Birchal Announces Upcoming Capital Raise As the platform is on track to complete its busiest quarter since 2021

Melbourne, 5 December 2023 - Birchal, Australia's leading crowd sourced funding platform is on track to complete its busiest quarter ever, with 25 successful campaigns so far. Birchal improves the flow of capital to early-stage businesses and has unleashed over $190 million of investment into the Australian startup ecosystem in the last 5 years. 

Despite challenging funding conditions, sustainable surf brand, Boardsox, recently became the 25th campaign Birchal has funded this quarter, marking a 32% increase on activity (when compared to this time last year). Belles Hot Chicken is also storming home with approximately $420k of its $500k target to push it to 26! 

Birchal is pleased to announce its upcoming capital raise, marking a significant stride in its journey towards expanding the crowdfunding sector in Australia, with expressions of interest opened on Tuesday, 28 November 2023.

Birchal's raise comes at a pivotal time where there is a great need to support alternative funding solutions in the Australian startup ecosystem. 

It has been a challenging time for issuers and growth businesses looking to raise capital. "Our experience over the last 12 months has reinforced that our platform and our investor community is proving to be a resilient source of capital for our issuer clients, affirming our purpose and mission." said Matt Vitale, Birchal Co-Founder and CEO.

Despite challenging equity market conditions throughout 2023, Birchal has continued to demonstrate remarkable resilience and steadfast performance. In FY23, Birchal has:

• enhanced its market share to a greater than 70% share of funding volume, even in the face of several new entrants; and
• hosted 57 successful CSF offers, notably the same number of ASX IPOs in FY23.

"Our community has grown over 40% in the last 12 months. Despite tough household conditions with higher interest rates and cost of living pressures, our community continues to lean-in and support their favourite businesses and brands." said Vitale.

"This is what we do. We had such huge success in 2022 raising funds on our own platform in record breaking time that it seemed only natural to involve our supportive community," said Vitale.

This upcoming capital raise primarily aims to fund operations into the new year, as Birchal sets its sights on scaling Crowd-Sourced Funding (CSF) volumes, which on Birchal have remained around $50 million annually over 2021, 2022, and 2023.

Birchal's previous capital raise in April 2022 was a testament to the company's robust position in the market, achieving its maximum target of $3 million in approximately two hours. This impressive feat underscored the strong investor confidence and the compelling value proposition that Birchal offers. 

As Birchal focuses on growth and continues to support the wider industry, Kellie Morton, Chief Legal Officer and Director at Birchal has also been appointed to the FinTech Australia board. Board members are selected from the ecosystem to help govern the peak body's decision making. 

Looking ahead, Birchal is optimistic about the growth potential of the Australian CSF market. Drawing parallels from the UK's mature equity crowdfunding sector, and recently published research of Professor Andrew Schwartz, Birchal believes the Australian market could burgeon to approximately $700 million. This projection is not only a reflection of the market's potential but also underscores Birchal's commitment to spearheading the evolution of equity crowdfunding in Australia.

"Our ambition is to emulate the success of Australian-grown digital marketplaces and create the primary destination for founders to tell stories, build communities, and raise capital online. Just as browsing technology enabled the creation of dominant digital marketplace businesses like REA Group, Carsales and Seek in the late 90s; we believe the liberalisation of Australia's securities laws through the CSF regime in 2018 will in time be regarded as the watershed moment that enabled Birchal to build the digital marketplace for startups and SMEs." says Vitale.

The capital raise will play a crucial role in further cementing Birchal's position as a market leader and innovator in the CSF industry. It will enable the company to continue its mission of empowering a diverse range of businesses and investors, democratising access to capital, and fostering a culture of inclusive and sustainable investment.

Interested parties are invited to participate in the EOI campaign, which is the first step towards being a part of this exciting phase in Birchal's growth story. This capital raise is more than just a financial milestone; it is an opportunity for investors to align with a company that is reshaping the landscape of equity crowdfunding and contributing to the broader economic growth of Australia.

For more information about the EOI campaign and the upcoming capital raise, please visit www.birchal.com.

Birchal's top 5 campaigns in 2023

• Cannaponics raised $5m from 2,771 investors in May 2023
• Medigrowth raised $3.5m from 2,047 investors in August 2023
• Naked Life Spirits raised $3m from 935 investors in July 2023
• Old Young's raised $2.7m from 855 investors in March 2023
• Philter Brewing raised $2.2m from 1,296 investors in November 2023

Exits and successes for CSF-funded companies

• Montu Group, which has raised $5.5m through the CSF regime across two Birchal offers ($2m in 2020 and $3.5m in 2021), has potentially achieved the greatest success of any Birchal-funded company. Montu recently became the first company ever to win first place in Deloitte's Technology Fast 50 back to back, with over 9000% revenue growth in FY23. Montu recently reported to shareholders preliminary revenues of $98m (with profit margin of 7% before tax) in FY23, from approximately $100k in FY20, reported at the time of their first CSF offer.

• Biome Australia Limited, became the first CSF-funded company to list on the ASX (ASX: BIO) in November 2021. Recently, two further companies having completed successful CSF offers on the Birchal platform, have announced their plans to list on securities exchanges: Line Hydrogen plans to list on the LSE; and Alta are working towards listing on a US exchange, both expected imminently.

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Media Contact

For interview requests, imagery or additional information, please contact:

Melissa Grove

Mobile:    +61 410 401 363

Email:     melissa@birchal.com 

ABOUT BIRCHAL 

Birchal is Australia's leading crowd-sourced investment platform, with 70% of crowd investment taking place on our platform. As one of the first seven issued a licence from ASIC in 2018 to operate as a crowd-sourced funding intermediary, we've raised over $190 million for Australian startups and SMEs across more than 240 successful CSF offers from over 110 thousand investments.