The campaign – which went live on PledgeMe today (April
30) – enables the public to invest in the three-year-old
company and join its mission to build a world-renowned
outdoor gear brand out of New Zealand.
An incredible
$60,000 has been raised in the first hour of going
live.
KEA Outdoors founder Matt Butler says the
PledgeMe equity crowdfunding approach differs significantly
from the company’s three previous Kickstarter
campaigns.
“We are a company fully funded through
crowdfunding campaigns,” Butler says. “To date, we
have raised more than $700,000 from product-focused
Kickstarter campaigns and sold 18,000 items to more than
8,000 customers.
“This equity crowdfunding approach
enables us to double down on our success to date and invest
into product development and brand building in our key
markets.”
Since the company’s inception in 2021,
KEA Outdoors has expanded internationally with distribution
warehouses in the USA, Australia, New Zealand and China, and
has shipped to more than 50 countries.
KEA Outdoors
launched its first product the KEA KIT V1 – a compact
outdoor survival kit for storing first aid equipment and
outdoor tools – via Kickstarter in 2021 and raised more
than $300,000 in 35 days. It remains the second-most funded
design crowdfunding campaign in NZ.
Equity
crowdfunding was first introduced in NZ 10 years ago, with
the launch of FMA-licensed platforms such as Snowball Effect
and PledgeMe. The financing approach allows the public to
directly invest in private companies without using
traditional brokering services.
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“Equity crowdfunding
has become more popular for consumer-facing brands,
especially direct-to-consumer businesses,” Butler
says. “It allows a company to give back to loyal
customers by enabling them to have ownership in the
company.”
This is KEA Outdoors’ first capital
raise and new investors can buy shares for a minimum
investment of $1000 through the PledgeMe crowdfunding
campaign.
This will then allow investors to access a
range of exclusive offers such as lifetime product
discounts, special investor events and being the first to
test out new products.
The PledgeMe equity
crowdfunding campaign is open from April 30 to May 31,
2024.
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