August was not a good month for equity crowd funding.
Of the four offers that closed in the month, only one would be satisfied with the outcome and even that was not a stellar performance.
One other only just managed to raise its minimum target.
And two others failed, one spectacularly.
August raisings were the lowest for any month in 2015 since January.
The reasonable result was achieved by Collect which was promoted on the CrowdCube platform.
It sought $1 million and set its minimum at $200,000. In the end it raised $470,700 from 39 investors who each stumped up a bit over $12,000, on average. This is the highest average investment ever on any New Zealand platform. Their campaign ran for 42 days.
This was the first New Zealand crowd funding project on the CrowdCube platform. They have one other campaign still open with Roam, which is currently 35% funded with 11 days to go.
The Bow Wow Box on the PledgeMe platform was also funded in August. But only just, and they are likely to be disappointed with the result.
Bow Wow Box sought $225,000 with a minimum of $75,000 to get over the line. In the end they only raised $77,101 from 70 investors, an average of $1,100.
But the other two failed to attract their minimum targets, and monies were returned to applicants.
1791 Diamonds on the Snowball Effect platform had high hopes. They sought $2 mln with a minimum of $750,000. But only 47 investors offered support, offering only $274,800. That is less than a third of what they were expecting.
But the most spectacular fizzer was from Rainforest Experiences on the new LiftOff platform, their first.
Rainforest Experience sought $1,225,000 with a minimum of $600,000. After 35 days only three investors signed up, offering just $2,500.
Now that August is behind the nascent equity crowd funding industry, they will be looking forward to better times no doubt.
Four more offers are open, one each on Snowball Effect, CrowdCube, PledgeMe, and newcomer MyAngelInvestment. Equitise has indicated they have four offers 'nearly ready'.
Since the sector was established, 3,539 investors have stumped up $12.5 mln in equity shares.
You can find all open and closed equity crowd funding offers here.
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