Startups and individuals when not seeking a fund raise from a bunch of investors generally turn to crowdfunding. And, entrepreneurs for a fact know that one of the world’s most famous crowdfunding platform Kickstarter, in order to pass its verification process requires them to at least have a legal presence, a business bank account and credit card in one of the countries it has presence in.
If all this is done, they have to raise funds in other nations’ currencies. Well, good news, you don’t have to go through this tedious process anymore! Why? The platform is all set to enter Asian markets with launch of its Singapore and Hong Kong editions.
In a conversation with Tech in Asia, Julie Wood, director of global communications for Kickstarter, said,
There’s already a large, supportive community of Kickstarter backers in Singapore and Hong Kong — people who have been supporting the creative ideas of others for years. Now they’ll have the opportunity to become Kickstarter creators, sharing their own ideas with the world and finding the support they need to bring them to life.
Kickstarter is currently available in nearly 20 countries, including the US, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Spain. Last year, the funding portal launched campaigns from Germany, France, Austria, Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, and Switzerland.
The Kickstarter impact
Professor Ethan Mollick, University of Pennsylvania analyzed 61,654 projects of Kickstarter from 2009 to 2015 in a study and found out that it has created 29,600 full-time and 283,000 part-time jobs, as well as 8,800 new businesses and organizations over these years.
Mollick sent online surveys to 65,326 creators who had raised more than $1,000 on Kickstarter before May 2015 as well as a selection of those who had raised below that amount. He also surveyed between 7 and 10 backers for the majority of the projects. Besides listing out a bunch of estimates, Mollick also noted that 37 percent of his survey’s responders said their projects helped them advance their careers.
A total of 21 percent said they started earning more after running a successful campaign. The study estimates the gross income for the funded companies at more than $5.3 billion and 82% of them are still in business.
Kickstarter co-founder and CEO Yancey Stickler wrote,
Creators reported that Kickstarter afforded them the creative independence they would not have been able to achieve through other funding avenues, and allowed them to bring their project to life without compromising their vision. These are conditions that empower creators to aim high and take the creative risks needed to fuel innovation.
Setting Milestones – collaboration with Amazon
Amazon has teamed up with Kickstarter to sell more than 300 products that originated on the crowdfunding site. The products will be showcased as “Kickstarter Collection” on Amazon Launchpad, a platform that showcases unique and innovative products of various startups to Amazon’s customers worldwide. In nutshell unlike before, Amazon has made one dedicated space for the platform’s products.
Over 300 Kickstarter products from a variety of categories such as Electronics, Home & Kitchen, Wireless Accessories, Movies & TV, Books, Toys & Games and themes such as Always Be Learning, STEM Products, Inventing the Future, Exquisite Objects and Public Benefit will be available for shoppers. This collaboration can make it convenient for more entrepreneurs and inventors to bring their products to market benefitting Amazon as well.
1 comment