 | |
| Industry | Crowdfunding (food and beverage) |
|---|---|
| Predecessor | fundafeast |
| Founded | July 2015 |
| Founder | Cheryl Clements |
| Headquarters | , |
| Website | pieshell |
PieShell was a crowdfunding website for food and beverage start-ups. The company was based in New York City, USA, and was launched by Cheryl Clements in October 2016.[1]
After working as a senior project manager with SAP SE software, Clements identified an unmet need for early stage funding for food and beverage start-ups.[1][2][3] In 2014 she launched a food crowdfunding platform called Fund-A-Feast, which she rebranded as "PieShell" in 2016.[1]
The business name "PieShell" was a tribute to her mother's pie business.[1] The site launched with four campaigns that included a hot dog truck and a ketchup product.[1] In mid-2017, PieShell was hosting around 30 campaigns.[1]
PieShell requires anyone wanting to launch a campaign on the site to first pledge to another active campaign; this is to foster a sense of community.[1] A campaign is initially hosted on a private page, and must raise 25% of its fundraising target from people with whom the people running the campaign have shared the link; once that milestone is reached, the campaign is made visible and open to the public.[1] People who give money can receive rewards from the campaign.[1]
The venture was financed in part by a GoFundMe campaign and initially operated out of a Spacious coworking space.[4][5] The site made money by keeping 6% of the funds raised in a campaign.[2]
