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 help with incorporation, eventually became a co-founder. 

The company began with contract brewing, funded by $7,000 initial capital ($5,000 from Stevens, $1,000 each from the other two Matts). They progressed through various funding stages, including family loans, asset financing, and bank debt, before successfully completing a $2 million equity crowdfunding campaign in 2016. The crowdfunding campaign, which reached its minimum target of $1.2 million within 24 hours and full subscription of $2 million within 2 days, enabled them to move from their original 300-square-meter location in Vivian Street to a much larger facility in Lyall Bay. 

Through their crowdfunding capital raises, they grew from producing 350,000 liters to becoming a business with 70 staff producing nearly 3 million liters of beer annually.

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Kia ora and welcome everyone to THE FUNDING FILES, where we explore the highs, lows and cashflows of funding a business in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Huge thanks to the founders for sharing their stories, to our board for inspiring us to make this pod, and to Rory Harnden for making our design and intro string.