Zero Co breaks equity crowdfunding record
25 October 2021 at 4:22 pm
Plastic-free home cleaning brand, Zero Co, hit its equity funding goal in less than seven hours. It’s the fastest crowd-sourced funding raise in Australian history.
Byron Bay start-up Zero Co raised $5 million in six hours and 27 minutes last week, crashing equity crowdfunding platform Birchal in the process.
What started at 10am was all over by 5pm that same day, and saw the company gain 3,082 new investors.
Zero Co’s high number of investors was another record-breaker for Birchal — the previous record being jointly held by women’s rideshare start-up Shebah, which was placed into voluntary redundancy last week, and Aussie fintech Thrive.
The $5 million raised by Zero Co through Birchal took the Aussie business’s total funding last week to $11 million.
Earlier in the week, it announced it had also secured $6 million in venture capital funding from Square Peg.
Founded in 2019 by serial entrepreneur Mike Smith, Zero Co provides customers with household cleaning products in reusable bottles made from reclaimed plastic. It then sends them pouches of replacement products so users can refill their bottles. Pouches can then be returned for cleaning and re-refilled via prepaid envelopes.
Smith said that the aim of the funding was to allow the company to expand product ranges, scale operations and launch globally. This would get Zero Co one step closer to its mission to eliminate single-use plastic from every kitchen, laundry and bathroom.
“We want our customers to help write the next chapter for Zero Co. We’re growing at a rapid pace and now we are looking to scale the business and take our audacious mission into international markets,” Smith said.
Investment in ethical business has been climbing over recent months with Who Gives a Crap securing a $40 million investment, First Nations non-alcoholic craft beer company Sobah raising $1 million and Kester Black, the world’s first beauty B Corp, raising over $2 million in equity crowdfunding to expand its product line.
Find out more about Zero Co here.
