The Funding Files

In this episode of the Funding Files, Anna interviews Joe Emans from Three Sisters Brewery about their funding journey and current equity crowdfunding campaign. Three Sisters Brewery has been almost entirely funded through Joe's crowd - starting with a project campaign to open in the old Taranaki Savings Bank on the main street of New Plymouth, through to the growth funds required to scale up...

In this episode of the Funding Files, we interview Rowan Simpson, a key figure in Aotearoa New Zealand's tech scene. He recounts his founding and funding journey, starting with Flat Hunt, which was acquihired by Trade Me, leading to his early involvement in Trade Me's growth and eventual $750 million exit. He later became an early investor and employee at Xero, and invested in Vend and T...

In this episode of The Funding Files we interview Peter Russell, founder of Reterniti, a company creating stones from cremated ashes so no pet or person is ever forgotten. Russell shares that the idea came from a deeply personal experience with his dog, Hogan, whose ashes were buried under a rock later built over by a council toilet block. Frustrated by how ashes are typically handled, Russell set...

On this episode of the Funding Files we’re interviewing Sasha McLeod who recently raised $20k in three hours to fund the first production run of her re-usable liquid medicine syringe. Sasha, a mother and digital marketing professional, created DoseBuddy because of her own shitty experiences using single-use medicine syringes. She partnered with a product developer found on Instagram to design and...

In this episode of the Funding Files, Simone Woodland from Circle Living shares her journey from architecture and social entrepreneurship in the UK to founding a co-housing community in Golden Bay, New Zealand.  After securing a 14.5-hectare site from a local farmer with a 10% deposit and a promise they’d figure out how to fund the rest in 9 months, Simone went on to develop 34 homes with a focus...

In this episode of the Funding Files, Jessica Manins, co-founder of Beyond Studios, shares the rollercoaster journey of her gaming business 🎢 From COVID shutting down her interactive VR arcade game weeks after it launched in the US through to later paying out dividends to shareholders. She shares how she got into tech, from her early work at Star Now and community building at Biz Dojo, through to...

In this episode of the Funding Files we interview Jamie Cashmore from twiice. Jamie and his family started twiice to address environmental concerns around single-use cups, creating tasty edible cups. They've sold 350,000 edible cups across 26 countries and are now pivoting to selling their patented technology.  In this episode we hear more about Jamie's background, including his training...

In this pod, we interview Joerg from Broken Heart Spirits, a multi-award-winning spirits manufacturer based in Queenstown. Joerg shares his journey from being an electronic engineer and airline pilot to becoming a master distiller.  Originally from Germany's Rhine Valley, he discovered New Zealand during his time flying commercial planes here and eventually purchased a vineyard in 2001. He st...

In this episode of the Funding Files, we interview Wills Cameron, a third-generation spirit seller who has re-launched his family's cream liqueur business.  Wills shares how he transformed his father's and grandfather's previous business model into a modern multi-channel approach. He talks about how they started, by selling out their first batch through a Facebook group during COVID...

This podcast is all about the funding journey of Kami, a digital classroom platform used by 90% of US K-12 schools. The conversation is between Anna Guenther, co-host of The Funding Files and co-founder of PledgeMe, and Alliv Samson, one of the co-founders of Kami.  Alliv delves into Kami's beginnings in 2012 as a university project called Notable, designed to make lectures more interactive....

In this episode of the Funding Files we interview Greg Shanahan, founder of Veriphi, about Veriphi’s innovative solution to prevent medication errors using laser technology, AI, and cloud computing, and his big goal to create a billion-dollar company here in Aotearoa New Zealand.  In the pod we cover Veriphi's development, funding journey, and future plans with the goal to reduce the 3% of ho...

In this pod, we learn about Laura from Safestack's journey in building her company, from its inception as a cybersecurity consultancy to its evolution into a VC-backed platform with over 25,000 security learners in 80 countries. Laura shares her journey as a software engineer and security enthusiast, detailing the origins of her passion and the unique approach Safestack takes in integrating s...

In this episode of The Funding Files,  Anna and Matt interview Lani Evans, the first CEO of Thankyou Payroll, a New Zealand-based payroll intermediary with a social enterprise model.  Lani shares her journey helping scale the company, raise early-stage funding, and later support an equity crowdfunding campaign. The conversation highlights the lack of funding when you're just getting started,...

In this episode of The Funding Files , co-host Anna Guenther chats with Matt Stevens, co-host and co-founder of Parrotdog, about his funding journey raising capital to launch and grow a craft brewery in Wellington, way back when the beer industry was just taking off.  Parrotdog started in 2011 when three friends named Matt decided to start a craft brewery. Matt Stevens, initially brought in to hel...

Tim, Lou and Nige, former pastors and youthworkers, started Morningcider in 2015. What started off as just a name to do with their favourite suburb, Morningside in Auckland, has now grown into a nationwide cider brand that distributes around Aotearoa and the world.  In this pod, Tim and Nige will share the story of how they started, the power of joint ventures with friends to scale, and how being...

Back in 2011, Anna needed a topic for her masters thesis, and fell in love with the idea of crowdfunding. Her background was grants administration and she thought there must be a better way to fund things.  She met a guy building the backend to a crowdfunding platform, and they joined forces to launch PledgeMe in 2012.  Over the years, she’s funded PledgeMe in a variety of ways - personal investme...