AN ECO-APP launched by two Sonning residents is helping people live more sustainably across the globe.
During the pandemic, Lars Nordhild Rønning and Helene Rønning created community platform Ailuna to support people “who want to make the world a better place”.
Now, their firm has raised hundreds of thousands of pounds in crowdfunding as they look to take the business to the next level.
A project born in the borough
Mr and Mrs Rønning founded Ailuna in October 2019 after realising they wanted to become more sustainable.
They created an app that helps people, companies, councils and more connect and support each other, to improve the environment with healthy habits.
“Helene and I lived in Sonning for eight years,” Mr Rønning told Wokingham.Today. “We moved because our son was going to Henley College and we wanted to be close to the countryside and to London. It was just perfect and we fell in love with the area.”
The company co-founder said it was in Sonning that he and his wife dreamed up Ailuna, as they started to take baby steps towards sustainability.
“We became almost vegetarian, we cut down on single-use plastic and bought an electric car,” he said. “And we realised that in order to become more sustainable, we all need to build these greener and better habits.”
Healthy habit forming
This became the ethos of Ailuna: helping others become more environmentally-friendly by building up healthy habits one at a time.
In the app, users sign up to challenges such as drinking from refillable bottles, not binning food and not buying anything new for seven days at a time.
“We have taken inspiration from the sports world and give users personal challenges to do the same new thing for a period of time,” Mr Rønning explained.
And to make the app accessible, Ailuna does not focus on CO2.
“Most people don’t have an understanding of what reducing your footprint by a ton really means, because it’s very abstract,” the founder added. “But what people can relate to is how many bottles and cups they save.”
The app is now being used by people in more than 50 countries across the globe.
It’s time for business
The couple are crowdfunding to expand the app so it supports businesses who want to go green — and they have raised nearly £200,000 so far.
“I’m really excited because this shows there is support when it comes to digital platforms for sustainability,” Mr Rønning said.
“We will use it to build ‘Ailuna for X’ to suit businesses, education, governments and charities.
“This means organisations will soon be able to use Ailuna as an engagement tool when it comes to sustainability.”
He said the money will also go towards building teamwork into the app, so people can take on tasks with their colleagues.
They hope to raise £300,000 in total.
It’s just the beginning
According to the co-founders, this is just the beginning of their Sonning-born project.
Mr Rønning said one day, he wants to turn Ailuna into a sustainable social network.
“I feel like we’ve accomplished a lot but we’re only seeing the tip of the iceberg,” he said.
“We as individuals need to do more and we cannot expect governments or organisations to solve climate change problems for us.
“We all have a responsibility to bear and in my opinion we’ve got no choice but to play our part.”
He said the United Nations’ recent IPCC report has shown there is a problem that needs fixing and hopes Ailuna can help.
“We dont believe there is necessarily a clear distinction between what individuals and businesses should do,” the co-founder added.
“Our focus is about engaging employers and citizens and the app is just the first offering in what we really want to build.”
To find out more about Ailuna, or download the app, visit: www.ailuna.com
Read about the crowdfunding campaign here: www.bit.ly/3iCwdNl
