PledgeMe’s second equity round hits goal

PledgeMe’s second equity round hits goal

PledgeMe met the minimum goal for its second round of equity crowdfunding, securing the company at least $250,000 of investment last night.

“We are extremely happy to be able to grow crowdfunding in New Zealand with the help of our crowd,” PledgeMe CEO Anna Guenther said.

“This investment means we’ll be able to support more project and equity campaigns and push for further growth.

“With 10 days still to run, we’re hoping that by hitting our minimum goal we will have even more of our crowd come onboard and invest.

“It’s exciting that we’re going to be able to help even more Kiwis fund the things they care about.”

Ms Guenther said further investment over its minimum goal would allow PledgeMe to grow faster.

“PledgeMe has already seen massive growth since our first equity crowdfunding round late last year.

“PledgeMe has gone from a total of $2.8 million pledged, before we equity crowdfunded, to over $7 million in just seven months.

“We’ve grown our team, grown our revenue, and grown our user base with more and more people aware of crowdfunding as a viable option in New Zealand.

“PledgeMe has a detailed plan for how further funding will allow us develop the platform and grow crowdfunding even further.

“Further funding will also mean we can properly investigate further products like crowdlending and look to expanding our equity crowdfunding service to Australia and support the discussions around their legislation changes.”

PledgeMe’s campaign will close at either 10 PM on Friday 24 July or when its maximum of $750,000 is reached.

PledgeMe’s campaign is online at https://www.pledgeme.co.nz/investments/147-pledgeme-limited

For full details of the raise please read PledgeMe’s business plan which is available here.

The campaign so far
• 9 shareholders with Founder class shares.
• 50 investors in the first round.
• 83 investors (so far) in second round.
• 76 of these are new shareholders.
• 10 more days to invest.
• $750,000 funding cap.

In the past six months PledgeMe has
1) Started showing signs of real growth:
• More than 50,000 pledges through the platform (projects and equity crowdfunding)
• Doubled the amount pledged through the platform. In the 2.5 years from mid-2012 to November 2015, we had $2.8 million pledged through the platform. In the 7 months since then, a further $3.8 million has been pledged through the platform
• Optimised the site for mobile so the platform is easy for all Kiwis to access from anywhere anytime.

2) Achieved early-stage validation of the equity crowdfunding platform:
• Launched 14 equity campaigns, with 9 successful and 4 that hit their maximum goals, more than any other equity crowdfunding platform in NZ
• $2.5 million pledged to successful equity campaigns to date
• Yeastie Boys raised half a mil in half an hour

3) Built more than a physical technology, we've created a cultural technology, a supportive community and a great team:
• Completed a successful equity crowdfunding campaign through PledgeMe, raising $100,000 in 23 hours
• Ran "Pitch Kitchens" throughout the country for each equity crowdfunding campaign, giving the companies we work with collaborative feedback and support from creative, business and subject matter experts
• Gown our day-to-day team from 3 to 7 people (1.5 full time to 3.2 full time)
• Used its connections to build up a solid pipeline of companies that are interested in crowdfunding through our platform
• Created educational guides which we have published, and an educational plan that we will implement over the next 6 months

ENDS

© Scoop Media