Wine Ecommerce Platform BlackSquare Raises $1.2 Million

Today Calgary’s BlackSquare, maker of the Blackboxx wine ecommerce platform, announced a new $1.175 million equity private placement financing and corporate spin-off.

The equity financing was led by Toronto-based private equity and investment management firm HorizonOne Asset Management. To date, BlackSquare has raised a total of $2.675 million.

Since its 2010 start and in the 15 months since BlackSquare’s previous financing, the company has grown its customer base twenty-fold to span four continents.  BlackSquare has clients in Canada’s three biggest wine-producing regions and is on track to power ecommerce for a “significant portion” of the Australian wine industry’s production.

“We have followed BlackSquare’s story since inception and are impressed with the team’s execution and how well positioned it is as the emerging ecommerce market leader for the global wine industry. I’m very pleased to join BlackSquare’s board and look forward to assisting in value creation and support its growth,” says HorizonOne president James Mahoney.

According to the startup, financing will enhance BlackSquare’s international expansion, notably to build its Sydney, Australia office’s momentum by establishing a wholly owned subsidiary, BlackSquare Australia.

MORE: Wine Club Experience Turns into Hybrid Technology in Calgary

BlackSquare built the Blackboxx wine ecommerce platform in large part by operating WineCollective.ca. To facilitate WineCollective’s continued growth, BlackSquare says it has spun it out as a stand-alone company, Wine Collective Inc., with continued collaboration between the two independent entities.