Happy New Year! Ngā mihi o te tau hou!
2025 was a year of growth, grit and great crowdfunds in Aotearoa.
Here at PledgeMe we set some lofty goals for 2025 and you all delivered!
In 2025, 32 project crowdfunders celebrated raising over $700k. And six companies ran successful equity crowdfunds, raising around $2.5 million.
And the amazing bit? Over half was raised for women-led campaigns.
We’d like to hand out some PledgeMe awards to some of the crowdfunds that stood out to us in 2025.
🏆 The Fastest to Fund award goes to Sasha McLeod from DoseBuddy for her incredible marketing, which meant she met her project crowdfunding target of $20,000 in three hours. Her crowdfunding campaign, A Syringe that Doesn’t Suck, really didn’t suck. It went onto raise nearly triple her goal. Learn more about how she did it here.
🏆 The Most Funded Above their Goal award goes to Siouxsie Wiles. A science educator, who shot to fame in Aotearoa through Covid lockdown, she’d been through a rough time, receiving death threats and abuse. She went to ground, hiding from the world. But she had so many supporters in the wings. Her crowdfund to offset some of the legal costs she paid when she took her work to court for failing to protect her from public lashback started out with a minimum funding target of $10k. It closed at $188,493. Check it out here.
🏆 The PledgeMe Mental Health Support award goes to Katie Rickson. Living with bipolar herself, Katie wrote and crowdfunded a booklet called ’30 Things I’d Like You to Know About Bipolar’. 58 people pledged to it, meaning Katie contributed to new levels of awareness in New Zealand about the life for people who live with bipolar. See her crowdfund here.
🏆 The Celebrating Women and Non Binary award goes to Jade Musther. Jade led a project crowdfund to build a makerspace for women and non binary folk in Wellington. This being her second crowdfunding campaign, she knew exactly what to do. She recruited community leaders and members to help her raise $52,850, well above her minimum funding target of $35.000. See it here.
🏆 The Most Potential to Save Lives award goes to Veriphi. Greg and the team from Veriphi equity crowdfunded $617,885 to revolutionise intravenous medication safety. Their tech verifies the contents of an IV bag or syringe, minimising risk of harm from medication error and ensuring patients receive correct dosages. Check it out here.
🏆. The Oldest Business to Crowdfund award goes to Hills Hats. This iconic Wellington family business has been making hats for New Zealanders for 150 years, and they needed to relocate. They more than tripled their goal! See their crowdfund here.
🏆 The Really Good Idea award goes to Reterniti. Peter from Reterniti and his team equity crowdfunded $350,850 to grow their business into Australia. What was the really good idea? Reterni turns the ashes of loved ones and animals into beautiful stones that will last forever. Learn more about their really good idea here.
🏆 The funniest video award goes to Morning Cider. Tim, Lou and Nigel created a hilarious video, which really shone in the pun department. They raised over $500,000 via their equity crowd, so they could shake up the Kiwi cider scene, break a world record, and tap into a billion-dollar export market opportunity. Check it their outstanding video and equity crowdfund here. Or watch their video:
Kicking off 2026 with Founder Feedback
We’re heading into 2026 with some exciting plans, starting with Founder Feedback – the chance for six founders to build A+ crowdfunds, thanks to support and feedback from five crowdfunding rockstars.
You can learn more and apply to participate in Founder Feedback:
Thanks for being part of our amazing crowd and wishing you the most joyful 2026,
Team PledgeMe
