Two more companies successfully crowdfund

Start-up companies Pineapple Heads and SellShed closed their equity crowdfunding campaigns on PledgeMe yesterday evening, having reached their minimum targets.

Children’s bath product company Pineapple Heads raised $204,900 at $1 a share from 96 investors, slightly more than its minimum funding target of $189,000.

The company, run by former advertising executive Megan Sanders, valued itself at $3 million, after making a net loss of $134,000 on revenue of $75,383 this year.

It is forecasting net profit of $1.2 million on revenue of $3.9 million in 2018.

Ms Sanders hopes to do this by expanding the suppliers of its existing range of eight products – currently sold online and in New World supermarkets and 70 other retailers throughout New Zealand and Australia.

The money raised will go towards advertising and distribution costs, and new staff hire.

Social marketplace app SellShed also closed its campaign with $712,100 from 70 investors.

This beat its minimum funding target of $250,000, or 5% of the company, but fell short of its $1 million maximum, 20% of the company.

The Mount Maunganui-based business, which has designed a free mobile app that matches buyers and sellers in their local communities for online trading, has had more than 13,000 users sign up since it launched last October.

The company valued itself at $5 million. It is forecasting a loss of $213,917 this year, but thinks it will be profitable next year with an operating profit before tax forecast of $924,406 – leaping to $5.3 million in 2017.

It has negative net assets of $98,244 this year, but forecasts its assets to be worth $954,051 next year, and $4.7 million in 2017.

SellShed CEO Peter Howell said the new investors had a rare opportunity to be involved in a start-up company’s expansion.

“We are now on track to start expanding the company and demonstrating the innovative ways this technology can be used.”

Funds raised will be used for advertising costs, technical development of the app, and to increase staff.

No dividend will be paid for the next two years while profits are reinvested into the company, but the board intends to review this annually.

The app allows users to trade within a 1000 km radius, and works similarly to eBay or Facebook. SellShed’s revenue comes from geo-advertising, which is based on the location of the user, and subscriptions where businesses pay between $49 and $149 per month to cover listings.

PledgeMe is also currently running campaigns for cloud-based youth wellbeing education group BE Intent Youth, carpooling app Chariot Ridesharing, and parent-teacher interview booking app Parent Interviews.

In the past, PledgeMe has run successful campaigns to crowdfund itself and craft beer maker Yeastie Boys, but campaigns for hovercraft hopeful H2 Explore and computer museum Techvana fell flat.