Equitise celebrates Rabble take-over

New Zealand’s third equity-crowdfunding service, Equitise, is gaining a major competitive advantage with its acquisition of the unique Rabble.co.nz online business community. Created in 2013 by the team at Southgate Labs, which includes early-stage investor and advisor Rowan Simpson, the site has grown to a membership of over 600 New Zealand companies, ranging from hi-tech to e-commerce to life sciences. 

Equitise will run Rabble in parallel with their equity crowdfunding platform, providing Rabble members with easy access to crowd-funding opportunities. 

“We originally built Rabble because we thought it was an important resource for early-stage companies in New Zealand who wanted to raise their profile, grow their team and attract investors and advisors,” says Simpson. “We’re excited the team at Equitise share this view and look forward to seeing it continue to flourish in the future as part of their platform.”

Equitise are marking the acquisition with the launch of a competition for both established companies and early-stage businesses with prizes totalling over $20,000. The prize in the established business category includes a package of business services valued at over $10,000 to help the winners raise capital for expansion.  

The early-stage category prize includes $10,000 web development and additional business growth support including mentoring from Suse Reynolds, an angel investor and Executive Director of the NZ Angel Association, who will also be helping Equitise with the judging. 

Companies are encouraged to enter at www.equitise.com/competition – entry takes just two minutes and entries close 1 May 2015.

The Equitise equity-crowdfunding service launched at the end of January 2015. Its first raise, for mobile technology and tourism business Tourism Radio NZ is 37.5% subscribed with 40 days to run, and management believe the investment will result in revenue growth compounding by 50% year on year.

Equitise is the first trans-Tasman crowd-equity platform and supports businesses to raise investment both by selling equity to ‘the crowd’ and introducing trans-Tasman angel investors, a powerful blended and international model for New Zealand businesses.