PledgeMe seeks $250,000 investment

Crowdfunding platform PledgeMe is seeking $250,000 in investment as it launches its second round of equity crowdfunding.

The platform has seen massive growth since its last equity round in November last year, according to Anna Guenther, PledgeMe chief executive.

"On the back of our growth in the past eight months, we're looking to grow crowdfunding even further with the help of our crowd," Guenther says.

"PledgeMe has gone from a total of $2.8 million pledged, before we equity crowdfunded to over $6.6 million in just seven months.

"We've grown our team, grown our revenue, and grown our user base with more and more people coming into our crowd," she says.

Guenther says crowdfunding is growing in New Zealand and internationally, and she says PledgeMe is ready to take advantage of this growth to ensure it remains the busiest crowdfunding platform in New Zealand.

"Our first equity crowdfunding campaign sold out in less than a day and we have a list of nearly 200 eager investors waiting to see the campaign go live," she says.

"This interest is backed up by a solid product in a growing and exciting market.

"This investment round means we'll be able to keep on delivering project and equity campaigns and push for further growth.

Guenther says PledgeMe will be using the investment to keep on delivering on project and equity campaigns and grow the number of campaigns on the platform.

"PledgeMe will be adding product extensions and improvements to make creating campaigns and pledging on them easier," she explains.

"We'll also be looking into new products like a secondary market, crowdlending, and sector specific sub-sites.

"With Australia currently reviewing its securities laws, we're investigating what it would take to set up over the ditch.

PledgeMe is offering between 10.3%–25.6% of the company to raise between $250,000 and $750,000. The minimum investment is $500.

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