In the inaugural episode of our new podcast The Funding Files, co-host Matt Stevens (co-founder of Parrotdog)chats with Anna Guenther, co-host and co-founder of PledgeMe, about her funding journey raising capital to launch and grow a crowdfunding platform here in Aotearoa New Zealand.
What’s this new podcast about?
What is the Funding Files? It’s a new podcast where Matt and Anna explore the highs, the lows, and the cashflows of funding a business here in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Why? Because while we hear a lot of stories in our work around how founders are raising funds to grow their businesses – those stories are not shared more widely. So we want to get the stories (and lessons learned) out there, in the hopes it’ll make it that little bit easier for the next founders coming through.
We decided to start this pod by interviewing each other on our journeys – Anna funding PledgeMe and Matt about the funding journey he and his co-founders went on with the early days of Parrotdog.
What’s Anna talking about in this first podcast?
The podcast covers the journey of PledgeMe, a New Zealand-based crowdfunding platform, through its various funding stages. Anna Guenther, co-founder and chief bubble blower of PledgeMe, shares her experience of building and funding the platform since 2012. The platform has supported over 1,700 successful campaigns with over $75 million pledged.
Anna details multiple funding rounds, starting with personal investment of $10,000, followed by a service-for-equity arrangement worth $80,000 with developers, and then a private round of just under $100,000. PledgeMe then became the first successful equity crowdfunding campaign on its own platform, raising $100,000 in 24 hours in 2014. This was followed by a $330,000 round in 2015 for peer-to-peer lending development and Australian market exploration, and a $600,000 round in 2018.
The discussion also covers the challenges faced during COVID-19, when revenue dropped to 5% of normal levels, leading to significant business changes. In 2024, facing financial difficulties, PledgeMe approached shareholders about potentially closing down, but received overwhelming support and additional funding to continue operations. Throughout the journey, Anna emphasizes the importance of clear growth strategies when seeking funding and highlights PledgeMe’s focus on supporting underserved founders, particularly women-led businesses, noting that 50% of their supported companies in the previous year had women co-founders.
🎧 Listen to the Full Episode
To hear the full conversation and gain deeper insights into the world of crowdfunding in New Zealand, listen to the episode:
👉 Ep 1: Anna Guenther (PledgeMe) – The Funding Files on Apple or Spotify
