We’ve wrapped up another record-breaking year at Equitise, and what a year it has been for both us and for equity crowdfunding in general! We thought you might like to hear a little bit about our biggest moments — so here goes…
This year we broke the Australian record for the largest craft beer raise not once, but TWICE. Across the border, we saw two Equitise alumni, Greenfern Industries (GFI) and Tradewindow (TWL) complete successful listing on the New Zealand Stock Exchange (NZX), representing strong returns for our investors.
In 2021 we have also seen our Equitise family grow. We welcomed a bunch of new members including Ben on the fundraising team, Al on the marketing team, and Lisa, our new graphic designer. We’re also excited to welcome three new interns who will be joining us early next year!
Read on for a full breakdown of 2021 at Equitise.
Our Year in Numbers
Total Funds Raised: $14.3m
No. Successful Offers: 28
Success Rate: 94%
Our Investor Crowd: 3.4k investors
Most Funded Campaigns of 2021
1. Spinifex Brewing Co - $2.0m
2. Batch Brewing - $1.5m
3. Lumiant - $1.0m (follow on raise)
Most Popular ECF Industries of 2021
Technology & Software - 19 startups raised $9.7m
Food & Beverage - 11 startups raised $7.2m
Alcohol - 10 startups raised $10.4m
Some of our highlights
A lot happened in the world of equity crowdfunding and early-stage investing in 2021 and we figured it’s time to look back at some of the highlights from the past year. We’ve listed below some of our most exciting achievements, developments and trends in 2021:
Not one, but TWO exits!
It's been an exciting year for two of our New Zealand raises (Greenfern Industries and TradeWindow) who both listed on the NZX. Each has seen rapid growth and expansion in their respective industries, and we're excited to see what the future holds for them.
Greenfern Industries successfully listed on the NZX on the 21st October 2021, becoming the first medicinal cannabis and hemp food companu to list in New Zealand and is one of only a handful of hemp-based companies listed globally. Greenfern Industries raised $2.9m with us back in 2020, smashing the record for the largest ever NZ equity crowdfund.
TradeWindow quickly followed suit, providing yet another exit for Equitise investors as they listed on the NZX on 22 November 2021. TradeWindow's share price has gone up 160% since listing and is still growing by the day. As the company intends to swiftly scale up, TradeWindow's chair, Alasdair MacLeod, said the direct listing would further solidify the company's standing as a trusted partner for large commercial organisations and government bodies. The company completed a wholesale raise with us as part of a larger $15m Series A funding round earlier this year and we’re excited for what the future holds for them.
Back-to-back craft beer record breakers
Craft beer continues to break records in Australian crowdfunding. In 2021, Equitise broke the equity crowdfunding record for largest craft beer raise TWICE. With Batch Brewing raising $1.5m and Spinifex Brewing raising $2.0m shortly after, it was clear to see how receptive customers were in wanting to join the journey of their favourite craft breweries.
Batch successfully raised $1.5m hitting its maximum funding target in just over a day following its public launch making it the largest and fastest alcohol raise in Australia at the time. As one of the earliest to the craft brewing scene in Sydney, Batch was able to utilise their wealth of experience and passionate community following to create a viral equity crowdfunding campaign.
Spinifex Brewing decided to take it a step further, raising $2.0m from 740 proud co-owners, breaking the record for largest craft beer raise set by Batch just months before. The team at Spinifex Brewing have already been putting the funds to good use announcing plans for another Spinifex Ale House, this time in Broome whilst its brand new North Beach Ale House is one step closer to being a reality, with its full development plans now in the final stages of review.
Industry leading success rate
We have always focused on providing the highest quality deals to our investor base, turning away over 95% of companies that we see each year. Amongst other things, this has resulted in us consistently having the highest success rate of any ECF platform in Australia, and this year was no different with 93% of deals successful in 2021. As we see the sector maturing with larger, more mature companies using ECF (as part of or in addition to larger raises) we will continue on with our diligent approach to provide the highest quality deals for all our investors.
Equitise meets e-commerce
The team at Equitise figured it was about time that we got involved with the booming world of e-commerce. In line with our predictions outlined in our recent industry report, e-commerce had another stellar year accelerated by the COVID pandemic with online purchases in Australia growing 57% YoY accounting for 16.3% of total retail sales (2020). That’s why, just in the last quarter of 2021, we completed 3 successful equity crowdfunding raises with D2C e-commerce businesses Tint, Your Food Collective and tbh Skincare, raising a total of $1.81m from 776 investors!
Growing our family of sophisticated investors
For many companies, raising equity from the crowd isn’t simply a “lesser alternative” to more traditional funding routes such as private equity firms and VC. 2021 has been a great example of this, with more sophisticated investors getting involved in our raises than ever before.
Equitise alumni, tbh Skincare, received a significant investment from a leading global consumer PE fund alongside its crowdfunding campaign, providing our investors with a unique opportunity to invest alongside private equity. This is a model seen in more mature crowdfunding markets such as the UK and is where Equitise sees the Australian market moving in the coming years.
Furthermore, we raised over $5.5m across 13 wholesale raises this year, passing our previous record of $3.5m. With our wholesale investor database growing with every raise, we’ve also seen our average investment across these deals reach a new high of $48.1k!
The increased involvement of wholesale investors in both our wholesale raises and ECFs is something we believe will only accelerate further in 2022. We’re excited to continue to bring high-quality deals to our network of investors and to continue to improve our industry-leading average investment amount across Australian ECF deals.
Looking Forward
From all of us here at Equitise, thank you for your interest and support. We love what we do - connecting future-focused investors like yourself with high-growth start-ups across exciting industries.
Visit our recently released Newsfeed page to stay up to date with the latest news on our alumni raises. You can also subscribe to our newsletter below to be the first to hear about our new offers and stay updated about all of our exciting startups.
We hope you have a wonderful festive season and a very happy New Year. Stay tuned for 2022, we have some big things planned!