At 9am this morning, New Zealand’s Covid-19 Vaccine Corporation Limited (CVC) launched their PledgeMe campaign to raise
up to $3.5 million. In under an hour, the wholesale campaign met its $1.5 million target and $35,000 was raised in the
$2 million equity crowdfunding campaign.
CVC is in the process of developing the world’s first biobead Covid-19 vaccine, taking a different approach to other
vaccination development organisations. The vaccine works with biobeads which get coated in small amounts of the virus, a
feat the CVC team wanted to achieve first before going out to the public.
Cofounder, Dr Robert Feldman, states that before they’d managed to develop the biobeads, everything they’d been doing
was purely theoretical.
“Previously, we had every reason to believe that we could make the beads coated in part of the virus, but now we have
done it.”
Earlier last month, CVC raised $3.3 million in a private investment round. The funds raised from its current equity
crowdfunding campaign will be used for further development and testing of the vaccine.
“We have encountered huge support from many quarters. We successfully licensed the technology from Polybatics, we were
graced with amazing financial support from a group of investors and received an early and hugely helpful Government
grant.”
CVC scientists have been working alongside Scion scientists to develop the vaccine at their facility in Rotorua.
“We now have the material that we need to test for production methods, analysis and develop methods to confirm our
vaccine is exactly what we say it is. We have what we need for testing, and if everything goes successfully, we have the
‘mother’ of the actual vaccine we will give to the public,” says Dr Feldman.
PledgeMe CEO, Dr. Claire McGowan, says “We are very happy with the progress of the campaign so far and that everyday New
Zealanders have the opportunity to be part of a potentially successful Covid-19 vaccine”.
CVC’s equity crowdfunding campaign launched on 11/11/20 at 9am NZDT. They are seeking to raise up to $3.5 million
through their PledgeMe campaign (equity crowdfunding and wholesale). Shares are $0.80 each with a minimum investment of
$500. Their wholesale campaign is funded and they've raised $61,400 through their equity campaign.
You can find the campaign and information memorandum here: https://pledgeme.co.nz/investments/428
Wholesale: https://pledgeme.co.nz/investments/432
About Covid-19 Vaccine Corporation Limited
Covid-19 Vaccine Corporation Limited (CVC) was founded in May 2020 to develop the world’s first biobead vaccine. It is made up of some of New Zealand’s top
vaccine experts.
About PledgeMe
PledgeMe provides a platform for Kiwis and Aussies to go to their crowds for funding and has raised over $53 million for over
1500 campaigns in the past eight years.