Vivino First Wine App Preloaded to New Samsung Galaxy Gear

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Sept. 5, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- In a "first" for smartwatches and the wine industry, the popular Vivino Wine Scanner app will be preloaded on Samsung's new Galaxy Gear smartwatch when released worldwide later this year.

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Theis Sondergaard, Vivino's COO and Co-Founder, said development for the Galaxy Gear smartwatch was fast tracked right after Vivino was contacted by Samsung.  Adapting Vivino's technology to the new device was tricky, but the challenge was completed in two months.

"We think Samsung saw sex appeal in being able to shoot labels from your wrist and discretely reading about wines," Sondergaard said. "It's a show-off function, but also of great value for consumers."

This news comes on the heels of new features added to Vivino allowing users to receive personalized recommendations based on wines they love.  With the free app, people simply snap a photo of a wine's label.  That image is then matched against a database already containing 1.6 million wines. The app then provides ratings compiled from other people using Vivino, as well as the wine's producer, brand, varietals and vintage.  And once someone has scanned and rated at least three wines, Vivino finds other users with similar taste and recommends their favorite wines.  Additionally, users looking to broaden wine horizons can utilize the new "Featured Users" tool that connects people with wine connoisseurs also using the app.

Recently, Vivino received $10.3 million (€7.9 million) in follow-on Series A funding in a round led by Balderton Capital.  Balderton Capital, Skype founder/entrepreneur Janus Friis, SEED Capital and Creandum all participated in the latest round bringing total investment capital to $12.4 million (€9.5 million).

As a #1 wine app with a rapidly growing user base consisting of nearly 2 million people, Vivino is available on iPhone, Android and BlackBerry (BB10) platforms.  For more information, visit http://www.vivino.com.

About Vivino:
Founded in 2009, Vivino helps wine lovers discover and rate wines tasted with ease. The free mobile app allows users to take photos of wine labels and using unique image recognition technology, matches the images against a database of 1.6 million wines. Vivino connects wine lovers via a network of posted reviews and allows users to share their experiences via Facebook, Twitter and email. The app is available on iPhone, Android and BlackBerry (BB10).

MEDIA CONTACT:
Jim Llewellyn
Comunicano, Inc.
+1 323-810-7685, [email protected]

SOURCE Vivino