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§ Private Profile · Boston, MA, USA
Mobile commerce platform developing a consumer app for wine and custom apps for liquor retailers for beverage alcohol.
Based in Somerville, Massachusetts, Drync develops a mobile commerce platform that allows consumers to discover, track, and purchase wine by scanning labels while also providing custom-branded applications for liquor retailers. The primary consumer-facing application facilitates local delivery and in-store pickup, whereas the enterprise offering supplies merchants with product databases, ratings, and direct purchasing capabilities for wine, beer, and spirits. The company has expanded its business-to-business operations to serve approximately 100 retail customers across several major metropolitan markets like Boston and Atlanta, including New York City establishment 67 Wine and Spirits. To support its platform development and market expansion, the venture-backed enterprise has raised $900,000 in early-stage seed funding from a syndicate of angel investors such as Mark Hastings, Andrew Moss, and Jack Remondi. Drync was founded in 2008 by Brad Rosen and Bill Kirtley.
Drync has raised $2.9M across 2 funding rounds.
Drync has raised $2.9M in total across 2 funding rounds.
Drync has raised $2.9M across 2 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $2.0M Seed in April 2014.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 1, 2014 | $2M Seed | Foundry Group | Cota Capital, Great Oaks Venture Capital, NextView Ventures, Pear VC, Silicon Valley Connect, Dharmesh Shah, Waikit L., Crosslink Capital, Great Oaks Venture Capital, KEC Ventures | Announced |
| Aug 14, 2013 | $900K Venture Round | Mark Hastings | Andrew Moss, Jack Remondi | Announced |
Drync is a technology company that developed a mobile app platform enabling beverage alcohol retailers—primarily wine and liquor stores—to offer private-label apps for customers to scan wine labels, rate, remember, share wines, and purchase for home delivery or pickup.[1][2][5] It served retailers by solving inventory discovery, ordering, and fulfillment challenges in the alcohol retail sector, using image recognition to identify products from photos and integrating delivery options like partnerships with Deliv for fast service without extra setup.[2][4] The platform powered apps for retailers, providing order management, marketing, and analytics, but Drync was acquired by Proof Network Ventures, which merged it with Tipsi to serve over 200 retailers across 15 states, signaling strong growth momentum before integration.[1][3]
Drync emerged as a consumer-facing wine app leveraging image recognition and a vast database to let users instantly identify, rate, share, and buy wines via mobile photo scans, with sommelier recommendations and social sharing features.[2] It evolved into a B2B private-label platform for liquor and wine retailers, expanding to Android and partnering with delivery services like Deliv to enable seamless mobile ordering and fast fulfillment.[4] Key milestones included building the largest online wine selection with competitive pricing and low shipping, before its acquisition by Proof Network Ventures roughly seven months after Proof's purchase of Tipsi, marking a pivotal consolidation in alcohol retail tech.[1][3]
Drync rode the wave of mobile commerce and on-demand delivery in alcohol retail, accelerated by e-commerce growth and regulatory shifts allowing direct-to-consumer sales post-pandemic. Timing aligned with rising consumer demand for instant, app-based buying of age-restricted goods, where traditional retailers struggled with digital tools. Market forces like low shipping costs, sommelier-curated discovery, and private-label scalability favored Drync, influencing the ecosystem by consolidating fragmented providers—its acquisition by Proof Network Ventures exemplifies how tech builders are scaling software to modernize a $280B+ U.S. beverage alcohol industry.[1][2][4]
Post-acquisition, Drync's platform will likely deepen integration within Proof Network's suite, expanding to more retailers nationwide with unified delivery, analytics, and marketing tools. Trends like AI-enhanced personalization, regulatory easing for alcohol DTC, and logistics automation will propel this merged entity, potentially dominating private-label apps. Its influence may evolve from standalone innovator to backbone infrastructure, empowering retailers against big e-commerce rivals and shaping seamless omnichannel alcohol experiences—reinforcing Drync's foundational role in frictionless, scan-to-sip commerce.[1][3]
Drync has raised $2.9M in total across 2 funding rounds.
Drync's investors include Foundry Group, Cota Capital, Great Oaks Venture Capital, NextView Ventures, Pear VC, Silicon Valley Connect, Dharmesh Shah, Waikit L., Crosslink Capital, KEC Ventures, Mark Hastings, Andrew Moss.