Ex-Uber Exec and Bar Owner Spot Liquid Gold in Rare Spirits, Create $150 Million Marketplace Where High-End Bottles are Bought and Sold
If you want to sell a rare bottle of whiskey, how can you be sure you’re getting a fair price? That was the question a tech veteran and a bar owner teamed up to answer with their online marketplace, Unicorn.
Phil Mikhaylov, one-time head of global partnerships for Uber Eats, and bar owner Cody Modeer launched the site in 2020 so alcohol aficionados can buy and sell high-end spirits and wine for what they’re really worth.
Mikhaylov got the idea for Unicorn while working with a whiskey lover whose collection was worth over $1 million. That made him wonder: How many other collectors have no idea how valuable their bottles are but would look for the answer through a reputable marketplace.
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Modeer was motivated as a bar owner who wanted a marketplace where high end alcohol could be bought and sold for fair prices.
Together, they created Unicorn, a web- and app-based auction/marketplace that also has a brick-and-mortar vault in Chicago with more than $100 million worth of bottles under management. The company also has 11 dropoff and pickup locations across the nation.
One key component to Unicorn is its authentication mechanisms. These include tech-enabled authentication, appraisal and digitization of every bottle. The company also has a database of more than 400,000 historical transactions and 1 million digital photos, making it possible to spot inconsistencies and ensure authenticity.
Unicorn’s more expensive bottles can range from $100 to $250,000, but the company also did more than 50,000 transactions last year that were under $100.
Some of the most expensive bottles that have sold on Unicorn include a bottle of Very Very Old Fitzgerald 18-year Blackhawk bourbon that sold for $80,000, a bottle of Buffalo Trace Old Fashioned Copper 1982 that sold for close to $123,000, and a bottle of Yamazaki 55-year Single Malt Japanese Whiskey that sold for more than $200,000.
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Buyers can partake in 1-3 weekly auctions with up to 6,000 listings worth $1 million to $2million and more than 65,000 bids. By contrast, Sotheby’s and Christie’s only hold auctions every month or two, and only for high-end bottles.
Unicorn says more than 100,000 customers have used the platform, generating more than 7 million bids and more than $150 million in sales, and that 60% to 70% of its customer base is Gen X, millennials and Gen Z.
As digital marketplaces for big-ticket luxury items like designer handbags, sneakers, and automobiles took off, it was only a matter of time before entrepreneurs found similar opportunities in alcohol.
Younger generations with disposable income and an affinity for luxury goods have also inspired digital marketplaces where high-end and rare alcohol is bought by serious collectors and casual drinkers alike.
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The global luxury wine and spirits market is expected to grow from $274.1 billion in 2024 to around $438 billion in 2034, translating into a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.8% between 2025-2034, according to a report by Market.US, a market analyses firm in New York.
North America captured 31.4% of the global market share, about $84.9 billion, in 2024. The report also noted that luxury wines accounted for 56.1% of the 2024 luxury wine and spirits market in 2024, with online retail accounting for 36.3% of distribution.
Unicorn is not without its digital rivals in a very competitive space.
New York-based BAXUS describes itself as “the first peer-to-peer Marketplace for buying, selling, trading, and storing your valuable spirits & wine.” The company says that it uses blockchain technology “to give users proof of ownership, authentication, and a safe storage solution.”
Other digital marketplaces catering to the high-end wine and spirit aficionado include Winebid.com, Good Bottle Auctions, Whisekey.acition.com, Invaluable.com, Whiskey Auctioneer, and Whiskeytrades.com.
And because alcohol attracts more scrutiny from regulators than most other industries, digital marketplaces for wine and spirits need to navigate the complex rules that could affect their business.
Another risk is the decline in U.S. alcohol consumption. According to a 2023 Gallup poll, 54% of Americans reported drinking alcohol, down from 67% in 2017. That’s the lowest percentage of Americans who said they consumed alcohol since Gallup started tracking American drinking behavior in 1939.
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This article Ex-Uber Exec and Bar Owner Spot Liquid Gold in Rare Spirits, Create $150 Million Marketplace Where High-End Bottles are Bought and Sold originally appeared on Benzinga.com
Your guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the world
The global economy is proving more resilient than expected, despite the ferocity of Donald Trump’s trade war, but geopolitical turmoil and depressed business confidence risk sapping growth, according to research for the Financial Times.
Real activity in advanced economies is at its firmest in nearly three years, despite the shock of the US president’s tariffs, according to the latest findings of the Brookings-FT Tracking Indexes for the Global Economic Recovery, or Tiger.
Expansion has been driven in part by households and businesses bringing forward spending and investment before US tariffs took effect. A surge of investment in artificial intelligence and related technologies has helped sustain US growth in particular.
But Eswar Prasad, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, warned of “cracks in the foundation”, including a disconnect between buoyant stock markets and threats to the growth outlook.
The research reveals “an economic landscape that looks benign but remains unsettled, with household and business confidence weighed down by trade policy uncertainty, political upheaval in many countries, and geopolitical volatility,” Prasad said.
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The findings come as policymakers and economists prepare to gather for the IMF and World Bank’s annual meetings in Washington that start on Monday.
Underscoring the geopolitical volatility, Trump on Friday warned he was considering a “massive increase” in US tariffs on China because of its decision to impose sweeping export controls on critical minerals.
Speaking ahead of the meetings, IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva said the fund sees global growth slowing “only slightly this year and next”, with all signs pointing to “a world economy that has generally withstood acute strains from multiple shocks”.
This was the result of a private sector that has proven more adaptable than expected to the new trade order, while the impact of tariffs has been less severe than initially feared when Trump announced his “liberation day” package of levies in April. Financial conditions have remained supportive because of skyrocketing equities.
The US trade-weighted tariff rate has fallen from 23 per cent in April to 17.5 per cent now, the IMF calculates. US GDP increased at an annualised rate of 3.8 per cent in the three months to the end of June.
But Georgieva voiced concerns about risk factors including the potential for a sharp correction in equity markets as the AI boom pushes valuations towards dotcom bubble levels.
“Financial markets, which were initially spooked by America’s erratic trade policies, are forging ahead, with equity indices across the world scaling new highs even as growth prospects weaken,” said Prasad.
“Policymakers need to use this time of relative calm to push forward with reforms and disciplined policies that will improve their economies’ resilience in the face of greater volatility engendered by the breakdown of the rules-based order,” he added.
Underscoring the threats to growth, the Tiger index revealed persistently moribund household and business confidence readings in advanced economies, even as sentiment remains above longer-term averages in emerging markets.
While global economic activity has continued to trend higher, the research highlighted early signs of a slowdown in US indicators, alongside a sluggish performance in China.
“The US economic expansion is losing steam as the Trump administration’s erratic trade policies, harsh attitudes towards immigration, and cuts in social expenditures take a toll on growth and employment,” said Prasad.
“While the probability of a recession remains low, aggregate indicators have thus far masked manufacturing sector weakness and the labour market looks less robust than it had appeared just a couple of months ago.”
Indicators for the Eurozone signal lukewarm prospects, he added, with Germany facing the potential for a third consecutive year of contraction and France grappling with an ongoing political crisis that has shaken faith in its public finances.
Growth in real activity in the UK has remained positive but the prospect of another tough Budget from chancellor Rachel Reeves on November 26 is weighing on sentiment. UK GDP growth slowed to just 0.2 per cent in the three months to July, while inflation — at 3.8 per cent in August — has remained well above the Bank of England’s 2 per cent target.
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Hassan Bourgi, co‑founder and chief executive of Djamo, is wrestling with a strategic choice. His company has become one of the leading credit card issuers in francophone Africa, but competition is intensifying.
Bourgi’s options are: double down on Djamo’s core Ivory Coast market to strengthen its position before expanding regionally; accelerate its entry into Senegal, Burkina Faso and Cameroon to capture first‑mover advantage; or launch new financial products such as micro‑lending, which could increase revenues but raise regulatory and credit‑risk concerns.
Choosing the wrong trade-offs could slow momentum in a market that is finally attracting global fintech interest.
After completing his master in management at Eada in Barcelona and later building and selling his successful start-up Busportal in Peru, Bourgi had returned to Ivory Coast in 2019. Here he found a banking system still designed for the few — more than 120mn adults across francophone Africa were unbanked or underbanked. Six years later, Bourgi and his business partner, Régis Bamba, had turned Djamo into the region’s largest card issuer, with more than 750,000 users and $4.5bn in transactions processed.
Hassan Bourgi, left, and Régis Bamba of Djamo, which offers banking to francophone Africa
The region remains one of the least banked in the world. Fewer than a quarter of adults in francophone Africa hold a formal bank account, compared with more than 60 per cent in anglophone African countries. Yet mobile phone penetration exceeds 80 per cent and mobile money adoption has surged, creating a digital-first consumer base without traditional banking infrastructure.
For decades, banks focused on high‑income customers in urban centres, leaving younger and lower‑income populations to rely on cash or informal savings schemes. This created a vacuum that mobile money providers such as Orange Money and Wave partially filled.
The authors
Jordi Díaz is dean of Eada Business School; Daphne Halkias is dean of doctoral programmes at EIM — European Institute of Management; and Tatiana Harkiolakis is a research fellow at Ecole des Ponts ParisTech. They are co-authors of Digital Entrepreneurship and Disruptive Innovation (Routledge, 2025)
But for now, their role is largely limited to handling transactions, with little progress towards offering wider banking services. “People are not looking for a bank branch,” says Bourgi. “They are looking for a financial experience that fits in their pocket.”
Djamo — “hello” in an Ivorian dialect — launched with a simple but powerful proposition: an app‑based account designed to work on low-cost smartphones, linked to a Visa card with no maintenance fees. From the outset, the company prioritised two things traditional banks often underestimate: user experience and trust.
Unlike competitors that rely on third‑party logistics, Djamo built its own delivery network to hand customers their first card in person. This solved the “last mile” challenge and gave a human face to a digital journey. Word of mouth spread quickly. Within 18 months, the company scaled from 90,000 to 750,000 users, processing transactions worth billions of dollars.
Its success caught the eye of investors. Acceptance into Y Combinator — the Silicon Valley accelerator behind Stripe and Coinbase — validated Djamo’s model. In 2022 it raised $14mn in Series A funding, one of the largest amounts for a francophone African start-up. The money has been used to expand its engineering team and accelerate regional growth.
The company has since added savings, bill payments and peer‑to‑peer transfers, positioning itself not just as a card issuer but a financial platform, building the foundations of a “super‑app” for financial services.
Djamo’s rise has not gone unnoticed. Regional banks have reacted, creating digital divisions and mobile money providers have expanded their products. Wave, a Senegal‑based payments unicorn, is a powerful competitor.
Djamo’s journey is emblematic of a broader shift in African fintech to solutions that reflect local realities
Djamo remains focused, targeting millions of “bank‑ready” customers such as salaried workers, freelancers and young professionals who have outgrown mobile money but remain excluded from traditional banking. “The first step is to win the middle,” says Bourgi. “Once we have their trust, we can move further down the pyramid.”
His strategy is not without risk. Regulatory frameworks remain fragmented, and infrastructure gaps — from limited credit bureaus to uneven internet coverage — constrain growth. But Djamo’s model, which blends scale with local execution, offers a blueprint for navigating these limitations.
The bigger question is whether the company can become for francophone Africa what M‑Pesa is for anglophone Kenya: an indispensable financial layer woven into daily life. To do so, it will need to expand beyond Ivory Coast into other core markets such as Senegal, Burkina Faso and Cameroon while maintaining its focus on product simplicity and customer trust.
The next frontier may be lending. With transaction data from hundreds of thousands of users, Djamo is in a strong position to underwrite small, short‑term loans — a move that could significantly deepen financial inclusion.
Djamo’s journey is emblematic of a broader shift in African fintech to solutions that reflect local realities. Its story underscores a lesson that many investors and incumbents are now learning: financial innovation in Africa will not come from importing western banking models, but from reimagining what finance looks like when built for the unbanked first.
If it succeeds, Djamo will be more than a fintech success story. It will show that francophone Africa, long overlooked in global finance, can serve as a proving ground for some of the most radical experiments in digital banking anywhere in the world. “We are not here to digitise the old system,” Bourgi says. “We are here to build a new one.”
Now consider . . .
What factors explain the historical under‑representation of francophone Africa in global fintech investment?
How should traditional banks respond to the rise of players like Djamo — through competition, collaboration or acquisition?
Should Bourgi go “deep” and secure his hold on the Ivory Coast market, go “wide” and expand into neighbouring markets or go “lateral” and diversify Djamo’s product portfolio?
Could Djamo become the Revolut of francophone Africa — a fintech growing into a full digital bank — or does its context demand a different playbook?
How should regulators support innovation while ensuring financial stability and consumer protection?
Beijing’s new export controls on rare earths go well beyond restricting access to a critical technology input, according to a former White House advisor.
On Thursday, China’s commerce ministry said that starting on Dec. 1 a license will be required for foreign companies to export products with more than 0.1% of rare earths from China or that are made with Chinese production technology.
That prompted President Donald Trump to announce Friday that he will impose an additional 100% tariff on China and limit U.S. exports of software. But while it seemed like the latest tit-for-tat exchange in the U.S.-China trade war, there’s much more at stake.
“We should not miss the fundamental point on rare earths: China has crafted a policy that gives it the power to forbid any country on Earth from participating in the modern economy,” Dean Ball, who served as a senior advisor in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy earlier this year, wrote on X on Saturday.
“They can do this because they diligently built industrial capacity no one else had the fortitude to build. They were willing to tolerate costs—financial and environmental and otherwise—to do it. Now the rest of the world must do the same.”
China has a stranglehold on rare earths, producing more than 90% of the world’s processed rare earths and rare earth magnets. They are used across industries, from the tech sector to automakers and defense contractors.
They are so critical that U.S. car companies have curbed production due to rare earth shortages as China has leveraged the supply to counter Trump’s tariffs.
While ongoing talks between Washington and Beijing had eased access somewhat, trade tensions were simmering ahead of the latest flare-up on Friday.
For example, the U.S. moved to restrict other countries’ exports of semiconductor-related products to China. And this past week, the U.S. announced port fees on Chinese ships, prompting Beijing to impose a similar fee on U.S. ships docking at Chinese ports. China also launched an antitrust investigation into U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm.
“In other words, the United States can cut China off from the chips of today, but China can make it vastly harder to build the chips and other advanced technologies of tomorrow,” Michael Froman, president of the Council on Foreign Relations and a former U.S. Trade Representative, said in a Substack post on Friday.
Economist Robin Brooks, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, observed that markets expect Trump’s new China tariff threat will backfire on the U.S.
But he rejected the idea that China has the upper hand over the U.S., saying in a post on Sunday that its exporters are suffering steep drops in profits due to Trump’s tariffs.
“This means that China may be using rare earths to escalate the stand-off with the US because it has no other choice,” Brooks explained. “The hit to its export sector is just too considerable, making it necessary to raise the stakes in an effort to bring US tariffs down.”
For its part, Beijing remained defiant, with the commerce ministry saying Sunday that China doesn’t want a tariff war but is also not afraid of one. It also said the export controls are not a ban on rare earth shipments but are a sovereign right.
Former White House advisor Ball, who is now a senior fellow at the Foundation for American Innovation, said China’s strict rare earth controls represent an opportunity for the rest of the world to build a new supply chain that can withstand weaponization by any one country.
“Always remember that supply is elastic,” he added. “If our lives depend on it, we can surmount many challenges far faster than the policy planners in Beijing, Brussels, and Washington realize.”
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The global economy has proven surprisingly resilient, but cracks in the foundation are beginning to appear. The October 2025 update of the Brookings-FT TIGER (Tracking Indexes for the Global Economic Recovery) reveals an economic landscape that looks benign but remains unsettled, with household and business confidence weighed down by trade policy uncertainty, political upheaval in many countries, and geopolitical volatility.
Advanced economies are grappling with rising debt burdens, aging populations, and political gridlock. Emerging market economies have been helped in part by a weaker dollar that has alleviated financing pressures but are showing signs of strain. Protectionist tendencies triggered by the Trump tariffs are rippling through labor markets and dampening consumer demand around the world, compounding structural weaknesses in trade-dependent economies. Meanwhile, financial markets, which were initially spooked by America’s erratic trade policies, are forging ahead, with equity indexes across the world scaling new highs even as growth prospects weaken.
Select a country below the Composite Index to view charts for the main TIGER indexes by country and charts for the indicators that make up the indexes, which are broken down by real activity, financial, and confidence indicators for advanced economies and emerging markets.
The U.S. economic expansion is losing steam as the Trump administration’s erratic trade policies, harsh attitudes toward immigration, and cuts in social expenditures take a toll on growth and employment. Equity markets have forged ahead, bolstered by exuberance about productivity and other benefits of artificial intelligence (AI). While the probability of a recession remains low, aggregate indicators have thus far masked manufacturing sector weakness and the labor market looks less robust than it had appeared just a couple of months ago. Inflation has remained in check, but that is changing as companies reach the limits of their ability to absorb tariffs and pass on the costs to consumers. The Fed’s room for maneuver is becoming increasingly constrained by an uptick in inflation, a weakening labor market, and explicit political pressures to cut policy rates.
The core eurozone economies are floundering. Germany is facing a potential third consecutive year of economic contraction as it remains beset by loss of manufacturing competitiveness and skill shortages. A revival of industrial production has done little to reverse the decline in job numbers or boost private spending. France is on the brink of a fiscal crisis driven by excessive public spending, with political turmoil impeding meaningful reforms essential for a recovery. The economies of Southern Europe, especially Italy, Spain, and Greece, have seen their reversals of fortune continue, with improved fiscal positions as well as robust service sector expansion and wage growth.
Growth in the United Kingdom has flatlined as the beleaguered Labour government struggles to manage the high cost of living and a failing public services infrastructure, which have contributed to low levels of confidence. In Japan, rising inflation has prompted a hawkish shift on monetary policy, although the Bank of Japan has to navigate around the dangers that the decline in global demand and an uncertain tariff landscape pose to the country’s export-oriented economy. South Korea is confronting weakness in domestic household demand and its export growth could be dented if high tariffs hit its automobile and chip exports.
The Chinese economy has maintained stable aggregate growth but that expansion has become increasingly unbalanced. Weak household demand and cutthroat corporate competition have resulted in persistent deflationary pressures, even as exports to non-U.S. markets have continued to grow rapidly. The government’s “anti-involution” drive to restrain competition that is destructive to corporate profits has not been accompanied either by policy stimulus or reforms to boost consumption demand. Nevertheless, along with measures to increase retail investor participation in stock markets and the confidence boost from China’s AI boom, it has led to a sharp rally in equity prices. The housing market continues to unravel and remains a drag on private sector confidence.
India’s economy continues to post strong growth, driven by a resilient urban consumer base and high levels of manufacturing investment. Falling inflation and disciplined fiscal policy have created room for monetary easing if needed to support growth. The challenge of creating jobs for its young and expanding workforce is being intensified by an uncertain trade landscape, particularly as the U.S.-India economic relationship has turned unexpectedly rocky. This development has also dimmed India’s luster as a destination for foreign investors.
Soaring military outlays and falling energy prices have dampened Russia’s growth prospects, following several years in which the economy had successfully weathered Western sanctions. Emerging markets in Latin America continue to contend with low growth and large current account deficits. Brazil’s economy is slowing, held back by lower household consumption and falling investment. Mexico has fared better, with resilient exports and easing inflation supporting modest expansion, though weak investment and exposure to US tariff risks have tempered growth momentum.
Economic growth has been surprisingly stable in most corners of the world, despite enormous uncertainty in global trade and geopolitics, as well as various short-term and looming long-term pressures that each economy faces. As growth slows even moderately, structural issues that have been simmering under the surface will become increasingly apparent and difficult to ignore. The divergence between growth prospects and equity market performance suggests a more benign outlook, perhaps buoyed by the transformative potential of AI and the hope of less uncertainty in the trade landscape, even if tariff barriers settle at a higher level than in the pre-Trump period. Policymakers need to use this time of relative calm to push forward with reforms and disciplined policies that will improve their economies’ resilience in the face of greater volatility engendered by the breakdown of the rules-based order.
The leaders of Scotland’s five main political parties have called for STV to abandon plans to scrap its separate news service for the north.
In a highly unusual move, the SNP, Scottish Conservatives, Scottish Labour, Scottish Liberal Democrats and the Scottish Greens united to sign a letter to TV watchdog Ofcom condemning the proposal.
STV wants to stop producing a separate news service from Aberdeen for the former Grampian TV region.
Ofcom is expected to start a consultation on whether to allow this shortly.
The letter was written by Russell Borthwick, chief executive of Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce.
It has been signed by First Minister John Swinney, Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton and Ross Greer, co-leader of the Scottish Greens.
Mr Borthwick’s letter said: “This planned change – replacing dedicated northern coverage with a single pan-Scotland bulletin – is of grave concern to businesses, communities and elected representatives across the region.
“It risks depriving a major economic and cultural area of Scotland of the representation it requires and deserves.”
It also highlighted the north of Scotland’s “pivotal role in the nation’s success”.
The letter continued: “It is home to world-leading industries in energy, food and drink, tourism and technology, and its communities contribute enormously to Scotland’s economy and society.
“It is therefore essential that the issues, achievements and challenges of this region continue to receive proportionate airtime and coverage.
“We believe STV’s proposed reduction in regional output is inconsistent with the principles of public service broadcasting and risks materially disadvantaging audiences across the country, most acutely in the north.”
Scottish Parliament
STV chief executive Rufus Radcliffe appeared before Holyrood’s culture committee last week
The letter warned the move would “weaken the diversity and plurality of Scotland’s media landscape”.
It concluded: “We therefore urge Ofcom to use its regulatory powers to review, and ultimately block, this proposed change.”
STV announced the plan to scrap separate news programmes for the north just over two weeks ago.
Instead it would show one programme, presented from Glasgow, across both central and northern Scotland.
However news teams would still be based in Aberdeen, Dundee and Inverness.
It is part of a wider plan to try to save £2.5m across the business.
Advertising revenue and commissions to make programmes for other broadcasters is down.
The company lost £200,000 before tax in the first six months of the year although it is expected to be profitable over the year as a whole.
Its share price collapsed after a profits warning in July and the business is now worth just over £50m on the stock market.
Falling audiences
The company plans to cut around 60 jobs, including about 30 in news.
A search for volunteers for redundancy was due to end on Friday.
In a tense session at Holyrood’s culture committee last week, STV’s chief executive Rufus Radcliffe and divisional managing director Bobby Hain explained their proposals and the thinking behind them.
They noted the continuing fall in the audience for TV news programmes – a challenge across the industry – and the changing way in which the public consumes news with growing numbers looking online.
The company insists its proposals will create a TV news service that is both sustainable and affordable.
The Scottish government has no power over broadcasting which is reserved to the UK government.
It is instead up to the communications regulator Ofcom to decide whether to allow the necessary changes to STV’s broadcasting licence.
Its consultation is expected to begin soon.
STV said Ofcom had indicated that a four-week consultation may be possible but unions have called for a longer consultation process to allow a fuller examination of the issues.
