New Birchal boss Kirstin Hunter promises startups will get ‘money in the bank’ faster

Kirstin Hunter says her new job as chief executive of equity crowdfunding platform Birchal is the perfect amalgamation of her previous experience as a tech founder and the boss of a startup accelerator.

Ms Hunter — the co-founder of retail superannuation fund Future Super and former managing director of Techstars Sydney accelerator program — stepped into the role at Birchal last week.

Ms Hunter fills a position left vacant by co-founder Matt Vitale, who stepped down from the CEO role after eight years to focus on his health and wellbeing.

Ms Hunter believes Birchal — the industry’s biggest player — is now moving away from a founder-led stage and “doubling down on what’s working” within the company.

She wants to hit the ground running by honing in on the experience of investors and founders on the platform.

“I have that real empathy for the founder journey and just how challenging it is to be able to access the capital that you need to grow your business,” Ms Hunter said.

“I’m going to be working really hard to make sure the experience raising with Birchal really reflects the benefits that founders can have in raising (via crowdsourced funding) as opposed to a more traditional venture capital approach.”

Ms Hunter has promised founders a “short, sharp crowdfunded campaign (that) can get them back to running their business sooner”.

“A well-run crowdfunded campaign can deliver founders money in the bank within three months,” she said.

“Whereas typically, we’d be advising founders looking at a VC or even angel-led pathway that it’d be more like six to 12 months worth of focused fundraising efforts.”

Established in 2018, Birchal now commands about 80 per cent of the domestic crowdfunding market.

It has raised more than $218 million for Australian startups and small and medium-sized enterprises through more than 300 crowd-sourced funding offers.

Over the past six years, $40m have been raised for 43 WA companies.

Ms Hunter voiced her optimism for the investment market, which in recent years has experienced a downturn.

“Interest rates are starting to come down, the pressure’s coming off a little bit,” she said.

“People who might . . . have thought twice about an investment — especially an investment into a private company where you’ll have a number of years before you get liquidity — might start to open up.”