First equity crowdfunding offer in NZ completes in less than two weeks
The first capital raising offer through equity crowdfunding in New Zealand history has successfully completed after less
than two weeks of opening to the public. Renaissance Brewing reached its initial funding target of $600,000 on Thursday,
and yesterday reached its stretch target of $700,000.
Josh Daniell, Snowball Effect Head of Platform and Investor Growth, says the success of the Renaissance offer clearly
demonstrates the public appetite for investment in small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs).
“This is an important milestone, for both SMEs and Kiwi investors, and a vote of confidence in a new way of raising
capital for growth-focussed companies, such as Renaissance,” Daniell says. “The fact that the funding target was
achieved in such a short space of time is a definitive endorsement of both the quality of the offer and equity
crowdfunding itself.”
Renaissance chief executive Brian Thiel says the brewers are thrilled at getting over the line in less than a quarter of
the offer period: “We’ll be celebrating tonight and I guarantee you it won’t be with bottles of champagne – we’ve got
better stuff with which to toast our new shareholders.”
Renaissance plans to invest the capital in boosting its production capability and developing new markets in Australasian
and overseas territories, including the US, Canada, UK, mainland Europe, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Japan.
Daniell says the successful Renaissance offer shows how opening up the capital markets to include a wider range of
investors can make a big difference: 287 investors with an average investment just over $2,400; two investments over
$50,000; and the smallest of $500 (the minimum investment). Investors flocked to the offer from across the country, with
over 40% of the investors located in the South Island.
Daniell says that creating a central market for such investments brings efficiency for both companies and investors.
“We’ve been building the platform for over two years and were told time and time again by companies that they want an
efficient method of raising capital so they can focus on growing their businesses,” he says. “This first offer was an
excellent showcase of what can be achieved.
“The uptake is that several hundred entrepreneurial investors have now taken a stake in a wealth-creating Kiwi asset and
have the opportunity to share in its success. We’re excited to see what Renaissance can do with this groundswell of
support behind them.”
Ends