Moderato ramps up the alcohol-free wine category by raising €3 million

rench company Moderato has announced a new round of fund raising of “over 3 million euros”, following the €1.5 million raised in 2024. “The aim is to allow the company to increase its sales and marketing reach in France and internationally”, Moderato said in a press statement. The Normandy-based start-up company already aims to quadruple its 2023 sales of 100,000 bottles this year and hopes to continue its double-digit growth at a time when the alcohol-free wine market is stoking trends, and expectations, within the wine industry. Beyond that, its goal is to achieve revenue of €10 million by 2026.

The €3 million just raised will “help develop the brand and allow the category to emerge”, comments Sébastien Thomas, who co-founded Moderato in 2020 with Fabien Marchand-Cassagne. The company is a major stakeholder in the de-alcoholised wine space. Moderato targets wine consumers with a range of de-alcoholised wines that promise to provide styles similar to their full-strength counterparts. The intent is to “provide an alternative rather than respond to those who want to completely stop drinking”, explains Thomas.

Part of the funds raised will be used to develop Moderato production in the ‘Chai Sobre’, the alcohol-free winery designed in conjunction with Vivadour which is currently going on-stream in South-West France. But most of the money has been earmarked for developing sales in France, where nationwide supermarkets are currently the brand’s main customer, and in export markets. Here, it intends to develop sales through contracts signed in Quebec, the United States, Great Britain and Benelux for example.