New Zealand social enterprise, Eat My Lunch, is set to launch the first peer-to-peer (P2P) campaign through PledgeMe’s new lending platform, PledgeMe.Lend, next Monday (June 13th). This news comes less than a month after the crowdfunding portal revealed that the organization would be the first to use its new website.
Earlier this spring, co-founder and CEO of PledgeMe, Anna Guenther, announced PledgeMe has received approved by the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) to launch its very own P2P lending platform. The website will reportedly allow companies and organizations to run transparent initiatives to crowdsource lending from not only their existing crowd but also the wider market.
Eat My Lunch revealed in a press release that it will be issuing its very own Lunch Bonds, an innovative offer that provides a financial return to their crowd and gives more lunches to Kiwi kids. Currently operating in Auckland and Hamilton, the funds will be used to launch the organization in Wellington. The minimum investment in the Lunch Bonds is $1,000 and lenders will be able to choose between two combinations of interest rate and giving.
Founder of Eat My Lunch, Lisa King, stated:
“Eat my Lunch has made a large impact in a short amount of time with over 180,000 lunches gifted. But, with 29% of Kiwi kids living in poverty, we have only scratched the surface. We need money to grow to do more good.
“We are heavily reliant on manual processes at the moment to organise ordering and logistics, we think with a more robust technical platform we’ll be able to scale and service more cities and towns. Wellington makes sense as the next city to expand to because it has a strong community focus. We have already received support from local businesses and the council to launch there.”
Guenther shared:
“It’s going to be really interesting to see what happens when investors can choose between a good financial return on their investment, or to help feed more kids in need on the same campaign page.”
Last year, Eat My Launch launched its first crowdfunding campaign for its kitchen. The initiative secured nearly $130,000 from over 2,500 backers. King noted:
“We’re hoping for a similar number of supporters again, but a larger pledge amount as the money will be repaid. We believe our community is keen to help us grow our impact, especially if they get repaid for their support. We can’t wait to see what we can achieve with the New Zealand public.”
Guenther added:
“It’s great to see a commercial approach around strengthening community, where the well being and support of children that are in need is at the centre of every decision. We can’t wait to see the impact and scale Eat My Lunch will reach with the money they borrow from their crowd. This is how we imagined crowdlending would work for Social Enterprises.”
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