Birchal pulls $100m in crowdfunding

The Birchal platform has raised $100m over four years, with Perth companies Australian Honey Ventures and Bunsters among the latest WA enterprises to garner funding via the site.

The platform was founded in 2018 to allow smaller enterprises and startups to raise modest amounts of equity, following changes to security laws that made it easier for private companies to access investment.

Some four years on and Birchal - which claims to be behind more than 75 per cent of crowdsource funding in Australia - has surpassed more than $100 million in capital raised.  

Several WA businesses have attracted investor interest via the platform since its inception, including West Winds Gin, Tiller Rides and Spinifex Brewing.

Australian Honey Ventures has raised roughly $2.8 million, with roughly $2 million of that figure secured this month.

Karnup-based Bunsters Hot Sauces is the second WA enterprise to access crowdsourced funds via Birchal in 2022, raising $1.1 million.

Overall, Western Australian companies raised $10 million in 2021.

In tandem with the milestone, Birchal has launched its own crowdfunding effort, seeking around $2 million to launch a trading platform on the site named Birchal Trade.

Co-founder of digital bank up.com.au Dom Pym, is understood to be one of the main backers behind the raise.

The company said the platform would offer a solution for companies to manage the operation of a ‘Low Volume Market’ in Australia and could facilitate up to 100 transactions and $1.5 million within a 12 month period.

Birchal said the platform, which is set to offer its first pilot this year, would be available to retail investors and not require a market licence.

Broadly, the company said the move would establish these smaller entities as their own mainstream asset class and attract more investors to the startup landscape.

“The timing for Birchal to achieve $100 million in raised revenue on behalf of its clients couldn’t happen at a more perfect time than announcing our plans to establish an equity crowdfunding ecosystem,” Birchal co-founder and managing director Matt Vitale said. 

"There is currently no organised marketplace available for retail investors to trade securities in startups and SMEs - so we’ve decided to focus on providing a range of solutions to solve this."