponement, bails on “white shoe” underwriters.
• Wine Club Winc postpones $75 million IPO. A look at one number might be the key.
• Winc, Part 1: What happens if a company blows a federal court filing deadline?
• Winc, Part 2: What happens if a company blows a federal court filing deadline?
• Winc’s not-so-Netflixy customer retention rate — here’s how the math works
• Winc falls way short of being “The Netflix of Wine” when it comes to customer retention
• Winc raises $3+ million in latest offering, but fails to disclose federal court case brought against it by state of Ohio
• Winc the Netflix of wine? (Nope)
• Winc’s registered investment offering closes Friday
• Winc (Formerly Club W) comes in at #7 In WII’s Winetech funding survey

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Additional Court Document For Premium Subscribers

• ECF – List of Creditors – 5495 pages