Crowdfunding a Crowdfunder

PledgeMe, a New Zealand based crowdfunder, has launched an equity crowdfunding campaign on its own site to fundraise for itself.

Anna Guenther, PledgeMe CEO, commented:

“PledgeMe is crowdfunding crowdfunding. By engaging our crowd of supporters, building out our core team, and making the site more accessible, we’ll be able to grow — and simultaneously grow New Zealand’s vibrant crowdfunding scene.”

PledgeMe was the first crowdfunding platform to open in New Zealand. It has successfully raised over $3 million for 708 projects in two years.

Anna Guenther added:

“PledgeMe has a unique position in the New Zealand crowdfunding market. We were the first project crowdfunding platform and one of the first companies to start equity crowdfunding. We are the only company doing both.

“We’ve proven there is a strong demand and growing market for crowdfunding in New Zealand. On the back of our trusted and growing brand, we offer both a potential return on investment as well as some pretty cool rewards.”

PledgeMe is aiming to raise up to $100,000 by selling about 15% of the company. People are able to buy into the company for just $20 a share, which makes it an affordable offering. PledgeMe hopes this will allow it to appeal to a wide range of investors, but also to people who have used the site to raise money.

In fact the PledgeMe campaign was so successful that it raised the required $100,000 in less than 24 hours. It is not uncommon to see equity crowdfunders raising money in this way. This week A Patch of Land (a real estate crowdfunding platform) launched an equity crowdfunding campaign on SeedInvest to fund a $2.5 million seed round. Previously in the UK we've seen Crowdcube raise £1.2 million in just 16 minutes by making use of its own market-leading platform.