FilmNeverDie Is Opening the Doors to Its Next Chapter

For the last 15 years, FilmNeverDie has been built around something pretty simple: we love film, and we want more people to shoot it.

What started as a small part of Melbourne's film photography community has grown into something much bigger. Today, FilmNeverDie is a film lab, retailer, film brand, camera maker and, most importantly, a place for people who still care about making photographs on film.

We've processed hundreds of thousands of rolls over the years. We've watched people discover their first film camera, come back with their first roll, learn how to shoot manually, experiment with different stocks and formats, and eventually become regulars.

A lot has changed since we started. One thing hasn't: we still believe film has a place in photography.

Now, we're opening up the next part of the FilmNeverDie story.

We're raising capital through Birchal

For the first time, we're giving the wider FilmNeverDie community the opportunity to invest in the business and become shareholders.

This isn't just about raising money. It's about bringing the people who have supported FilmNeverDie over the years closer to the business itself.

If you've ever dropped a roll into our lab, bought a camera from us, ordered film online, sent a friend our way, or simply followed along with what we're doing, you've already played a part in getting us here.

Now we're giving you the opportunity to own a small part of what comes next.

FilmNeverDie currently processes around 25,000 rolls of film every year and has grown into a vertically integrated analogue photography business, spanning film developing and scanning, printing, retail, our own film products and cameras, and the software and systems that keep the lab running. We've recently had our strongest profitable year to date, generating approximately $1 million in revenue at around a 10% net margin.

But we're not interested in simply maintaining what we've built.

So, what's next?

The demand for analogue photography has changed considerably since FilmNeverDie began.

Film is no longer something we're waiting to disappear. There is a new generation of photographers picking up film cameras, alongside the photographers who never stopped shooting it.

We're seeing that demand first-hand through the lab every day.

The next stage for FilmNeverDie is about building the infrastructure to support that growth.

Part of the capital raised will go towards improving our existing operation and expanding our capabilities. We're also looking towards opening a second location in Melbourne and taking FilmNeverDie into Japan, one of the world's deepest analogue photography markets.

These are significant steps for a small Australian business, but they're also the kinds of opportunities we've been working towards for years.

And we'd rather build them with the film community than build them without it.

Why let customers invest?

It's a fair question.

The obvious answer is that the people who use FilmNeverDie are also the people who understand what we're trying to build better than anyone.

A film lab isn't just a machine processing rolls of film.

It's the place where someone's holiday photographs come back to life.

It's where a first-time film shooter gets their first scans.

It's where a professional photographer trusts someone else with an entire shoot.

It's where someone can walk in with an old camera they found in a drawer and leave with a new reason to use it.

That's the business we're building.

We want FilmNeverDie to be here for another 15 years, and then another 15 after that. We want to keep investing in the lab, make it easier for people to shoot film, develop products of our own, and continue creating spaces where analogue photography can actually be experienced rather than simply remembered.

Bringing our customers and community into the business is a natural extension of that.

This is still a small business

We also want to be upfront about what investing means.

FilmNeverDie isn't a publicly listed company, and buying shares isn't the same thing as buying shares in a company on the ASX. This is an investment in a small, growing Australian business, and like any investment of this kind, there are risks.

Shares acquired through a crowd-sourced funding offer can also be difficult to sell because they aren't traded on a public exchange. Birchal provides the regulated platform for the offer, and the full CSF Offer Document contains the details of the investment, the business, the risks, the use of funds and the terms of the offer.

We don't want anyone investing simply because they love film.

We want people to read the information, understand what they're investing in, consider the risks and decide for themselves whether FilmNeverDie is something they want to be part of.

More than a lab

When people ask us what FilmNeverDie is, it's getting harder to give a simple answer.

We're a lab.

We're a retailer.

We're a film company.

We're making cameras.

We're building our own technology.

And we're part of a community that has kept analogue photography moving forward through some pretty uncertain years.

The investment round is an opportunity to bring all of those things together and give us the resources to take the next step.

If you've been part of FilmNeverDie at any point over the last 15 years, we'd love for you to take a look at the opportunity.

You don't have to invest. You don't have to be an existing customer. And you certainly don't have to be an expert investor.

But if you've ever thought, I wish there was a way to support the businesses keeping film alive, this is one way to do exactly that.

FilmNeverDie is opening its doors to the community that helped build it.

If you'd like to learn more about the offer, read the full information and register your interest, you can visit our campaign page on Birchal.

This article is intended as general information only and should not be taken as financial advice or a recommendation to invest. Before making an investment decision, please read the FilmNeverDie CSF Offer Document and the applicable risk warning in full. Past performance is not indicative of future performance.