Kirstin Hunter has been appointed as Birchal’s new CEO.
Birchal is Australia’s largest securities crowdfunding platform – or crowd-sourced funding as it is labeled in the country.
In January, it was revealed that Birchal’s co-founder and CEO, Matt Vitale, was stepping down from the position he had held for years.
At that time, Vitale explained that after a period of reflection, he was departing the firm as building the platform had come at a personal toll:
“Over the years, we’ve navigated immense challenges, and while my resilience and stamina have often felt limitless, in 2024, I found my limit—and pushed past it.”
In the interim, Birchal selected Kirstin Hunter, MD at Techstars and former CEO and co-founder at Future Super, to lead the company but apparently the temporary position has morphed into a more permanent one.
As reported in Business News Australia, Hunter said that “crowd sourced equity” has played an important role in Australia’s innovation ecosytem.
“As Australia’s market-leading crowdsourced equity platform Birchal is already well known for providing wealth creation opportunities for retail investors. What really excites me is crowdsourced equity increases the economic power of retail investors by taking business funding decisions away from a small number of professional investors and placing it in the hands of the community.”
She shared she will utilize her experience at TechStars and Future Super to grow the Birchal platform.
Birchal was launched in 2017 and grew to dominate online capital formation in the country. To date, over 300 companies have raised over $218 million. During the fiscal year 2024, the platform reported 66 campaigns, raising $46.5 million—an increase of 16% in successful offers compared to the year prior.