A winemaker in regional South Australia: wine ready when the orders come

Sold direct, shipped abroad

The business makes and markets its own wine from regional South Australia, and provides winemaking services to other wineries alongside it.

Each channel pays differently. Direct sales are paid on the spot. Wholesale customers pay within the month. Distributors and export buyers pay a season after the wine ships, and the winemaking services are paid within a couple of weeks.

Bottled long before the buyers pay

Wine isn’t a quick product. A vintage sits in stock for well over a year before it’s ready to market. Then an order comes in, and bulk wine has to be turned into bottled stock before it can ship.

When they signed up in March 2024, the owner explained that the wine was held for well over a year before it went to market, and the distributors then took a season to pay after shipment.

The owner told the FundTap team the gap was the bottling: paying to convert bulk wine into bottled stock for the orders in hand, with more ready for the market.

Funding the distributor invoices

They signed up in March 2024, connected Xero, and funded two invoices that month.

Once a shipment has gone out and been invoiced, the owner can fund that invoice rather than wait out the buyer’s terms. The fee shows before anything is committed, and the distributors and export buyers pay the business on their usual terms, direct to the business.

Stock ready for the market

With the shipped invoices funded, the money for the next bottling run doesn’t have to wait a season. Bulk wine can be bottled for the orders in hand, and there’s stock on the shelf when the next buyer asks.

Their funding limit was raised in May 2024 as the orders grew, and July 2024 was their busiest month, with six invoices funded.

Between shipments

They funded 35 invoices in 2024 and 23 in 2025, 58 in all. Nothing has been funded since October 2025, and that has cost them nothing.

When the next export order ships, the owner decides whether that invoice is one to fund.

In a public review, the owner said FundTap had helped the business grow and smoothed its cashflow while it built up stock, with a team that was always helpful.

The timeline

1. March 2024 Signed up and connected Xero, with bottling to pay for ahead of the distributors’ terms.
2. March 2024 Funded their first two invoices.
3. May 2024 Funding limit raised as the orders grew.
4. July 2024 The busiest month so far, with six invoices funded.
5. October 2025 Most recent invoice funded.

In numbers

• 90 days from shipment before distributors and export buyers pay
• 58 invoices funded since March 2024, picked order by order
• 35 invoices funded in 2024, the biggest year so far
• 6 invoices funded in July 2024, the busiest month

Sound like your business?

The wine’s been in stock for a year, the order’s shipped, and the distributor pays next season. Fund that invoice and get the next run bottled.

Fund the next order without waiting on the last one.

Invoice finance for makers and distributors  •  All case studies