If you’re building a physical product in Aotearoa, you’re in good company.
For forty years, Kiwi founders have turned kitchen-table ideas into world-class companies, and funded every step along the way.

A $25,000 “kitchen renovation” became Icebreaker, and sold for $288m. Two sisters grew Trilogy into a $211m exit. A science student making shampoo bars built Ethique, and her early crowdfunders walked away with a 48x return. More recently, Parrotdog turned its crowd into 796 shareholders and raised $2m in two days. DoseBuddy hit its funding goal in three hours.

Different products. Different paths. One thing in common: none of them waited for permission!

Here’s the thing about funding a product company. It doesn’t look like funding a tech startup, and it was never meant to.
You’re building real things, with real costs and real customers, so your path tends to run through bootstrapping, grants, rewards, crowdfunding angels, and patient capital. Knowing which door to knock on, and when, is most of the battle.

Case studies

Four decades of product companies that built and won

Icebreaker

$25k loan for a kitchen → $288m exit

$288m

Sale price · 2018

Ethique

Bars not bottles, and a 48× return for early investors

48×

Crowd investor return

Parrotdog

$2m raised in 2 days, from people who drink their beer

$2m

Raised in 2 days

That’s what our new Physical Product Report is for. It’s a practical map of the funding routes open to you, packed with the data and the real stories behind them, and honest about what to watch for along the way.