Social enterprise start-up gets Silicon Valley backing

Social enterprise start-up gets Silicon Valley backing

A New Zealand-based social enterprise has caught the attention of international funders as it heads into the final days of one of New Zealand’s largest crowdfunding campaigns.

Conscious Consumers’ has raised nearly NZ$75,000 on PledgeMe over the past five weeks. The money will be used to create the world’s first ‘Good Spend Counter’ – a technology that will track the spending of ‘conscious’ consumers and reward sustainable businesses with their custom.

Two days from the end of the campaign, Silicon Valley’s Namaste Foundation announced it would pledge US$5,000 to the campaign.

Matthew Monahan, Director of the Foundation, said: “Conscious Consumers is making a positive impact in New Zealand and setting a tone for the next generation of social enterprises. Count us in!”

“The pledge is just the icing on the cake” said Ben Gleisner, CEO and co-founder of Conscious Consumers. “We’ve been overwhelmed with the support we’ve received, with thousands of individuals and hundreds of business and organisations getting behind the campaign” he said.

“Having interest from such high profile, international backers just shows that the Good Spend Counter has the potential to revolutionise business not just in New Zealand, but also the world. We can’t wait to get started.”

ENDS

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