‘Blue Chip Infrastructure at a Startup Price’: Birchal Cuts Valuation to $5M in Push for More Honest Startup Pricing
27 May 2026 – Birchal CEO Kirstin Hunter has announced the company will cut its valuation by more than 80% in an unusually public reset that challenges how startup valuations are set in Australia.
The announcement was revealed in a detailed LinkedIn post directed at the startup and investor community, where Hunter argued that many founders and investors have become disconnected from current market realities and that “valuation isn’t a fact, it’s a negotiation.”
Birchal has this week opened its equity crowdfunding round at a $5 million pre money valuation, down from $40 million in 2022 and $26 million in 2024. The company’s share price will fall from a high of $1 in earlier rounds to 9 cents in the new raise.
Hunter said the repricing was a deliberate, strategic move informed by due diligence completed by institutional investors. Triple Bubble, Australia's first dedicated fintech fund (backed by x15 / Commbank), and Australia Venture Capital Partners, have both invested ahead of the round opening to retail.
The crowdsourced funding round allows existing shareholders and new retail investors invest on the same valuation negotiated by the institutions.
Hunter said most startup founders would avoid publicly discussing a valuation reset of this scale, but argued the industry needed more transparency around how companies are priced.
“The way startup valuations are discussed in Australia is broken,” said Kirstin Hunter, CEO of Birchal. “Too often they are treated like objective facts rather than negotiations shaped by market conditions, investor appetite and company performance.
“A down round is not always a failure signal. Sometimes it's just a market that has changed, and a leader who is mature enough to adopt the price that delivers the company the capital it needs instead of protecting her own ego.”
The move is particularly notable given Birchal’s role as Australia’s leading equity crowdfunding platform, having facilitated more than $241 million in funding across over 330 campaigns since launching in 2018.
Hunter said Birchal was effectively “taking its own medicine” by applying the same valuation discipline it encourages founders to adopt when raising capital on the platform.
The broader equity crowdfunding market has contracted sharply since its 2022 peak, when approximately $85 million was raised nationally across all platforms. That figure has since fallen to around $30 million this financial year.
At the same time, the sector has undergone significant disruption, with multiple competitors entering administration and investor sentiment toward startup funding cooling globally.
Hunter acknowledged Birchal had also experienced market share pressure during its leadership transition and strategic reset.
Despite the repricing, Hunter argued the company’s long term assets remained strong, including what she described as Australia’s largest retail investor community in equity crowdfunding and one of the deepest pools of campaign and transaction data in the sector.
Hunter said the lower valuation created a more attractive entry point for both existing and new investors.
"A repricing is the most honest signal I can send that I take this turnaround seriously. It rebases the entry point, brings fresh institutional capital onto the cap table, and gives every existing shareholder the chance to top up at the lowest price they have seen Birchal trade at.” she said.
The raise comes as Birchal continues expanding under Hunter’s leadership, with a strategy focused on growing retail investor participation and building tools to support founders beyond the initial raise process.
ABOUT BIRCHAL
Birchal is Australia’s leading equity crowdfunding platform, having facilitated more than $241 million in funding across over 330 campaigns since launching in 2018. The platform has consistently led the market, facilitating more than 64% of all crowdsourced equity funding activity in Australia during peak years of the sector.
Birchal is led by CEO Kirstin Hunter, who joined the business after leadership roles spanning founder, investor and accelerator management, including co-founding Future Super and leading Techstars in Sydney.
Founded by Matt Vitale and Alan Crabbe, Birchal played a central role in establishing equity crowdfunding in Australia. Vitale stepped away from the business in 2024, while Crabbe continues to support the company in an advisory capacity.
