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Equitise, a Sydney-based equity crowdfunding platform that has helped raise more than $90 million since it was founded a decade ago, has been placed into voluntary administration.
Administrators Damien Hodgkinson and Mirzan Mansoor, of Olvera Advisors, are now in control of the business which was among the first crowdfunding platforms established in Australia.
Equitise has facilitated capital raises of $94 million from 167 successful offers, but in FY24 none of its crowdsourced funding rounds were featured in the top 10 largest CSF raises nationally - the first time this has occurred since FY19, having usually had one or two feature within the rankings.
At the start of this year, CSF participants who invested in helmet technology company Forcite on the Equitise platform revealed they had copped major losses despite the startup's successful exit in a sale to GoPro, in which preferential shareholders were understood to have still made a return. Representatives from Equitise did not respond to requests for comment on the matter.
Equitise was founded in 2014 by Chris Gilbert and Jonny Wilkinson, who established the business in New Zealand initially before legislation liberalised crowdfunding in Australia in 2017.
Among the success stories since Equitise kicked off its first Australian crowdfunding campaign in 2018 are TBH Skincare which raised $466,000 in 2021, and later merged with BOST LAB to form York St Brands in 2023.
Other notable companies to have raised on the platform include Hero Packaging, Zhik, Spinifex Brewing, Akasha Brewing, Lumiant and Fractel.
The company has also helped facilitate the IPOs of Auric Mining (ASX: AWJ), LTR Pharma (ASX: LTP), Native Mineral Resources (ASX: NMR), Resource Base (ASX: RBX) and Southern Cross Gold (ASX: SXG).
However, Equitise struck a major hurdle earlier this year when New Zealand’s Financial Markets Authority (FMA) cancelled its crowdfunding services licence.
The cancellation in April this year followed an investigation by the authority that found Equitise had materially breached its obligations as a licensee and that it no longer met “certain statutory requirements”.
Among the FMA’s concerns were that Equitise failed to file its audited 2023 financial statements by 30 October 2023 and also failed to provide the FMA with a copy of its 2023 annual “agreed upon procedures report and other information”.
A report from the Australian Financial Review has found that Equitise was placed into administration after being unable to secure new capital to keep its operations going.
Wilkinson tells Business News Australia that he is confident the business will survive as the company seeks out the best way forward through the administration process.
"After a decade building Equitise, this is a challenging juncture,” says Wilkinson.
“I am deeply grateful for the unwavering support of our shareholders and partners throughout this period. Our commitment to the vision of democratising investment continues, as we explore our options and opportunities.
“The decision to enter voluntary administration provides a structured path forward to do so."
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