Crowd-sourced funding (CSF) platform Birchal is increasing its clip of the ticket on raises under $500,000, and shedding roles for the second time in 14 months as CEO Kirstin Hunter looks to put the business on a more financially sustainable path.
Two leadership roles have been made redundant, cutting the team to four.
SmartCompany reported the latest changes at Birchal under Hunter, who left Techstars Sydney to take on the role in May this year, after cofounder and former CEO Matt Vitale stepped down at the start of 2025, citing burnout
In July last year, the fintech, backed by Up Bank’s Dom Pym, shed several positions as it looked to cut its cost base by 30% after funding volumes “significantly underperformed” in the first half of 2024.
Crowdfunding more broadly has also tailed off amid tighter capital markets. The mix of companies looking to raise from retail investors via CSF has narrowed amid some notable investments going south.
In the highest profile example, investors in Zero Co’s record-breaking $5 million Birchal raise in 2021, as well as a $2 million follow-up round in 2024 are still waiting to see how many cents-in-the-dollar they’ll receive after founder Mike Smith announced the closure of the cleaning products envirotech startup in April this year.
The situation appears even tougher in the first half of 2025. Currently, Birchal has only one campaign in play – Sydney software startup Tall Emu. A recent raise for a skincare brand failed to catch investor interest. E-bike company Benzina Zero’s $1.17m raise and $1.34m for Recycle Smart, both in July, and $900k for air taxi landing pad concept Skyportz are among recent successes. Medicinal cannabis companies, breweries and distillers have become regular users of CSF platforms in recent years.
Birchal itself has tapped its own supporters for more than $7 million, including, $3m in 2022, another $2.39m in 2023, plus another $2m in December last year.
Meanwhile, rival platform Equitise slid into administration in November last year and failing to secure additional funding
Hunter’s Birchal revamp sees the platform’s campaign fee jump by 66% to $7,000. The commission on a successful raise for campaigns under $500,000 rises 0.5% to 8%, but falls for raises under $1 million to 6%, the fee Birchal charged when it launched in 2017 after Australia legalised crowd-sourced funding. Raise more than $1m (the max under Australian law is $5m) and the commission is 5%.
The CEO told SmartCompany that the pricing is competitive compared to market alternatives on smaller raises and avoids the additional costs of a private raise.
Hunter’s optimistic about Birchal’s future as interest rates fall.
“This has a big impact on the cost-of-living pressures experienced by our retail investors, and I expect to see previous investors returning to the platform and new ones coming on as the pressures continue to lift,” she said, adding that the platform is “in discussions with some excellent, well-known brands” about their capital raising.
- Disclosure: Startup Daily editor Simon Thomsen was an investor in Zero Co.
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