A sweet victory for the country's newest publicly-owned chocolate factory.

Dunedin Manufacturing Holdings set up a Pledge Me account to raise $1.8 million to buy and expand the Otago Chocolate Company.

The group reached its target within a day and a half, spurred on by more than 3,000 individual pledges.

OCHO's new director Jim O'Malley said they're getting straight into action.

"The very next step now is to go back and contact the manufacturer in Italy to say that we will placing an order very soon, and also going out and getting quotes on the refit of the building that we're going to go in to down at the waterfront

The entity will use the money to buy the Otago Chocolate Company, build a factory and export the goods across the world.

O'Malley said it's humbling to have so much support.

"I feel a little bit like you must feel if you've just won an election. You've got all the response from the public, now of course you've got the responsibility to deliver. We also recognise now we've got a huge responsibility to make sure this actually turns into something that we promised."

The campaign will continue until it reaches its maximum target of $2 million.