PledgeMe Limited

By Anna Guenther

PledgeMe.Investment

Technology,



NZ $365,820 pledged


137 people pledged


Closed


NZ $250,000 minimum target


Min

NZ$250,000

Max

NZ$750,000

100 100% Complete

This campaign was successful and closed on 24/07/2015 at 10:00 PM.

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About

PledgeMe Limited

PledgeMe is New Zealand’s crowdfunding site. We help Kiwis fund the things they care about.

We are a band of change makers, do gooders, and get shit done-ers. Instead of musical instruments, we have computers and The Internet. Our impact in the world is bigger than dollars and cents. But we do know how to rock the mic.

In 2012, PledgeMe started as a way to help musicians and artists fund their projects. Since then it has grown into the way Kiwis — from companies to community groups — go out to their crowds so they can fund the things they care about. PledgeMe is the only combined equity and project crowdfunding platform in New Zealand, and one of the few in the world.

 

The problem

Funding decisions are often made by people who aren’t directly related to the campaign they are funding. This causes a dissonance because of the distance between the decision maker and the folk affected. There is also a perceived lack of funding for many sectors: everything from creative endeavours to community projects to starting up and growing companies.

PledgeMe is helping change that.

Per year, approximately 20% of companies that pitch to Angels in New Zealand get funded, and 21% of creative grant applications. This only covers companies or projects that go down the traditional funding route, many might not fit in those funding models.

 

The solution

PledgeMe offers a solution to this problem. We not only provide a way for individuals, groups, charities, and companies to fund things that might not ordinarily be able to get funded, but also help companies and organisations who understand the benefit of having a crowd funding them (over a handful of large funders). Our success rate is 70% for companies, and 50% success rate for projects.

PledgeMe is growing this niche. Since 2012, we have had over $6.5 million pledged. What started as a thesis and passion project has turned into a company that employs seven staff across New Zealand and has helped over 840 successful campaigns (by the time we post this online the data point will already be out of date).

We don’t want to stop here.

With our investors help last year we doubled how much had been pledged through the platform (what previously took 2.5 years in just 6 months).

We want to do that again (and more).

Our success rate for projects is at the 50% mark, and equity campaigns at the 70% mark. The average raise for a project is $3,000 - 5,000 and for equity campaigns is around $260,000.

 

The Share Offer

We are looking to raise a minimum of $250,000, and up to $750,000. The shares on offer are investor class shares in PledgeMe Limited. These are voting shares. You can read more about the rights attached to investor class shares in our constitution.

We are valuing our company at $2.1million pre-money, which equates to $60 per share. This is based on the same valuation methodology as our last round (5 times projected revenue for the current year).

 

PledgeMe shareholding

This table shows our shareholding pre and post offer if fully subscribed.

Note: We are issuing shares to all of our directors and employees who have been working with PledgeMe over the last year to get the equity platform up and running. Any increase in shareholding of our directors noted in the table above is due to the issue of these shares. 



About our Team

Our team has grown over the past 6 months, from 3 employees and 3 external board members to 7 employees (and the same 3 external board members).

We are looking to grow the team further over the next 6 months to include more skills sets and to cover more of New Zealand.

 

 

Anna Guenther, CEO/Chief Bubble Blower. Anna, our CEO and co-founder, sounds American but she’s definitely a Kiwi. If pushed, she’ll say she’s technically from Dunedin, but will later admit she grew up in Boston. She completed her Masters with a focus on crowdfunding and has worked for everyone from NZTE to MIT (and all the acronyms in between). She’s a keen advocate of getting more women into tech and governance, and has been known to wear her onesie to work on Wednesdays.

 

 

Jackson James Wood, Chief Media Wrangler. Jackson has a way with words and quite often likes to put them in the right order punctuated with all the squiggles and dots in the correct places. He also likes communicating in a multitude of ways from talking to tweeting.

 

Will Stewart, Equity Champion. Will Stewart heads up our Auckland presence and oversees PledgeMe Equity (though he’s always keen to chat about anything crowdfunding.) Will is a Vancouver transplant with a background in project management on both sides of the Pacific. He understands the entrepreneurship hustle having started companies in Canada and New Zealand and recently complemented this with a Masters degree at Otago’s Business School.

 

Lana Vaughan, Chief Xero Officer . Lana looks after our finances. She does everything from cashflow management, budgeting, forecasting and reporting to helping our campaign creators before they launch. Lana’s background is in business and financial management, and when she’s not hanging with us she’s working with other kiwi startups.

 

Rory Harnden, Chief Design Awesome-iser . Rory is the man behind the PledgeMe pug. He’s in charge of creating beautiful new designs, taking photos, making us badges, and creating visually pleasing material for our crowd.

 

Tash 2.0, Wrangler Extraordinaire. Our newest addition to the team (after our dear Jen departed to more feminist comedian pastures), Tash brings a wealth of experience in wrangling amazing people at Webstock, running her own knitting business, and giving UI feedback like a boss. She helps all of our project campaign creators through the process of project crowdfunding.

 

Jessie Fenton, Wunderkid. Jessie is PledgeMe’s indefatigable intern. She does a lot of the social media and blogging for us and she’s currently studying law and film. We hope she will make us some legal films at some point.

 

Rabid Technologies Limited. We have partnered with Rabid Technologies to provide our technology, and their rocking team includes Breccan McLeod Lundy, Josh Forde, Megan Bowra-Dean, Josh McArthur, and Pepper Curry (as well as many other awesome helpers along the way).

 

Nick Lewis, Chair of the Board . Nick is an experienced entrepreneur, with a history of work in the investment banking space (from JP Morgan through to co-founding Woodward Investments in New Zealand). He is the Chair of our board, and has supported us pretty much since the beginning.

Anake Goodall, Board Member. Anake has a strong background in both the public and private sector, and is currently on the Board of Meridian and the Akina Foundation. During his time as CEO of Ngai Tahu, he developed an intergenerational asset allocation programme around the $700million portfolio. He’s also a lovely lovely man.

 

Breccan McLeod-Lundy, Board Member. Breccan provides technology expertise to our board, and is cofounder and director of our tech partner Rabid Technologies Limited. He is a solutions architect, excited about developing the next level of crowdfunding could be, and has a beautifully analytical brain.

 

Our shareholders. We have 59 awesome shareholders. They range from folk we’ve known forever to people we only met after our equity campaign closed. But, we count them as part of our team because they sanity check us, they support us, and they promote what we do not just because they love it but because they own a piece of it.

 

We currently have four board members - Nick Lewis, Anake Goodall, Anna Guenther
and Breccan McLeod-Lundy. Nick Lewis is our Chairman, and Anake Goodall is our Independent Director. The board meets monthly, with regular communication via Loomio in between. Our Board has a Decision Making Policy which covers a suite of policies that govern Fair Dealing, Decision Making, Marketing and more; you can read most of them here. Our Board is currently not remunerated, but we will evaluate this position annually - with the option to issue shares or pay a fee to board members.

 

 

 

 

What we've done so far

Our designer, Rory, made us this timeline of what we've been up to the past three years:

 

Highlights from PledgeMe's last six months alone

1) The crowdfunding platform on the whole is starting to show 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

  • Now mobile optimised so that the platform is easy for all Kiwis to access from anywhere


 

2) Achieved early-stage validation of the equity crowdfunding platform:

  • Launched 14 equity campaigns, with 9 successful and 4 that hit their maximum goals.
  • $2.5 million pledged to successful equity campaigns to date
  • Yeastie Boys raised half a mil in half an hour


 


3) We've built more than a physical technology, we've created a cultural technology, a supportive community and a great team:

  • Completed our own 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

  • We've grown our day-to-day team from 3 to 7 people (1.5 full time to 3.2 full time)

  • We've used our connections to build up a solid pipeline of companies that are interested in crowdfunding through our platform

  • We've created educational guides which we have published, and an educational plan that we will implement over the next 6 months


We’ve built more than a physical technology, we’ve built a cultural technology, a supportive community and a great team.
 


 

What's next?

1. Keep on delivering project and equity campaigns, and keep on growing.

2. Product — other product extensions and user experience, that could include:

  • More support around shareholder communication
  • New subsites under the existing brand, focussing on specific niches or licensing our technology.
  • Crowdlending (specifically to companies and organisations)
  • Secondary Market for equity campaigns
  • Direct debit for regular pledgers and streamline our payment flow
  • Private crowdfunding
  • Remove login requirements for project pledging

3. Markets — look at Australia, and other markets currently looking at changing securities laws. We’ve already had some great coverage in the Australian Financial Review.

 

 

Risks and Challenges

Risk

Mitigation

Loss of key staff

Over the 6 months, Anna has been offloading more and more of her role. We’ve got extensive documentation, and our team can jump in where needed in most instances. So, if Anna was hit by a bus tomorrow it wouldn’t be as bad as it once was. 

Ability to hit projections

Projections are really a dark art, and are rarely hit. Last financial year, we were 10 days off hitting our financial forecast (with two equity raises closing early April 2015). We want our projections to stretch us, while being just within reach of being achievable. The biggest barrier to hitting our projections will be our ability to secure the team required to manage our growth.

Cash flow

Cash flow is a constant worry for any start up. We are trying to mitigate that by raising a longer runway this round, and by being very focussed on getting more successful campaigns through to fund growth as well.

Crowded market place

Competition is good, because it keeps us on our toes. We need to be clear on our points of differentiation, and do the best we can by our customers.

Our brand

As Sheryl Sandberg says, lean in. We don’t want to be like the other players. We want to dominate the niche of business where companies get pledgers on board that want to support them for so many more reasons than just purely financial. That does mean we’re not the right fit for every company, but it does mean we get to play with the companies who have their own crowds of supporters.



Updates 7

You need to pledge to see this update.

Thank you + next steps

27/07/2015 at 6:29 PM

This is the final update from me, Kat. I’m passing the campaign back to the PledgeMe team who are well into verifying all of you with the details you provided when you registered (ah, AML!) and touching base with those of you that chose to pay via credit card. They also have said: thanks you to all the folk that were previously verified and  have already sent your payment through! We’ve noted the need to change the wording to 2 working days :)

If you didn’t see, Rory made you a cake to say how much you mean to the PledgeMe team:

Anna and the team will be in touch late next week with the updated share register and to get you into the shareholders portal. 

In the meantime, if you do know anyone who should apply for their Chief Tech Wrangler role, here’s the job description again: http://blog.pledgeme.co.nz/wanted-one-chief-tech-wrangler/ 

Take care,

Kat

It’s the final countdown

24/07/2015 at 2:19 PM

Dear pledgers.

With not long to go, Team PledgeMe (Anna, Jackson, Will, Tash, Jessie, Rory, Lana, Barry, Nick, Breccan, and Anake) would like to pass on their heartfelt thanks for your love, support, and pledges from all 129 (and counting) of you. You’re awesome and the team can’t wait to meet all of you and work with you to grow crowdfunding!

While we’ve been running the campaign we’ve also been working on other things, like gearing up to hire a tech wrangler. We’ve got a good idea of who we want and what we want them to do — but the shape of the role will depend on the kind of people who apply. Here’s the blog on what we’re looking for, and how to apply. Please share with any amazing tech folk you know, and shout out if you have any questions. 

The extra $70k so far is going to go a long way to help the team grow even further with more work on product development happening too. We’ve already got a paper ready to circulate to shareholders about crowdlending next week and we hope that it means we’ll be able to help even more kiwis fund the things they care about soon. Check out our business plan to find out more about the work we’re doing here.

People have been saying nice things about us too!

Brianne, a recent PledgeMe shareholder and successful equity crowdfunder, had this to say. 

 

 

And Bill from Vapour told us why he invested. What lovely people! If you’d like to tell us why you invested flick Jackson an email.

We’re aiming to hit $350,000 pledged before the campaign closes and have a few more people come join the fam. So if you’ve got time this afternoon the team would give you big hugs and high fives if you could please do one final push out to your networks for us. 

Finally, if you’re in Wellington feel free to drop by The Biz Dojo from 5 for a celebration. Jackson, Will, Rory, and Lana will be there with Anna skyping in from Dunedin. BYO drinks.

Thanks again!

💙 🎉 💚 🎉 ❤️

Four days to go!

20/07/2015 at 11:21 AM

Thanks again to everyone who has pledged so far. Together you have pledged over $274,000 to help grow crowdfunding in New Zealand. With four days to go we’d like to get closer towards our cap and bring in even more awesome people into the PledgeMe family.

 

 

How you can help

There are lots of ways you can help us do that.

  • Share your story with us, so we can tell the world. Why did you pledge to invest in us? Drop us a line on [email protected], and a photo, and we’ll blog about you this week. Our crowd is the most important part of this campaign, and we want to talk about you. 
  • Know anyone who has been talking about investing, but who hasn’t yet? Drop them a line and remind them they’ve only got four days left.
  • Share the campaign on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and any other social media platforms you’re on!
  • Send up the Pledge Signal over a town near you! 

 

We’d love to create a bit of noise about the campaign in its final week. So get out there talking about it, about us, and about why you invested and remember to share these stories with us!

 

What we’re doing

PledgeMe HQ has been a hive of activity over the past two weeks. Anna has been to countless events, talks, and coffees with current and potential investors. Will has been talking the talk while he’s walking the walk. Jackson has been banging out communications like there was no tomorrow.

Last Friday we had a team planning session and our monthly board meeting to finalise how we go forward and grow the team after this raise. Later that afternoon we held an investor session for people interested in slicing off a piece of the PledgeMe cake — we even had cake thanks to Intern and Wunderkid Jessie!

 

 

On top of all that we’ve already started work assessing a new crowdlending product (thanks to the indefatigable Barry) and we’ve been working with some large campaigns which are looking to kick off in the next couple of months.

 

Get in touch

Any questions, concerns, comments? Drop us a bell!

Thank you!

14/07/2015 at 2:44 PM

You may have noticed last night that we made it: we hit our minimum funding goal with your help. Apologies for the ‘almost over the line’ update happening when we were already over. It was like the opposite of a false start. Anyway, let’s not dwell — we’re funded!

Thank you all for pledging to our campaign and becoming our newest shareholders on the good ship PledgeMe. TOOT TOOT all aboard!

 

What’s next?

We’re aiming to raise towards our maximum cap of $750,000. The more investment we receive, the quicker we can go, and the more Kiwis we can help fund the things they care about.

We’re going to start verifying all you new folk — there are 76 new shareholders. We just need to make sure you are who you say you are. This means we’ll run your registration details through Cloudcheck, and follow up direct if we need anymore info.

Then, we’ll start processing pledges. Those of you that pledged on your credit card, we will charge you after the official close date. Those that have offered to do a direct deposit you will get the details to start depositing once we’ve verified you.

If you have any questions about the process — do shout out!

Almost over the line!

13/07/2015 at 9:06 PM

Hey Pledgers,

 

Wow, it’s been a rollercoaster 10 days.

 

We’ve been hard at work talking at alltheseevents, getting national media coverage, answering questions, and keeping on keeping on.

 

We’re so thankful to all 79 of you pledgers that have come on board so far. We’re currently sitting at $244,080 pledged - leaving us just $5,920 away from meeting our minimum goal. We can’t wait to pop our party poppers to celebrate getting over the line.

 

If you’d like to come meet us, we’re hosting a meet and greet in the office this Friday (and thank you to those folk that came and met with us in Auckland last week).

 

Thanks so much for believing in us,

 

Team PledgeMe

 

We salute you!

06/07/2015 at 12:12 PM

Hi all soon-to-be-shareholders and those of you who are already shareholders coming back for another bite of the PledgeMe pie,

Team PledgeMe is stoked with all the support you’ve shown so far. There are a lot of familiar names on the pledgers list and, encouragingly, there is a whole bunch of people we haven’t had the pleasure of meeting yet!

To you fifty-four amazing peeps, we salute you. 

 

We can’t wait to have you as part of our wider family, helping us bake this PledgeMe cake into something bigger than the cupcake it is now.

After three days, we’re sitting halfway to our minimum funding goal! It’s so close we can taste it (success that is, the cake is always delicious). And, if you think your crowd should get a bite of the PledgeMe cake, feel free to show some social media love (or not!). 

In the mean time, here are a few of our favourite quotes from you fine folk as to why you’re investing in PledgeMe.

“Proud to be on my way to becoming a shareholder in one of the best companies I've ever come across... you guys are amazing.”

— Stu from Yeastie Boys

 

“PledgeMe helped me take my startup to the next level through crowdfunding, I better return the favour :)”

— Indy Griffiths from Parent Interviews

 

“Awesome work so far! I think I will increase my stake in this fantastic business! Go Anna and team!”

— Raphael Nolden (existing shareholder)

 

“Wahoo! Stoked to be able to support PledgeMe. You're going great stuff!!! I look forward to seeing it grow.”

— Emma McFadyen

And, here’s some coverage we’ve had in the media to-date. This article by Idealog (though, we launched at 9am not 6am!) and NBR (note, it’s paid, and there are some trolls - the NBR is currently free if you're viewing from a mobile device though).

 

<3 <3 

 

Kat (on behalf of Team PledgeMe)

    Details

    Offer Details

    Current Valuation 2,100,000
    Raise Minimum 250,000
    Raise Maximum 750,000
    Share Price 60.00
    Minimum Pledge 500.00
    Maximum Shares Offered 12,500
    Explanation of valuation:

    We are valuing our company at $2.1million pre-money, which equates to $60 per share. This is based on the same valuation methodology as our last round (5 times projected revenue for the current year).


    Shares on offer


    The shares on offer are investor class shares in PledgeMe Limited. These are voting shares. You can read more about the rights attached to investor class shares in our constitution.





    Financial Summary

    Prev Year Current Year Est. FY 2025 Est. FY 2026
    Revenue NZ $88,682 NZ $420,420 NZ $1,022,700 NZ $1,570,000
    Operating Expenses NZ $164,651 NZ $442,231 NZ $661,958 NZ $845,600
    EBITDA -NZ $79,333 -NZ $21,811 NZ $360,742 NZ $724,400
    Net Profit -NZ $57,332 -NZ $71,071 NZ $220,134 NZ $478,368

    Company Details

    Company Name: PledgeMe Limited (registered as PLEDGEME LIMITED)

    Company Number: 3361892

    Companies Office URL: https://www.business.govt.nz/companies/app/ui/pages/companies/3361892

    Incorporation Date: 19 Apr 2011

    Company Status: Registered

    Entity Type: Registered

    Constitution Filed: Yes

    Annual Return Filing Month: March, last filed 23 Mar 2015

    Addresses:

    Registered Office 113 Tory Street
    Te Aro
    Wellington
    Address for Service 113 Tory Street
    Te Aro
    Wellington

    Company Documents

    Documents no longer available to download, as this campaign has closed

    Director Details

    Name Role Profile URL Invested?
    Anna Guenther Director / CEO https://nz.linkedin.com/in/annaguenther
    Nick Lewis Independent Director / Chair https://nz.linkedin.com/in/nicklewiscfa
    Anake Goodall Director https://nz.linkedin.com/in/anakegoodall
    Breccan McLeod-Lundy Director https://nz.linkedin.com/in/breccan

    Questions 10


    Hi There,
    Wanted to know how many currently registered users there are and what the current growth rate is?

    If possible please advise.

    Posted on 14-07-2015 by Sachin Anand

    Hi there,

    We have 52,138 registered users on PledgeMe, and over 10% of these users signed up in the last 3 months. We have just over 30,000 of those are on our newsletter.

    We feel the growth rate in users isn't our most important metric to track as some of our users have never pledged while others have been backing the causes they love for years - each giving thousands of dollars over dozens of campaigns.

    We think the more important figure for us as a business is the growth in dollars pledged which is why we show our current year growth vs. last year.

    Feel free to give Anna an email if you'd like to discuss further: [email protected]

    Cheers,

    Kat

    Answered on 21-07-2015 by Anna Guenther


    Hi Kat thanks for the response to my question. i have looked at the numbers in the 2014 offer you projected 560 successful rewards based projects at an average of $3.5k. Now the projections are for 280 projects at $5k. this means the funds raised has fallen from close to $2m to $1.4m which is a 30% decline in the matter of 9 months.

    Given also that the equity crowd funding side has under delivered, and the projections while they are similar appears to be reliant on more resources etc can you explain how you have justified the significant growth in the pre-money valuation.

    I note companies like IkeGPS, Orion Health etc who have listed and missed forecasts have seen signifcant declines in their share prices.

    Posted on 13-07-2015 by Ralph Shale

    Hi Ralph,

    We're working towards a target of around $8.2 million pledged through the platform this year. We've already achieved 25% of it in the first quarter of this financial year with our current resources. I believe we will hit the forecast, and this current round of investment will help us to continue growing the platform.

    Our valuation methodology (based on current year financial projections) has not changed since last time. Taking into account we were 10 days off our forecast last financial year, and that we've almost surpassed last financial years projected revenue in this financial year, we think we're justified in an increased valuation.

    Also, as indicated initially: campaigns are continuing to grow in size and scope. Our forecasts are likely to change again in a year's time in both size and number based on the ever changing landscape. Right now though, we're using our data and our understanding of this space to continue to put forward what we believe can be done.

    At the end of the day, its not how many campaigns we get through, it's the total pledged towards those campaigns.

    If you'd like to meet us and discuss this in more detail, please let us know.

    Cheers,
    Anna

    Answered on 14-07-2015 by Anna Guenther


    I note that you have fallen short of the forecasts made in the intial offer, while it is understandable in regard to the equity side of the business as that is new, but why does it appear that PledgeMe has performed so poorly in the donation side of the business. In the first funding round document you projected something like 400 successful projects, but report only 242 for the March 2015 year. This is a decline from the 2014 year (304), when the market overall appears to be growing.

    In addition you have reported 30 successful projects in the first 2 months of this year, which annualised is 180, verses forecast of 280 in the latest document and 560 back in November 2014 (so based on your forecast 50% of the projection, based on the extrapoliation something like 70% down).

    These appear to be major misses in the more established part of your business.

    Posted on 13-07-2015 by Ralph Shale

    Hey Ralph, thanks for the question

    We don't call the project side donation funding, it's more of a value exchange because it is rewards based rather than donation portal.

    Here are a few thoughts on why the Project side of the company may not have grown as much as we had forecast:

    One, we focussed most of our resources getting equity crowdfunding off the ground in the past year. With this investment, we are looking at ensure proper focus stays on both project and equity - with a strategy around activating our existing users as well as continuing to drive education for new users in the project space.

    Two, while the number of campaigns wasn't hit last year, we have had more $20,000+ projects in the past year than we had in the first 2 years combined. For example, in April Moustache raised over $90,000 on their project (making them our second largest project to date, bringing the largest crowd to date) - so although that only counts as a single project success it has the revenue of 18x our average project size. We also have Count Me In closing tomorrow, looking set to raise over $75,000.

    Lastly, locally and internationally more competition has come in the widening crowdfunding space. We're looking to mitigate that by collaborating more in sub-sectors when people propose setting up from scratch.

    Answered on 13-07-2015 by Anna Guenther


    I couldn't see quickly in the material - can you tell me which share holdings are Founder shares? Thank you.

    Posted on 11-07-2015 by Charles Hett

    Here's the list of Founder class shareholders:

    Anna Guenther - 15,090 shares
    Nick Lewis / Diane Lewis - 1,500 shares
    Anake Goodall / Charles Goodall - 3,540 shares
    Rabid Technology - 5,000 shares
    Josh Forde - 444 shares
    Breccan McLeod Lundy - 1065 shares
    Stephen McPhail - 700 shares
    Geoff Brash - 2,040 shares (also holds 25 investor class shares as well)
    Brian Steele - 621 shares

    The rest are all investor class shareholders.

    Answered on 13-07-2015 by Anna Guenther


    I'd like to buy shares for myself and for my wife. Do I need to set up two accounts to do this or to make two transactions? What would be the recommended way of buying two small parcels?

    Posted on 10-07-2015 by Bill Bennett

    Hi Bill, awesome! To keep the legal stuff simple, you'll need to use two accounts to buy two parcels.

    Answered on 11-07-2015 by Anna Guenther


    Hmm afraid the fact that you don't see a problem that your key supplier is on your board ( i.e the conflict of interest) doesn't give me confidence in your business acumen. I would urge you to be more transparent in this area

    Posted on 10-07-2015 by Peter

    Hi guys, great initiative and I'd love to get involved however I do have a concern. It seems to me that Pledge me's core business is based around a custom software platform. Most organisations that are built around software use one of the following models: a) they have an in-house technical team (i.e. employed by them) who build/support/enhance the system or b) they engage a software vendor to build/support/enhance the system or c) a mixture of the two. Either option means that the organisation can hold onto the IP and there is contestability, i.e. it helps to ensure you are getting great value for money and gives you options if things aren't going so well (e.g. replace people or vendors).
    I can see why having such a close relationship with your technology partner Rabid (i.e. them being on the board and them owning part of the business) has made sense to this point however I can see it being risky/problematic going forwards. All technology service vendors have many client to service and have to make sometimes difficult decisions around how they service their clients. I'm assuming a significant amount of the money you are raising is going to end up in Rabid's bank account. Given the unusual and close relationship you have with them would it be appropriate to give more visibility to shareholders. If I was a significant shareholder I have a multitude of questions I would want answered, for example:
    - are you paying Rabid on a time and materials basis of fixed cost to build stuff?
    - what rates?
    - what happens if they mess up (e.g. take longer than expected or there are quality issues) or you feel they are overcharging or you find developers who are happy to work for less then they charge?
    - what happens if you need technical expertise in areas that Rabid don't specialise in?
    I simply can't see how board meetings can be viable to discuss any of the above when Rabid are on the board.
    Sorry to be so negative but my 2c.

    Posted on 08-07-2015 by Peter

    Hi Peter. Thanks for your question. Both Anna and Breccan have replied as below, I hope this addresses your concerns, but feel free to add any more questions in here, or email Anna direct ([email protected]) or Breccan ([email protected]) - Kat

    From Anna:
    Currently, we pay Rabid for large pieces of work in full (which we scope out together and they quote us for), and have a contract for a monthly retainer to cover any minor tweaks or queries ($500 per month). We own all of our IP.

    Part of this round is to help us bring some of the day-to-day tech capability in house, while still working with Rabid (and other providers as required) to support the growth of PledgeMe.

    Bringing some capability in house means we can regularly be delivering new features as well as optimising some of our current functionality with the input of our team and users.

    We have a great relationship with Rabid and the team, and are excited to continue working with them as well as having in house support. To date, our board has been very robust in our discussions on everything from strategy to tech, and we have some technical expertise informally supporting our growth discussions as well.

    From Breccan:
    Following on from what Anna has said I just want to clarify Rabid's position on the startups we work with and invest in. Our goal is to create successful free standing business. We expect most (if not all) of our profit on these projects to come from the equity stakes we have in these companies rather than trying to reap rewards off a captive client. We're motivated to push them towards whatever looks like it will create the best business outcome in the long term.

    We agree with you that that means building PledgeMe's internal capability as they grow, particular as the growth really starts to justify permanent developers. That point looks like it's the present. Where a year ago PledgeMe was alternating between bursts of major new features (equity crowd funding systems etc) and quiet periods (waiting for our FMA licence) changes are coming faster now and it looks like there'll be plenty to do on a day to day basis for the foreseeable future.

    Answered on 09-07-2015 by Anna Guenther


    Hi, I would love to invest in PledgeMe, missed the previous round. However, I have got a few questions. There are many crowdfunding platforms around including the big boys like Kickstarter and Indiegogo. And locally, we have Snowball effect, and harmoney (crowd-lending). What business advantages does PledgeMe has over these competitors? I was looking for it in the business plan but I cannot find it. cheers

    Posted on 07-07-2015 by Sheng Chiong Hong

    Thanks for your question! There is a competitive landscape analysis in our plan, but our main point of difference is we're locally focussed (which we think is a good thing!), we're an online platform with offline support, and that we're trying to do things differently - not just trying to create a faster horse.

    The market place is crowded, but we've got a great community around us and a we want to be a platform that helps kiwis fund the things they care about: be it projects or companies. That means we've got a larger pool of potential crowdfunders, and we want to let everyone try.

    Shout out if you have any other questions.

    Answered on 08-07-2015 by Anna Guenther


    Equity crowdfunding is not legal in Australia.

    Does this mean your plan to expand is contingent on legislative change, or are you targeting high net worth individuals?

    Posted on 07-07-2015 by Logan

    Hi Logan, equity crowdfunding as we operate in New Zealand is not legal in Australia - yet. They are currently proposing changes allowing for investment which is more closely aligned to what is happening here. Also, equity crowdfunding and early stage venture investing has been part of both budget and immigration reform conversations.

    Through what we've achieved this year we have had some significant press and have been part of larger discussions about proposed legislation. We are interested in looking into this further by continuing the conversations we've already started and would like to more properly scope how we might best enter the market (if it makes sense for us to go there).

    Answered on 08-07-2015 by Anna Guenther


    Hi there, I have a simple question, if I invest in your campaign am I able to sell my shares in the future? I understand you have not yet set up a buying and selling forum but assume there is this facility, maybe a little more manual at this point in time? Cheers, Doug

    Posted on 06-07-2015 by Douglas cade

    Hi Doug, if a buyer for your shares can be found, yes you will be able to sell your shares and PledgeMe will be able to help you with this. However currently equity crowdfunding campaign shares are often not listed on any secondary markets, so they lack the liquidity that would bring. It's more of a longer term private investment. But if a buyer and seller can be matched privately, you could sell your shares with the sale organised off the site. Hope that helps!

    Answered on 07-07-2015 by Anna Guenther

    Pledgers 137

    Jeremy FitzGerald
    22/07/2015 at 7:16pm
    greg ford
    22/07/2015 at 7:01pm
    Mark
    22/07/2015 at 6:43pm

    "Keep pumping guys and I wish you all the success you deserve ... Mark"

    Barry Brooker
    22/07/2015 at 6:37pm
    Kerry Thornton
    22/07/2015 at 6:34pm
    Tanya
    22/07/2015 at 6:32pm
    Marshal WEI
    22/07/2015 at 4:09pm
    Paul Bruere
    21/07/2015 at 3:49pm

    "Don't want to be late to the party again! (also Kat J.. ;)"

    May McLeod
    21/07/2015 at 12:39pm

    "Glad to support people making the world a better place - supporting each others projects - growing real community!"

    Jose Higino
    21/07/2015 at 1:20am

    "I had to get a piece of it too. =)"

    Tim Kong
    20/07/2015 at 8:29pm
    Christopher
    20/07/2015 at 2:48pm
    Johanna Bennett
    20/07/2015 at 1:41pm
    Bill Bennett
    20/07/2015 at 12:25pm
    Adarsh Jupudi
    20/07/2015 at 11:06am
    Daniel Steadman
    19/07/2015 at 4:50pm
    Rox Sutherland-Valentine
    18/07/2015 at 8:10pm
    jason calcott
    18/07/2015 at 8:54am
    Gillian Watson
    16/07/2015 at 3:40pm
    Simon
    15/07/2015 at 11:30pm

    "Met Anna in the early days when she worked one day a week for the company. Nice to be able to support Pledgeme's growth this time round."

    Rupert Oakley
    15/07/2015 at 8:08pm
    Graeme Ogier
    14/07/2015 at 8:47pm
    Marianna Tyler
    14/07/2015 at 7:44pm
    KiwiConnect
    14/07/2015 at 5:00pm
    Malcolm Angell
    13/07/2015 at 11:09pm
    Ata McGregor
    13/07/2015 at 10:01pm
    Virginia Sharplin
    13/07/2015 at 6:30pm
    Nelson Wang
    13/07/2015 at 5:36pm
    Robyn
    13/07/2015 at 10:34am
    Bill McDonald
    12/07/2015 at 7:06pm

    "Supporting real people doing good business"

    PledgeMe Limited

    PledgeMe is New Zealand’s crowdfunding site. We help Kiwis fund the things they care about.

    We are a band of change makers, do gooders, and get shit done-ers. Instead of musical instruments, we have computers and The Internet. Our impact in the world is bigger than dollars and cents. But we do know how to rock the mic.

    In 2012, PledgeMe started as a way to help musicians and artists fund their projects. Since then it has grown into the way Kiwis — from companies to community groups — go out to their crowds so they can fund the things they care about. PledgeMe is the only combined equity and project crowdfunding platform in New Zealand, and one of the few in the world.

     

    The problem

    Funding decisions are often made by people who aren’t directly related to the campaign they are funding. This causes a dissonance because of the distance between the decision maker and the folk affected. There is also a perceived lack of funding for many sectors: everything from creative endeavours to community projects to starting up and growing companies.

    PledgeMe is helping change that.

    Per year, approximately 20% of companies that pitch to Angels in New Zealand get funded, and 21% of creative grant applications. This only covers companies or projects that go down the traditional funding route, many might not fit in those funding models.

     

    The solution

    PledgeMe offers a solution to this problem. We not only provide a way for individuals, groups, charities, and companies to fund things that might not ordinarily be able to get funded, but also help companies and organisations who understand the benefit of having a crowd funding them (over a handful of large funders). Our success rate is 70% for companies, and 50% success rate for projects.

    PledgeMe is growing this niche. Since 2012, we have had over $6.5 million pledged. What started as a thesis and passion project has turned into a company that employs seven staff across New Zealand and has helped over 840 successful campaigns (by the time we post this online the data point will already be out of date).

    We don’t want to stop here.

    With our investors help last year we doubled how much had been pledged through the platform (what previously took 2.5 years in just 6 months).

    We want to do that again (and more).

    Our success rate for projects is at the 50% mark, and equity campaigns at the 70% mark. The average raise for a project is $3,000 - 5,000 and for equity campaigns is around $260,000.

     

    The Share Offer

    We are looking to raise a minimum of $250,000, and up to $750,000. The shares on offer are investor class shares in PledgeMe Limited. These are voting shares. You can read more about the rights attached to investor class shares in our constitution.

    We are valuing our company at $2.1million pre-money, which equates to $60 per share. This is based on the same valuation methodology as our last round (5 times projected revenue for the current year).

     

    PledgeMe shareholding

    This table shows our shareholding pre and post offer if fully subscribed.

    Note: We are issuing shares to all of our directors and employees who have been working with PledgeMe over the last year to get the equity platform up and running. Any increase in shareholding of our directors noted in the table above is due to the issue of these shares. 



    About our Team

    Our team has grown over the past 6 months, from 3 employees and 3 external board members to 7 employees (and the same 3 external board members).

    We are looking to grow the team further over the next 6 months to include more skills sets and to cover more of New Zealand.

     

     

    Anna Guenther, CEO/Chief Bubble Blower. Anna, our CEO and co-founder, sounds American but she’s definitely a Kiwi. If pushed, she’ll say she’s technically from Dunedin, but will later admit she grew up in Boston. She completed her Masters with a focus on crowdfunding and has worked for everyone from NZTE to MIT (and all the acronyms in between). She’s a keen advocate of getting more women into tech and governance, and has been known to wear her onesie to work on Wednesdays.

     

     

    Jackson James Wood, Chief Media Wrangler. Jackson has a way with words and quite often likes to put them in the right order punctuated with all the squiggles and dots in the correct places. He also likes communicating in a multitude of ways from talking to tweeting.

     

    Will Stewart, Equity Champion. Will Stewart heads up our Auckland presence and oversees PledgeMe Equity (though he’s always keen to chat about anything crowdfunding.) Will is a Vancouver transplant with a background in project management on both sides of the Pacific. He understands the entrepreneurship hustle having started companies in Canada and New Zealand and recently complemented this with a Masters degree at Otago’s Business School.

     

    Lana Vaughan, Chief Xero Officer . Lana looks after our finances. She does everything from cashflow management, budgeting, forecasting and reporting to helping our campaign creators before they launch. Lana’s background is in business and financial management, and when she’s not hanging with us she’s working with other kiwi startups.

     

    Rory Harnden, Chief Design Awesome-iser . Rory is the man behind the PledgeMe pug. He’s in charge of creating beautiful new designs, taking photos, making us badges, and creating visually pleasing material for our crowd.

     

    Tash 2.0, Wrangler Extraordinaire. Our newest addition to the team (after our dear Jen departed to more feminist comedian pastures), Tash brings a wealth of experience in wrangling amazing people at Webstock, running her own knitting business, and giving UI feedback like a boss. She helps all of our project campaign creators through the process of project crowdfunding.

     

    Jessie Fenton, Wunderkid. Jessie is PledgeMe’s indefatigable intern. She does a lot of the social media and blogging for us and she’s currently studying law and film. We hope she will make us some legal films at some point.

     

    Rabid Technologies Limited. We have partnered with Rabid Technologies to provide our technology, and their rocking team includes Breccan McLeod Lundy, Josh Forde, Megan Bowra-Dean, Josh McArthur, and Pepper Curry (as well as many other awesome helpers along the way).

     

    Nick Lewis, Chair of the Board . Nick is an experienced entrepreneur, with a history of work in the investment banking space (from JP Morgan through to co-founding Woodward Investments in New Zealand). He is the Chair of our board, and has supported us pretty much since the beginning.

    Anake Goodall, Board Member. Anake has a strong background in both the public and private sector, and is currently on the Board of Meridian and the Akina Foundation. During his time as CEO of Ngai Tahu, he developed an intergenerational asset allocation programme around the $700million portfolio. He’s also a lovely lovely man.

     

    Breccan McLeod-Lundy, Board Member. Breccan provides technology expertise to our board, and is cofounder and director of our tech partner Rabid Technologies Limited. He is a solutions architect, excited about developing the next level of crowdfunding could be, and has a beautifully analytical brain.

     

    Our shareholders. We have 59 awesome shareholders. They range from folk we’ve known forever to people we only met after our equity campaign closed. But, we count them as part of our team because they sanity check us, they support us, and they promote what we do not just because they love it but because they own a piece of it.

     

    We currently have four board members - Nick Lewis, Anake Goodall, Anna Guenther
and Breccan McLeod-Lundy. Nick Lewis is our Chairman, and Anake Goodall is our Independent Director. The board meets monthly, with regular communication via Loomio in between. Our Board has a Decision Making Policy which covers a suite of policies that govern Fair Dealing, Decision Making, Marketing and more; you can read most of them here. Our Board is currently not remunerated, but we will evaluate this position annually - with the option to issue shares or pay a fee to board members.

     

     

     

     

    What we've done so far

    Our designer, Rory, made us this timeline of what we've been up to the past three years:

     

    Highlights from PledgeMe's last six months alone

    1) The crowdfunding platform on the whole is starting to show 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

    • Now mobile optimised so that the platform is easy for all Kiwis to access from anywhere


     

    2) Achieved early-stage validation of the equity crowdfunding platform:

    • Launched 14 equity campaigns, with 9 successful and 4 that hit their maximum goals.
    • $2.5 million pledged to successful equity campaigns to date
    • Yeastie Boys raised half a mil in half an hour


     


    3) We've built more than a physical technology, we've created a cultural technology, a supportive community and a great team:

    • Completed our own 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

    • We've grown our day-to-day team from 3 to 7 people (1.5 full time to 3.2 full time)

    • We've used our connections to build up a solid pipeline of companies that are interested in crowdfunding through our platform

    • We've created educational guides which we have published, and an educational plan that we will implement over the next 6 months


    We’ve built more than a physical technology, we’ve built a cultural technology, a supportive community and a great team.
     


     

    What's next?

    1. Keep on delivering project and equity campaigns, and keep on growing.

    2. Product — other product extensions and user experience, that could include:

    • More support around shareholder communication
    • New subsites under the existing brand, focussing on specific niches or licensing our technology.
    • Crowdlending (specifically to companies and organisations)
    • Secondary Market for equity campaigns
    • Direct debit for regular pledgers and streamline our payment flow
    • Private crowdfunding
    • Remove login requirements for project pledging

    3. Markets — look at Australia, and other markets currently looking at changing securities laws. We’ve already had some great coverage in the Australian Financial Review.

     

     

    Risks and Challenges

    Risk

    Mitigation

    Loss of key staff

    Over the 6 months, Anna has been offloading more and more of her role. We’ve got extensive documentation, and our team can jump in where needed in most instances. So, if Anna was hit by a bus tomorrow it wouldn’t be as bad as it once was. 

    Ability to hit projections

    Projections are really a dark art, and are rarely hit. Last financial year, we were 10 days off hitting our financial forecast (with two equity raises closing early April 2015). We want our projections to stretch us, while being just within reach of being achievable. The biggest barrier to hitting our projections will be our ability to secure the team required to manage our growth.

    Cash flow

    Cash flow is a constant worry for any start up. We are trying to mitigate that by raising a longer runway this round, and by being very focussed on getting more successful campaigns through to fund growth as well.

    Crowded market place

    Competition is good, because it keeps us on our toes. We need to be clear on our points of differentiation, and do the best we can by our customers.

    Our brand

    As Sheryl Sandberg says, lean in. We don’t want to be like the other players. We want to dominate the niche of business where companies get pledgers on board that want to support them for so many more reasons than just purely financial. That does mean we’re not the right fit for every company, but it does mean we get to play with the companies who have their own crowds of supporters.



    You need to pledge to see this update.

    Thank you + next steps

    27/07/2015 at 6:29 PM

    This is the final update from me, Kat. I’m passing the campaign back to the PledgeMe team who are well into verifying all of you with the details you provided when you registered (ah, AML!) and touching base with those of you that chose to pay via credit card. They also have said: thanks you to all the folk that were previously verified and  have already sent your payment through! We’ve noted the need to change the wording to 2 working days :)

    If you didn’t see, Rory made you a cake to say how much you mean to the PledgeMe team:

    Anna and the team will be in touch late next week with the updated share register and to get you into the shareholders portal. 

    In the meantime, if you do know anyone who should apply for their Chief Tech Wrangler role, here’s the job description again: http://blog.pledgeme.co.nz/wanted-one-chief-tech-wrangler/ 

    Take care,

    Kat

    It’s the final countdown

    24/07/2015 at 2:19 PM

    Dear pledgers.

    With not long to go, Team PledgeMe (Anna, Jackson, Will, Tash, Jessie, Rory, Lana, Barry, Nick, Breccan, and Anake) would like to pass on their heartfelt thanks for your love, support, and pledges from all 129 (and counting) of you. You’re awesome and the team can’t wait to meet all of you and work with you to grow crowdfunding!

    While we’ve been running the campaign we’ve also been working on other things, like gearing up to hire a tech wrangler. We’ve got a good idea of who we want and what we want them to do — but the shape of the role will depend on the kind of people who apply. Here’s the blog on what we’re looking for, and how to apply. Please share with any amazing tech folk you know, and shout out if you have any questions. 

    The extra $70k so far is going to go a long way to help the team grow even further with more work on product development happening too. We’ve already got a paper ready to circulate to shareholders about crowdlending next week and we hope that it means we’ll be able to help even more kiwis fund the things they care about soon. Check out our business plan to find out more about the work we’re doing here.

    People have been saying nice things about us too!

    Brianne, a recent PledgeMe shareholder and successful equity crowdfunder, had this to say. 

     

     

    And Bill from Vapour told us why he invested. What lovely people! If you’d like to tell us why you invested flick Jackson an email.

    We’re aiming to hit $350,000 pledged before the campaign closes and have a few more people come join the fam. So if you’ve got time this afternoon the team would give you big hugs and high fives if you could please do one final push out to your networks for us. 

    Finally, if you’re in Wellington feel free to drop by The Biz Dojo from 5 for a celebration. Jackson, Will, Rory, and Lana will be there with Anna skyping in from Dunedin. BYO drinks.

    Thanks again!

    💙 🎉 💚 🎉 ❤️

    Four days to go!

    20/07/2015 at 11:21 AM

    Thanks again to everyone who has pledged so far. Together you have pledged over $274,000 to help grow crowdfunding in New Zealand. With four days to go we’d like to get closer towards our cap and bring in even more awesome people into the PledgeMe family.

     

     

    How you can help

    There are lots of ways you can help us do that.

    • Share your story with us, so we can tell the world. Why did you pledge to invest in us? Drop us a line on [email protected], and a photo, and we’ll blog about you this week. Our crowd is the most important part of this campaign, and we want to talk about you. 
    • Know anyone who has been talking about investing, but who hasn’t yet? Drop them a line and remind them they’ve only got four days left.
    • Share the campaign on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and any other social media platforms you’re on!
    • Send up the Pledge Signal over a town near you! 

     

    We’d love to create a bit of noise about the campaign in its final week. So get out there talking about it, about us, and about why you invested and remember to share these stories with us!

     

    What we’re doing

    PledgeMe HQ has been a hive of activity over the past two weeks. Anna has been to countless events, talks, and coffees with current and potential investors. Will has been talking the talk while he’s walking the walk. Jackson has been banging out communications like there was no tomorrow.

    Last Friday we had a team planning session and our monthly board meeting to finalise how we go forward and grow the team after this raise. Later that afternoon we held an investor session for people interested in slicing off a piece of the PledgeMe cake — we even had cake thanks to Intern and Wunderkid Jessie!

     

     

    On top of all that we’ve already started work assessing a new crowdlending product (thanks to the indefatigable Barry) and we’ve been working with some large campaigns which are looking to kick off in the next couple of months.

     

    Get in touch

    Any questions, concerns, comments? Drop us a bell!

    Thank you!

    14/07/2015 at 2:44 PM

    You may have noticed last night that we made it: we hit our minimum funding goal with your help. Apologies for the ‘almost over the line’ update happening when we were already over. It was like the opposite of a false start. Anyway, let’s not dwell — we’re funded!

    Thank you all for pledging to our campaign and becoming our newest shareholders on the good ship PledgeMe. TOOT TOOT all aboard!

     

    What’s next?

    We’re aiming to raise towards our maximum cap of $750,000. The more investment we receive, the quicker we can go, and the more Kiwis we can help fund the things they care about.

    We’re going to start verifying all you new folk — there are 76 new shareholders. We just need to make sure you are who you say you are. This means we’ll run your registration details through Cloudcheck, and follow up direct if we need anymore info.

    Then, we’ll start processing pledges. Those of you that pledged on your credit card, we will charge you after the official close date. Those that have offered to do a direct deposit you will get the details to start depositing once we’ve verified you.

    If you have any questions about the process — do shout out!

    Almost over the line!

    13/07/2015 at 9:06 PM

    Hey Pledgers,

     

    Wow, it’s been a rollercoaster 10 days.

     

    We’ve been hard at work talking at alltheseevents, getting national media coverage, answering questions, and keeping on keeping on.

     

    We’re so thankful to all 79 of you pledgers that have come on board so far. We’re currently sitting at $244,080 pledged - leaving us just $5,920 away from meeting our minimum goal. We can’t wait to pop our party poppers to celebrate getting over the line.

     

    If you’d like to come meet us, we’re hosting a meet and greet in the office this Friday (and thank you to those folk that came and met with us in Auckland last week).

     

    Thanks so much for believing in us,

     

    Team PledgeMe

     

    We salute you!

    06/07/2015 at 12:12 PM

    Hi all soon-to-be-shareholders and those of you who are already shareholders coming back for another bite of the PledgeMe pie,

    Team PledgeMe is stoked with all the support you’ve shown so far. There are a lot of familiar names on the pledgers list and, encouragingly, there is a whole bunch of people we haven’t had the pleasure of meeting yet!

    To you fifty-four amazing peeps, we salute you. 

     

    We can’t wait to have you as part of our wider family, helping us bake this PledgeMe cake into something bigger than the cupcake it is now.

    After three days, we’re sitting halfway to our minimum funding goal! It’s so close we can taste it (success that is, the cake is always delicious). And, if you think your crowd should get a bite of the PledgeMe cake, feel free to show some social media love (or not!). 

    In the mean time, here are a few of our favourite quotes from you fine folk as to why you’re investing in PledgeMe.

    “Proud to be on my way to becoming a shareholder in one of the best companies I've ever come across... you guys are amazing.”

    — Stu from Yeastie Boys

     

    “PledgeMe helped me take my startup to the next level through crowdfunding, I better return the favour :)”

    — Indy Griffiths from Parent Interviews

     

    “Awesome work so far! I think I will increase my stake in this fantastic business! Go Anna and team!”

    — Raphael Nolden (existing shareholder)

     

    “Wahoo! Stoked to be able to support PledgeMe. You're going great stuff!!! I look forward to seeing it grow.”

    — Emma McFadyen

    And, here’s some coverage we’ve had in the media to-date. This article by Idealog (though, we launched at 9am not 6am!) and NBR (note, it’s paid, and there are some trolls - the NBR is currently free if you're viewing from a mobile device though).

     

    <3 <3 

     

    Kat (on behalf of Team PledgeMe)

      Offer Details

      Current Valuation 2,100,000
      Raise Minimum 250,000
      Raise Maximum 750,000
      Share Price 60.00
      Minimum Pledge 500.00
      Maximum Shares Offered 12,500
      Explanation of valuation:

      We are valuing our company at $2.1million pre-money, which equates to $60 per share. This is based on the same valuation methodology as our last round (5 times projected revenue for the current year).


      Shares on offer


      The shares on offer are investor class shares in PledgeMe Limited. These are voting shares. You can read more about the rights attached to investor class shares in our constitution.





      Financial Summary

      Prev Year Current Year Est. FY 2025 Est. FY 2026
      Revenue NZ $88,682 NZ $420,420 NZ $1,022,700 NZ $1,570,000
      Operating Expenses NZ $164,651 NZ $442,231 NZ $661,958 NZ $845,600
      EBITDA -NZ $79,333 -NZ $21,811 NZ $360,742 NZ $724,400
      Net Profit -NZ $57,332 -NZ $71,071 NZ $220,134 NZ $478,368

      Company Details

      Company Name: PledgeMe Limited (registered as PLEDGEME LIMITED)

      Company Number: 3361892

      Companies Office URL: https://www.business.govt.nz/companies/app/ui/pages/companies/3361892

      Incorporation Date: 19 Apr 2011

      Company Status: Registered

      Entity Type: Registered

      Constitution Filed: Yes

      Annual Return Filing Month: March, last filed 23 Mar 2015

      Addresses:

      Registered Office 113 Tory Street
      Te Aro
      Wellington
      Address for Service 113 Tory Street
      Te Aro
      Wellington

      Company Documents

      Documents no longer available to download, as this campaign has closed

      Director Details

      Name Role Profile URL Invested?
      Anna Guenther Director / CEO https://nz.linkedin.com/in/annaguenther
      Nick Lewis Independent Director / Chair https://nz.linkedin.com/in/nicklewiscfa
      Anake Goodall Director https://nz.linkedin.com/in/anakegoodall
      Breccan McLeod-Lundy Director https://nz.linkedin.com/in/breccan

      Hi There,
      Wanted to know how many currently registered users there are and what the current growth rate is?

      If possible please advise.

      Posted on 14-07-2015 by Sachin Anand

      Hi there,

      We have 52,138 registered users on PledgeMe, and over 10% of these users signed up in the last 3 months. We have just over 30,000 of those are on our newsletter.

      We feel the growth rate in users isn't our most important metric to track as some of our users have never pledged while others have been backing the causes they love for years - each giving thousands of dollars over dozens of campaigns.

      We think the more important figure for us as a business is the growth in dollars pledged which is why we show our current year growth vs. last year.

      Feel free to give Anna an email if you'd like to discuss further: [email protected]

      Cheers,

      Kat

      Answered on 21-07-2015 by Anna Guenther


      Hi Kat thanks for the response to my question. i have looked at the numbers in the 2014 offer you projected 560 successful rewards based projects at an average of $3.5k. Now the projections are for 280 projects at $5k. this means the funds raised has fallen from close to $2m to $1.4m which is a 30% decline in the matter of 9 months.

      Given also that the equity crowd funding side has under delivered, and the projections while they are similar appears to be reliant on more resources etc can you explain how you have justified the significant growth in the pre-money valuation.

      I note companies like IkeGPS, Orion Health etc who have listed and missed forecasts have seen signifcant declines in their share prices.

      Posted on 13-07-2015 by Ralph Shale

      Hi Ralph,

      We're working towards a target of around $8.2 million pledged through the platform this year. We've already achieved 25% of it in the first quarter of this financial year with our current resources. I believe we will hit the forecast, and this current round of investment will help us to continue growing the platform.

      Our valuation methodology (based on current year financial projections) has not changed since last time. Taking into account we were 10 days off our forecast last financial year, and that we've almost surpassed last financial years projected revenue in this financial year, we think we're justified in an increased valuation.

      Also, as indicated initially: campaigns are continuing to grow in size and scope. Our forecasts are likely to change again in a year's time in both size and number based on the ever changing landscape. Right now though, we're using our data and our understanding of this space to continue to put forward what we believe can be done.

      At the end of the day, its not how many campaigns we get through, it's the total pledged towards those campaigns.

      If you'd like to meet us and discuss this in more detail, please let us know.

      Cheers,
      Anna

      Answered on 14-07-2015 by Anna Guenther


      I note that you have fallen short of the forecasts made in the intial offer, while it is understandable in regard to the equity side of the business as that is new, but why does it appear that PledgeMe has performed so poorly in the donation side of the business. In the first funding round document you projected something like 400 successful projects, but report only 242 for the March 2015 year. This is a decline from the 2014 year (304), when the market overall appears to be growing.

      In addition you have reported 30 successful projects in the first 2 months of this year, which annualised is 180, verses forecast of 280 in the latest document and 560 back in November 2014 (so based on your forecast 50% of the projection, based on the extrapoliation something like 70% down).

      These appear to be major misses in the more established part of your business.

      Posted on 13-07-2015 by Ralph Shale

      Hey Ralph, thanks for the question

      We don't call the project side donation funding, it's more of a value exchange because it is rewards based rather than donation portal.

      Here are a few thoughts on why the Project side of the company may not have grown as much as we had forecast:

      One, we focussed most of our resources getting equity crowdfunding off the ground in the past year. With this investment, we are looking at ensure proper focus stays on both project and equity - with a strategy around activating our existing users as well as continuing to drive education for new users in the project space.

      Two, while the number of campaigns wasn't hit last year, we have had more $20,000+ projects in the past year than we had in the first 2 years combined. For example, in April Moustache raised over $90,000 on their project (making them our second largest project to date, bringing the largest crowd to date) - so although that only counts as a single project success it has the revenue of 18x our average project size. We also have Count Me In closing tomorrow, looking set to raise over $75,000.

      Lastly, locally and internationally more competition has come in the widening crowdfunding space. We're looking to mitigate that by collaborating more in sub-sectors when people propose setting up from scratch.

      Answered on 13-07-2015 by Anna Guenther


      I couldn't see quickly in the material - can you tell me which share holdings are Founder shares? Thank you.

      Posted on 11-07-2015 by Charles Hett

      Here's the list of Founder class shareholders:

      Anna Guenther - 15,090 shares
      Nick Lewis / Diane Lewis - 1,500 shares
      Anake Goodall / Charles Goodall - 3,540 shares
      Rabid Technology - 5,000 shares
      Josh Forde - 444 shares
      Breccan McLeod Lundy - 1065 shares
      Stephen McPhail - 700 shares
      Geoff Brash - 2,040 shares (also holds 25 investor class shares as well)
      Brian Steele - 621 shares

      The rest are all investor class shareholders.

      Answered on 13-07-2015 by Anna Guenther


      I'd like to buy shares for myself and for my wife. Do I need to set up two accounts to do this or to make two transactions? What would be the recommended way of buying two small parcels?

      Posted on 10-07-2015 by Bill Bennett

      Hi Bill, awesome! To keep the legal stuff simple, you'll need to use two accounts to buy two parcels.

      Answered on 11-07-2015 by Anna Guenther


      Hmm afraid the fact that you don't see a problem that your key supplier is on your board ( i.e the conflict of interest) doesn't give me confidence in your business acumen. I would urge you to be more transparent in this area

      Posted on 10-07-2015 by Peter

      Hi guys, great initiative and I'd love to get involved however I do have a concern. It seems to me that Pledge me's core business is based around a custom software platform. Most organisations that are built around software use one of the following models: a) they have an in-house technical team (i.e. employed by them) who build/support/enhance the system or b) they engage a software vendor to build/support/enhance the system or c) a mixture of the two. Either option means that the organisation can hold onto the IP and there is contestability, i.e. it helps to ensure you are getting great value for money and gives you options if things aren't going so well (e.g. replace people or vendors).
      I can see why having such a close relationship with your technology partner Rabid (i.e. them being on the board and them owning part of the business) has made sense to this point however I can see it being risky/problematic going forwards. All technology service vendors have many client to service and have to make sometimes difficult decisions around how they service their clients. I'm assuming a significant amount of the money you are raising is going to end up in Rabid's bank account. Given the unusual and close relationship you have with them would it be appropriate to give more visibility to shareholders. If I was a significant shareholder I have a multitude of questions I would want answered, for example:
      - are you paying Rabid on a time and materials basis of fixed cost to build stuff?
      - what rates?
      - what happens if they mess up (e.g. take longer than expected or there are quality issues) or you feel they are overcharging or you find developers who are happy to work for less then they charge?
      - what happens if you need technical expertise in areas that Rabid don't specialise in?
      I simply can't see how board meetings can be viable to discuss any of the above when Rabid are on the board.
      Sorry to be so negative but my 2c.

      Posted on 08-07-2015 by Peter

      Hi Peter. Thanks for your question. Both Anna and Breccan have replied as below, I hope this addresses your concerns, but feel free to add any more questions in here, or email Anna direct ([email protected]) or Breccan ([email protected]) - Kat

      From Anna:
      Currently, we pay Rabid for large pieces of work in full (which we scope out together and they quote us for), and have a contract for a monthly retainer to cover any minor tweaks or queries ($500 per month). We own all of our IP.

      Part of this round is to help us bring some of the day-to-day tech capability in house, while still working with Rabid (and other providers as required) to support the growth of PledgeMe.

      Bringing some capability in house means we can regularly be delivering new features as well as optimising some of our current functionality with the input of our team and users.

      We have a great relationship with Rabid and the team, and are excited to continue working with them as well as having in house support. To date, our board has been very robust in our discussions on everything from strategy to tech, and we have some technical expertise informally supporting our growth discussions as well.

      From Breccan:
      Following on from what Anna has said I just want to clarify Rabid's position on the startups we work with and invest in. Our goal is to create successful free standing business. We expect most (if not all) of our profit on these projects to come from the equity stakes we have in these companies rather than trying to reap rewards off a captive client. We're motivated to push them towards whatever looks like it will create the best business outcome in the long term.

      We agree with you that that means building PledgeMe's internal capability as they grow, particular as the growth really starts to justify permanent developers. That point looks like it's the present. Where a year ago PledgeMe was alternating between bursts of major new features (equity crowd funding systems etc) and quiet periods (waiting for our FMA licence) changes are coming faster now and it looks like there'll be plenty to do on a day to day basis for the foreseeable future.

      Answered on 09-07-2015 by Anna Guenther


      Hi, I would love to invest in PledgeMe, missed the previous round. However, I have got a few questions. There are many crowdfunding platforms around including the big boys like Kickstarter and Indiegogo. And locally, we have Snowball effect, and harmoney (crowd-lending). What business advantages does PledgeMe has over these competitors? I was looking for it in the business plan but I cannot find it. cheers

      Posted on 07-07-2015 by Sheng Chiong Hong

      Thanks for your question! There is a competitive landscape analysis in our plan, but our main point of difference is we're locally focussed (which we think is a good thing!), we're an online platform with offline support, and that we're trying to do things differently - not just trying to create a faster horse.

      The market place is crowded, but we've got a great community around us and a we want to be a platform that helps kiwis fund the things they care about: be it projects or companies. That means we've got a larger pool of potential crowdfunders, and we want to let everyone try.

      Shout out if you have any other questions.

      Answered on 08-07-2015 by Anna Guenther


      Equity crowdfunding is not legal in Australia.

      Does this mean your plan to expand is contingent on legislative change, or are you targeting high net worth individuals?

      Posted on 07-07-2015 by Logan

      Hi Logan, equity crowdfunding as we operate in New Zealand is not legal in Australia - yet. They are currently proposing changes allowing for investment which is more closely aligned to what is happening here. Also, equity crowdfunding and early stage venture investing has been part of both budget and immigration reform conversations.

      Through what we've achieved this year we have had some significant press and have been part of larger discussions about proposed legislation. We are interested in looking into this further by continuing the conversations we've already started and would like to more properly scope how we might best enter the market (if it makes sense for us to go there).

      Answered on 08-07-2015 by Anna Guenther


      Hi there, I have a simple question, if I invest in your campaign am I able to sell my shares in the future? I understand you have not yet set up a buying and selling forum but assume there is this facility, maybe a little more manual at this point in time? Cheers, Doug

      Posted on 06-07-2015 by Douglas cade

      Hi Doug, if a buyer for your shares can be found, yes you will be able to sell your shares and PledgeMe will be able to help you with this. However currently equity crowdfunding campaign shares are often not listed on any secondary markets, so they lack the liquidity that would bring. It's more of a longer term private investment. But if a buyer and seller can be matched privately, you could sell your shares with the sale organised off the site. Hope that helps!

      Answered on 07-07-2015 by Anna Guenther

      Jeremy FitzGerald
      22/07/2015 at 7:16pm
      greg ford
      22/07/2015 at 7:01pm
      Mark
      22/07/2015 at 6:43pm

      "Keep pumping guys and I wish you all the success you deserve ... Mark"

      Barry Brooker
      22/07/2015 at 6:37pm
      Kerry Thornton
      22/07/2015 at 6:34pm
      Tanya
      22/07/2015 at 6:32pm
      Marshal WEI
      22/07/2015 at 4:09pm
      Paul Bruere
      21/07/2015 at 3:49pm

      "Don't want to be late to the party again! (also Kat J.. ;)"

      May McLeod
      21/07/2015 at 12:39pm

      "Glad to support people making the world a better place - supporting each others projects - growing real community!"

      Jose Higino
      21/07/2015 at 1:20am

      "I had to get a piece of it too. =)"

      Tim Kong
      20/07/2015 at 8:29pm
      Christopher
      20/07/2015 at 2:48pm
      Johanna Bennett
      20/07/2015 at 1:41pm
      Bill Bennett
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      20/07/2015 at 11:06am
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      19/07/2015 at 4:50pm
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      18/07/2015 at 8:10pm
      jason calcott
      18/07/2015 at 8:54am
      Gillian Watson
      16/07/2015 at 3:40pm
      Simon
      15/07/2015 at 11:30pm

      "Met Anna in the early days when she worked one day a week for the company. Nice to be able to support Pledgeme's growth this time round."

      Rupert Oakley
      15/07/2015 at 8:08pm
      Graeme Ogier
      14/07/2015 at 8:47pm
      Marianna Tyler
      14/07/2015 at 7:44pm
      KiwiConnect
      14/07/2015 at 5:00pm
      Malcolm Angell
      13/07/2015 at 11:09pm
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      13/07/2015 at 10:01pm
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      13/07/2015 at 6:30pm
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      13/07/2015 at 5:36pm
      Robyn
      13/07/2015 at 10:34am
      Bill McDonald
      12/07/2015 at 7:06pm

      "Supporting real people doing good business"

      This campaign was successful and got its funding on 24/07/2015 at 10:00 PM.

      This campaign has closed, but this company may choose to do more equity raises on PledgeMe in the future. If you're interested in investing in PledgeMe Limited, you can sign up to be notified when a new equity campaign from this company is published.

      Notify Me

      Disclosure Statement:

      An associated party of PledgeMe holds an interest in this company, the interest is as follows:

      * As this is PledgeMe Limited, all of our staff and directors have conflicts of interest. In order to manage this, we have an external manager for this campaign (Kat Jenkins), we have the support of our accountants, our legal team, and our Independent Director (Nick Lewis) will make all decisions regarding this campaign. Nick Lewis has been confirmed as being independent by the FMA. * Here is the full list of PledgeMe interests: https://www.pledgeme.co.nz/interests

      Warning statement about equity crowdfunding

      Equity crowdfunding is risky.

      Issuers using this facility include new or rapidly growing ventures. Investment in these types of business is very speculative and carries high risks.

      You may lose your entire investment, and must be in a position to bear this risk without undue hardship.

      New Zealand law normally requires people who offer financial products to give information to investors before they invest. This requires those offering financial products to have disclosed information that is important for investors to make an informed decision.

      The usual rules do not apply to offers by issuers using this facility. As a result, you may not be given all the information usually required. You will also have fewer other legal protections for this investment.

      Ask questions, read all information given carefully, and seek independent financial advice before committing yourself.