Want to invest in something different? There’s an app for that, discovers HAL WILLIAMS…
THE WINE investment segment has seen a five percent rise in the past year — and a whopping 149 percent over the past 10.
A free app to take advantage of that boom has been developed by a team from Cru World Wine — backed by its physical network of seven warehouses on three continents.
So, investing in wine could be the future — according to the industry. But news of the app comes hard on the heels of an announcement that the French government is about to spend €200m (£171.6m) destroying a national wine surplus.
The blame for this new plonk lake is being laid at the door of the booming craft beer sector — which seems to be edging out the grape — as well as the cost-of-living crisis (it is a crisis, right?), and overproduction. The €200m will be used to buy excess stock, and the alcohol repurposed into hand sanitiser, cleaning products, or perfume.
If you’d rather have the fruit of the vine passed over your lips rather than the kitchen counter, the backed-up stock means bargains should abound. But when the vines are truly noble, there’s money to be made — and that’s where the app is being pitched.
It offers users market access, secondary trading of over 25,000 products, and portfolio management. It has been designed “to feel as much like a financial services trading app as possible”, says Howard, a former trading systems innovator. Websockets allow rapid trading-price updates. Security is entrusted to FACE ID and TypeScript for static typing.
The use of Google’s Angular framework, in conjunction with Capacitor, enabled the app’s production without having to re-code its code base in Apple’s Swift iOS language or Android’s Kotlin. Capacitor acts as a bridge between IOS, Android, and Angular. That means features can be developed in one place rather than across various platforms, the firm says, and investors can get involved for as little as £50.
Or maybe less, if you can lay your hands on a few surplus bottles before the governmental destruction begins…
