Hunt and Gather Bee Co.
Age of company:
5 years
Sector:
Honey
Annual Revenue:
$160,000 (at time of raise)
Campaign link:
Total Raised:
$350,000
Number of Investments
151
Country:
New Zealand
Hunt and Gather Bee Co. is a Raglan-based ethical honey company.
Background
In 2016, Hannah and Rory OβBrien spent their life savings on 16 beehives and a ute and started Hunt and Gather Bee Co, an ethical honey company. They decided they would keep sustainability at the core of their business and that bush and forest regeneration would be part of their business activities.
In 2018, their small business was growing, but they needed a small injection of capital to package more of their honey. They raised over $15,000 through a project crowdfunding campaign on PledgeMe.
Three years later, their business had grown dramatically. Their revenue had increased by 340% since 2018, and their overall production by 2000% since theyβd first started. They were ready to take their high-quality product global and needed capital to take this next step. Once again, they turned to their crowd.
“This is the type of investment we are attracted to: local, family based with a strong commitment to ethical and sustainable business practices.”
Timeline
“Iβm ready to be part of this business.”
What worked well?
They had a lot of interest from their crowd - When they posted their expressions of interest form to their website to gauge the interest in the campaign, they had their maximum target βpre-pledgedβ.
They had a great story - Crowds love a good, wholesome story. With their passion and dedication to their family-run business, Hannah and Rory were able to give them one!
Media and events - Hannah and Rory got in front of their crowd face-to-face at events and online/print through local and national media outlets.
They kept communicating with their crowd throughout - Hunt and Gather Bee Co. made sure to keep their crowd updated through campaign updates, newsletters and social media posts on what they were up to and on the progress of the campaign. They made their pledgers and crowd feel part of the journey.
What could be improved?
Their post-launch communications plan could have been better - As the team received such a strong response from their expressions of interest form, they expected the campaign to get fully subscribed in the first few days (which didnβt happen). As a result, they didnβt focus as much on their post-launch campaign comms, which may have slowed down their momentum.
Conclusion
Hunt and Gather Bee Co. raised $350k and has +100 shareholders.
Hunt and Gather Bee Co., a family-run, Raglan-based ethical honey company, had evolved enough to take the next step in their business growth: going global. With the interest shown from their crowd and their previous project crowdfunding experience, equity crowdfunding made sense.
Shortly after their successful campaign, they hired new staff, stepped up their marketing activities and began preparing their products for export. The community-owned company was ready to take on the world!
Your action plan
Putting it into practice
Gauge the interest of your crowd
Your crowd is the most important part of a successful crowdfunding campaign and talking to them beforehand is key. If they donβt show a strong enough interest in owning a piece of your company, itβs better to wait and work on those relationships.
Have a clear action and comms plan beforehand
Having an almost-daily calendar of actions each core team member will take is key to success too. You need to appreciate that running an equity campaign successfully will be almost like having another job (in terms of the time and effort involved) during the campaign period.
Prepare to have your story seen and heard
You have a story. Make sure itβs seen and heard by arranging plenty of attractive visuals, media features, an honest, from-the-heart Founders letter, and a good comms plan. Bee authentic!
How can PledgeMe help?
If youβre considering an equity crowdfunding campaign, weβre ready to help. Contact us for a chat.
You can also learn more about creating an equity crowdfunding campaign in New Zealand on our website.
