Wine.com gets new funding and a new CEO
Wine.com has received $12 million in new equity from Baker Capital and hired Rich Bergsund as CEO and a member of the board of directors.
Bergsund was most recently CEO of IdeaForest, an online retailer in the hobby and crafts industry which operates Joann.com for the fabric store chain. Before founding IdeaForest, Bergsund was a partner with Bain & Co., specializing in consumer businesses.
"We are delighted to have someone of Rich`s caliber joining the Company. Rich has a strong track record turning around businesses and driving them to positions of leadership, profit and growth," said Rob Manning, Wine.com chairman and a general partner of Baker Capital.
Wine.com says the financing will be used to reposition the company following the departure of the prior management team last year and to implement a new strategy developed under Baker Capital`s leadership beginning in August 2005.
Wine.com was founded in 1998 as eVineyard.com. Baker Capital is a New York-based private equity firm with $1.5 billion under management. Baker Capital invests in growth companies at all stages of development.
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