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Major UK online wine retailer

Virgin Wines works with its network of trusted suppliers and winemaking partners from around the world to source, design, blend and sell award-winning and largely exclusive premium wines.

These wines are sold through its WineBank and Wine Plan subscription schemes and on a pay-as-you-go basis.

The Group also operates B2B and gift sales channels and recently expanded its product offering to include carefully curated collections of premium spirits and craft beers. We invested £8.7m in Virgin Wines in 2013.

Investment rationale

We supported the Initial Public Offering of Virgin Wines on AIM. The offering was substantially oversubscribed, attracting strong interest from quality institutional investors.

Virgin Wines now has the platform to execute its ambitious growth plans, as it leverages key strengths to continue to win market share and drive shareholder value.

Investment Team

Ed Wass

Portfolio Director

Ed brings over 20 years’ experience of helping SMEs to create and realise shareholder value to his role. He has been working with our management teams since 2017 to help them achieve their ambitions for growth and has overseen several notable exits in that time, including Automated Systems Group, Access-IS and Auction Technology Group. He also led the successful IPO of Virgin Wines in 2021.

It is a pleasure to work with so many great businesses and fantastic management teams.  It is a real privilege to be involved in the growth of the exciting companies that Gresham House invests in and to contribute to their ongoing success.

Ed is on the board of several businesses, including Virgin Wines, RotaGeek, Airfinity and Vivacity Labs. His previous roles include CIO at Catapult Ventures and at PwC in both Assurance and Business Recovery Services.

Ed was named as one of Real Deals’ Future 40 Investment Leaders in April 2021.

He holds a BA (Hons) in Ancient History and is a Chartered Accountant (ICAEW).

Outside of work Ed enjoys spending time with his family and whenever possible chasing after a ball of some description (cricket, golf, tennis and fives) – sometimes these happen together.

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Greg Blin

Investment Partner

Greg sources and executes investments into fast-growing businesses and is our resident consumer expert. He combines a natural flair for understanding the drivers of brand value, insight into wider market dynamics and strong corporate finance experience.

I first got into growth investing because it has afforded me the opportunity to work and build relationships with some incredibly talented entrepreneurs and ambitious management teams to support them on their growth journey.

Greg joined Gresham House Ventures in 2021 and has been part of the Mobeus VCTs team since 2013.

Previous investments and Board positions include Virgin Wines, MPB, Rotageek and Buster + Punch.

Greg’s previous roles include investments at Piper Private Equity and Corporate Finance at PwC. He holds a BA/ ACC in Business Studies and Accounting and is a Chartered Accountant (ICAS).

Outside of work, Greg enjoys a range of sports including golf, tennis and skiing, would secretly love to be a DJ, and has a passion for travel.

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