CEO · Founder, Birchal
Stories naming Matt Vitale. Where several outlets covered the same round, they are bundled under whichever ran the fullest account.
Birchal lifts its charges and shrinks its team under a new chief executive; the piece also recalls past raises on the platform and the collapses of Zero Co and Equitise.
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Birchal appoints Future Super founder and former Techstars Sydney managing director Kirstin Hunter as CEO after co-founder Matt Vitale stepped down in January; the crowdfunding platform recently banked $2m from retail investors.
Crowdfunding platform Birchal raised $2 million from 800-plus investors in 29 hours on its own site, its third self-run raise; Dom Pym's family office Euphemia is an early backer, and Birchal launched the Birchal First syndicate.
SmartCompany roundup covering six Australian funding deals totalling $18.4 million: Visibuild, My Mirror, Cambium Bio, Freckle, Old Young's Distillery and Taly, plus news that Freckle's founder earlier sold Everproof to GO1.
Birchal appoints Crowdcube's founder Darren Westlake as strategic advisor and ex-Investible chief Rod Bristow as non-executive director, aiming to accelerate equity crowdfunding growth in Australia.
Ethical fintech Maslow attracted 288 backers for a $409,676 equity crowdfunding round, largely founders from the impact sector, and hired two staff as it builds a subscription-based, at-cost financial services platform.
Birchal's co-founder and CEO argues in an opinion piece that letting customers invest alongside venture backers builds loyalty, pointing to past raises by Replit, Zero Co and Thriday as examples.
Partner content profiling Heatseeker, whose AI platform tests startup growth ideas live in-market; it reports the pre-seed round reaching $1.3 million, above the original $500,000 target, with Euphemia and US angels among backers.
Crowdfunding platform Birchal has opened a new raise on its own site, seeking $3 million; the piece recalls its 2022 raise, 2023's top platform raises and several CSF-funded failures and a listing.
Birchal's cofounder argues equity crowdfunding is closing the capital gap for founders outside the big cities, citing Western Australia's FY23 growth and two regional companies reaching the $5 million cap.
Sydney doorstep recycling pickup service RecycleSmart closed an equity crowdfunding campaign on the Birchal platform, collecting just over a million dollars from 965 backers to fund a national rollout beginning with Melbourne.
Birchal opens an equity crowdfunding campaign on its own marketplace, an industry first, chasing $3 million with Up cofounder Dom Pym committed, while marking $100 million raised and unveiling secondary trading plans.
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Birchal's CSF Yearbook 2021 found Australian equity crowdfunding hit record levels in 2021, with $71 million raised across 89 companies, and recalls Biome Australia becoming the first CSF-backed business to join the ASX.