Winely

Winely is a New Zealand-based technology company that automates fermentation analysis for wine production. Its system combines proprietary IoT-connected sensors, artificial intelligence and cloud-based software to give winemakers a continuous, real-time view of key fermentation metrics through a web application, replacing manual lab-based sampling that is slow, labour-intensive, imprecise and carries health and safety risks. The company describes its offering as a real-time fermentation analysis platform intended to reduce manual sampling and support prediction of how a ferment will progress, helping wineries avoid costly interventions and time decisions more precisely.

The legal entity WINELY LIMITED was registered in New Zealand on 7 October 2018 with directors Abbe Hyde and Jacob Manning (both appointed at registration) and Ian John Massy Wills (appointed 19 June 2023), a registered office at Level 4, 4 Graham Street, Auckland, and a business classification of data processing services. Shareholding is led by Hyde and Manning (about 32.5% each), with 15% held by Manning and Hyde as bare trustees for a future employee share scheme, and further stakes held by Wills Private Equity Investments, Aspire NZ Seed Fund, Goldworthy Bay LLC, VentureCrowd Nominees, Kauru Investments, Canterbury Angel Investors Nominee, Quidnet Ventures Fund I LP, Squirrel SMSF, Cardinia Ventures and other individual and trustee holders.

The company was operating from Dunedin, Otago, and reported a team of seven in October 2020, later described as around 25 employees. Its technology has been described as being in its sixth generation, supported by an R&D laboratory that includes small bio-fermenters used to test sensors and algorithms, custom rigs and stations for lean manufacturing, and IoT and off-the-shelf infrastructure.

Founding story

Co-founder and CEO Jacob Manning trained as an accountant before moving into science, first building a venture that helped farmers transition to certified organic production through a nitrogen binding agent and a biological agent, work he pursued for about five and a half years across Australasia. He subsequently returned to university to study biotechnology, where research on yeast and next-generation fuels led to the conceptual foundations of Winely; roughly four years passed between concept and first customer conversations. Abbe Hyde is co-founder and CTO.

Business model

Winely supplies winemakers with sensor hardware paired with cloud software, delivering fermentation metrics to customers through a web app on a computer or other device. Its stated customers are premium wine brands and their global parent companies.

Traction

Team of seven at the time of the October 2020 seed round, with plans to double headcount that November; later reported at approximately 25 employees. Technology deployed across major wine regions of New Zealand, Australia and California after first field trials in the 2019 Central Otago vintage. The company stated its customers represent 77% of US local market consumption and supply 80% of wines commonly seen in supermarkets, and that it has gathered billions of fermentation data points.

Latest developments

The founder has described preparing a Series A funding round to fund team expansion, additional R&D laboratory resources and further winery partnerships, and moving the technology from development into a commercial stage for mass delivery. A director, Ian John Massy Wills, was appointed in June 2023, and the New Zealand Companies Office record lists the entity's status as Removed.