WELLINGTON, New Zealand – Again Again has raised over $100,000 in three days after launching its equity crowdfunding campaign. The Wellington-based company is aiming to raise between NZ$300,000 to NZ$750,000 by offering shares to the New Zealand public via its campaign. The company will be working with several organisations, including the Wellington City Council, to get 3.5 million reusable cups in circulation. The Again Again concept is based on a use-and-return policy. Customers pay an initial deposit which is returned once they return the cup to a participating cafe.
“Again Again’s network of 160 cafes are collectively removing 800,000 cups a year from the tip and nature. Now it’s time to amplify that impact,” said Co-founders Melissa Firth and Nada Piatek in an email to interested investors.
Again Again has plans to expand their range from cups to takeaway containers to reduce waste, particularly plastic waste, right across the hospitality industry.
“We started with coffee but our vision has always been to make reuse common in takeaway culture,” says Ms Piatek.
Again Again aim to develop and launch a digital platform that will allow businesses to easily track and manage a lending system of reusable takeaway cups and containers. The founders believe it is a scalable, viable solution to New Zealand’s takeaway waste problem.
Auckland Councillor Pippa Coom, who spoke at the Auckland launch event, says: “Again Again’s systemic approach to enabling a change in the behaviour of our whole community is inspiring and contributes towards Auckland’s Zero Waste goal. We need to move towards normalising reusables for takeaways, and Again Again’s tech app is a practical, real-world application to achieve that”.
The platform will be co-designed in collaboration with Wellington craft brewery Garage Project. Again Again hopes to shift the brewery from their use of plastic containers to reusables.
“The waste kills us, but at the moment there’s no practical alternative,” says Garage Project Sustainability Ambassador, Steve Almond. “So when Again Again approached us about being the guinea pigs for a new digital way to manage our own stock of reusable bottles, we jumped on it.”
Again Again is offering up to 750,000 shares at NZ$1 per share, which represents 14.9% of the company. It launched privately on the 27th of October at 5pm NZDT and publicly on the 28th of October at 6pm NZDT.
You can find the campaign and information memorandum here: https://pledgeme.co.nz/investments/425-again-again
