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"Lot18\u00A0is oft referred to as \u201Cthe\u00A0Gilt Group\u00A0of the wine industry.\u201D The beautifully executed site offers up epicurean delights from wine to fancy cheese and chocolates- all at a flash sales style discount- delivered to your door. Just recently,\u00A0Lot18 launched a new Experience section\u00A0offering wine and gourmet-themed travel excursions, exclusive dinners at Michelin-starred restaurants and other local and national packages designed to help Lot18 members indulge just a little bit more.\r\n\r\nThe party continues at Lot18, as the New York-based company today announced that it has completed a $30 million Series C financing led by Accel Partners. Sameer Gandhi, who led Accel\u2019s investments in Bonobos, Spotify and StumbleUpon, will join Lot18\u2019s board of directors. Lot18 says the funds will support its continued growth and\u00A0help expand its imported wine program, particularly wines from Europe. The idea being, Lot18 wants to offer its members more wines that they can't get anywhere else.\r\n\r\nWhile other flash sales sites like Gilt Groupe's\u00A0Gilt Taste\u00A0offer wine and gourmet foods too,\u00A0Lot18's deep focus on the wine\u00A0industry\u00A0has earned it the reputation of a first-class sommelier.\u00A0In just one year, the New York City startup has grown to 90 employees, poaching some of the finest wine\u00A0connoisseurs the city has to offer. In May, Lot 18\u00A0raised $10 million in a Series B funding round led by\u00A0NEA Ventures\u00A0and\u00A0FirstMark Capital, who also led Lot18's $3 million Series A round.\u00A0In those 12 months of operations, Lot18 has attracted over 550,000 members and sold more than half a million bottles of wine.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nAt the helm of Lot18 is Kevin Fortuna, who was formerly the CEO of\u00A0Quigo, an advertising technology company that was sold to\u00A0AOL Time Warner\u00A0for $360 million in November 2007 and Philip James (pictured above), who prior to founding\u00A0Snooth Media\u00A0\u201Cthe IMBD for wine\u201D in 2007, had sailed across the Atlantic, climbed Mt. Everest and graduated from Columbia\u2019s Business School.\r\n\r\nJames likely won't be\u00A0uncorking\u00A0too many bottles of wine just yet. This weekend, the\u00A0Renaissance\u00A0man will be running the New York City Marathon to support the Queens Center for Progress. You can make a donation here."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://thenextweb.com/2011/11/04/lot18-the-online-sale-site-for-epicurean-delights-just-popped-the-champagne/>