An Australian start-up, which donates half of its profits from its toilet paper sales towards building sanitary facilities for those in need, recently raised $50,000 from crowdfunding after its CEO sat on a toilet seat for 50 hours.
Simon Griffiths, the CEO of ‘Who Gives A Crap’, said in the team’s crowdfunding video on Indiegogo, “I’m sitting down for what I believe in, and I’m not getting up till I’ve got some toilet paper.”
Who Gives A Crap is among the new generation of businesses that put sustainability and social responsibility on equal footing to profits. Founded in 2012, the company aims to sell sustainable, everyday hygiene products and using half of the profits to build toilets in places that need them.
The Melbourne-based company was co-founded by Griffiths, Jehan Ratnatunga and Danny Alexander after the trio found out while working with humanitarian organisations that more than 2 billion people across the world still had no access to toilets.
“There are still two billion people without access to a toilet, that’s why we donate half our profits to help provide access to clean toilets and clean water,” Griffiths told CNBC.
After two years of development, the team finally had a product that was eco-friendly and comfortable. They just needed the funding to make their first bulk order. To get funding for their first production order, the company relied on crowdfunding. They worked out a plan that required Griffiths to sit on a toilet in the company’s empty warehouse on a live feed for as long as it took to reach the funding goal.
It took Griffiths 50 hours to reach the goal.
Crowdfunding has quickly emerged as a popular way for companies to receive funding directly from potential consumers. Companies, showcasing their products, services and goods, have managed to raise millions of dollars through crowdfunding.
The company shipped its first order in March 2013. Since then the company has expanded its services to the US, the UK, and is preparing to launch in Canada. It has also given away 10.8 million Australian dollars ($7.8 million) to sanitation projects to date.
While the company has mostly relied upon self-funding, it recently managed to raise $30 million from investors for which Griffiths didn’t have to sit on a toilet for hours. Verlinvest, The Craftory, Jamjar Investments and Grok Ventures were some of the companies that invested in the business. The funding would be used to help accelerate the growth of the company, and in turn, help more people have accessible toilets.
“When we think of the goal and the problem we’re trying to solve … if we’re going to put a serious dent to that problem, we need to be accelerating the growth that we’re seeing today and try to reach as many people as possible,” said Griffiths.
(Edited by : Anilkumar Narayan)
