Downlights One Third Funded With One Day To Go

Auckland-based social enterprise Downlights Limited has raised almost $60,000 from 97 pledgers. They have until tomorrow to raise their minimum goal of $150,000 through the equity crowdfunding platform PledgeMe.

“Over the past few days we’ve been inundated with candle orders with over 1000% increase on our previous week! We’ve also seen a wonderful spike in investors to our campaign.” says founder Jennifer Del Bel.

“We’re so happy to see our crowd come in, and people purchase our candles that have impact at their core.”

Downlights’ candles are manufactured by young adults with Down syndrome and intellectual and learning disabilities. One dollar from every candle sold is also donated to the New Zealand Down Syndrome Association and RECREATE NZ, organisations which empower disabled youth through employment and skill-building opportunities.

“As we see other companies struggle to keep their staff employed, including Altus Enterprises in the disability space, we want to show that we can grow our impact and our revenue even in times like this.”

Downlights are aiming to raise up to $300,000 to move from the founder’s home into a factory, and increase their production and impact.

“We decided to raise investment to grow from our community, because we wanted diversity not just in our team but in our ownership.” says Del Bel.

Downlights is seeking to raise between $150,000 and $300,000 which represents 15.2%–26.2% of the company. Shares are $0.75 each with a minimum investment of $300 for 400 shares. Investors will receive non-voting shares, and those that pledge over $25,000 will receive voting shares.

“We’ve been told that up to 60% of pledges can happen in the final day of a campaign - and we truly believe that will be the case here. We just need our crowd to make this happen.” says Ms Del Bel.

The equity crowdfunding campaign launched the day that New Zealand announced the move into lockdown, and has raised almost 40% of it’s goal. The campaign can be found here: https://pledgeme.co.nz/investments/390-downlights-limited

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