Just checked out wefunder and angellist and both the platforms have started crowd funding .
How about a crowd funding platform for our own country? Currently we see a lot of startups just backed by Angel Investors with serious A B and C funding which frankly I have never even heard of before. Also funding is limited to contacts of either people from IIM’s IIT’s or people having contacts like Alok. I think it has got a great potential and it is like disrupting the monopoly of rich people currently supporting the Angel Investing System
Darshan Bhambiru
Own Country refers to India ? Or maybe you don’t read newspapers or get online News content too ?
Internationally apart from the ones you named above, there are also many others the top few are listed for the purpose of understanding and comparison again :
Indiegogo is an international crowd funding site founded by Danae Ringelmann, Slava Rubin, and Eric Schell in 2008. Its headquarters are in San Francisco
Kickstarter is a new way to fund creative projects. : A home for everything from films, games, and music to art, design, and technology. Kickstarter is full of projects, big and small, that are brought to life through the direct support of people like you. Since our launch in 2009, 4.9 million people have pledged $802 million, funding 49,000 creative projects. Thousands of creative projects are raising funds on Kickstarter right now. The Team is more than 69 strong Check the awesome Picture in action there. Though there are some projects funded from India ref Mumbai listed too
Mumbai 13 PROJECTS, New Delhi 9 PROJECTS , Bangalore 5 PROJECTS, Chennai 5 PROJECTS, Dharmsala 3 PROJECTS, Varanasi 3 PROJECTS, Kolkata 2 PROJECTS, Mcleodganj 2 PROJECTS, Mysore 2 PROJECTS, Ahmadabad 1 PROJECT
Great Details and Video (International) explaining the various terms and how to raise crowd funded capital for the ventures here.
Let me take this opportunity to put down some basic answers as an attempt (to what I have gathered myself in a similar way as above) for the benefit of many others who might be also having the same or similar Questions or Queries about it.
Though would leave the part of the Legality issues for the Rockstars of the Legal Eagles of TRHS.
CROWD FUNDING : It is bringing together a group of people, through Internet, who are interested, who believe in your idea and help you raise a capital by individually funding small sums of money. E-commerce in India is slowly coming of age, offering hope to an increasing number of start-ups that are being unleashed upon the Indian consumer with a relentless pace.
The concept of crowdfunding is new in India and is still in its nascent stage though the same cannot be said for the developed world. It is immensely popular in America and Europe and has helped thousands of individuals to realise their dreams.
Most of us have always nurtured some idea but never brought it to light due to lack of financial resources to invest in it. We believe Indian minds have one of the most dynamic and creative thought processes but there is always a dearth of financial thrust.
What exactly is crowdfunding?
Crowdfunding is a powerful way to raise large amounts of money to sustain an existing business or to start a new venture. What makes crowdfunding different from other options of arranging funds for your business is that here you will be taking funds from people who trust you and who believe in your ideas. So, basically, in crowd-funding other users of a crowd-funding platform would help you raise the required capital in the shortest possible time. All you have to do is to convince them that your idea is worthy. Actually, there are lots of industries that can take advantage of crowd-sourcing and crowdfunding in India. These industries include, but not limited to, product or service based industries, political campaigns, scientific researches, potential artists, creative innovations, or even individuals who have terrific ideas, yet unable to finance those ideas to implement.
Gone are the days when you had to depend on your family or friends, to fund your projects, and not to mention the embarrassing situations that you had to face numerous times. If you think that who else would help you if not your family and friends, then here is an eye-opener for you. With the arrival of crowd-sourcing in India, you can get help from strangers who believe in your ideologies.In fact, this is the best way around to fund any of your projects.
When you use Crowd-funding to finance your start-up or existing business, this precisely means that your business would be exposed to millions of users and investors all over India. This is the perfect way to attain mind-blowing publicity of your business even before starting it.
Even though nearly half a dozen crowdfunding platforms will be launched in the coming year in India, crowdfunding is in very early days.
The National Crowdfunding Association of India (NCFA India)™ is an organisation to promote crowdfunding in India. Guidelines and policies to get this done available on the link provided and more too for reference. Abhishek Maitra, Sneha Kohli & Kalpesh Agarwal – Team NCFA India
If you talk from an Indian scenario there is no legal limitations for reward based crowdfunding in india which is possible and already working. Whereas in case of equity based there are still no set regulations in place.
In case you still need any more info regarding the crowdfunding scenario in india or if you have any questions you can get in touch with them at info@ncfaindia.org
For an activity Example : India’s Mahindra Group launched an online platform called Spark the Rise that lets people submit ideas and request funding (similar to the Pepsi Refresh Project), and then receive help from volunteers who can lend their expertise or equipment to assist projects. Mahindra awards monthly grants based on public votes and picks by their expert jury.
This infographic shows what happened in the first week that Spark the Rise launched. 1,960 projects were submitted, which is an average of 11.7 per hour. 574.95 crore rupees were requested and 85,630 volunteers needed. Some unusual equipment requests included 1 ton of coconut shell powder and a sensing satellite. The most popular category for submissions was technology and the state of Maharashtra had the highest number overall.
Some Examples listed : New and Old not in any particular order.
Good Collection of most Crowdfunding organizations are listed here.
Fundmypitch , PikAVenture , Funduzz is a young start up in the online crowd-funding space in India.
IGNITE INTENT , Wishberry , Ketto very new, currently no projects on
The idea of crowdfunding is really not new in India. Temples and mosques, for example, are built overnight using a large number of donations. The FIlm Industry has been doing this for a long time as well too. Massive festivals are put together in a matter of days with donations from thousands of devotees. However, the concept of online crowdfunding is new to the country.
Crowdfunding can be of three types.
1. Donation and reward based: The platform accepts a donation from many backers for projects. In most cases, the return involves finished goods like the “pebble watch” or a signed DVD of the movie backed by the crowd. Sites like Ketto do this kind of crowdsourcing in India.
2. Lending based: These crowd funds take money from different people and facilitate loans or microfinance to the needy. Microfinance platform Milaap is an example of such crowd sourcing in India.
3. Equity based crowdfunding: This mode of crowdfunding, where donors take a share of equity in the project or startup, is not legal in India yet.
Of the three crowdfunding models, donation based crowdfunding is the most pragmatic approach as of now. Lending based microfinance platforms like Kiva need approvals from the central bank. The Reserve Bank of India in 2011 approved Milaap , a non-profit microfinance institution to crowd source funds from overseas. The approval, a first in the industry, was seen as a major boost to crowdfunding.
How many people know about Rang De? They are one of the biggest crowd sourcing players in the country,
There are legal issues around crowdfunding in India. Equity based online crowdfunding is not legal in India yet, it is prevented because of present laws. It was made legal in the United States recently when the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (JOBS) act was passed in April last year.
Hope this helps the Juices to start flowing and checking the various options and finding out how and where we can start “Starting from home” always works best crowd fund your Family Friends and relatives since they would be the best to trust you and since they know you and vice-versa as well the first option should start from there without much resistance or restrictions
Do not take my Word for it do your own research too, this was just to get you started and find out more and make your own analysis, this is neither any confirmation that these are the only ones available and this is the only information so available too. You and anyone else too, may add in the comments any other information (if you may find and try after this as an inspiration 🙂 ) this is my own sincere attempt to collectively gather the mentioned information via various mediums and make it available here for everyone’s benefit (myself including to come back anytime for the same again and continue ahead) to take it further as per their individual analysis and requirements 🙂 Please excuse me if I might have missed something, or might have not included, this is not a Complete listing nor do I claim it too. Thank You!!
Signing off here now, until Funding with the Crowd happens from your end, for all those who require it (then again do we require funding too ?) Why wait or ask anyone else to START anything ? We are the Entrepreneurs (collectively and individually as well) and here we are The Rodin HoodS too!!! 3 Cheers!! Think, Do, Be!
Disclaimer : All the above mentioned information and pictures or names are properties of the respective owners and I am in no ways related to any directly for the purpose and this is not promoting any or all with the mentions, it is purely for informative purposes. It should not be construed as, and does not constitute, legal advice on any specific matter, nor does this message create an attorney-client relationship.
CROWDFUNDING FROM A TO Z White paper PDF Format By Legal & Compliance LLC
Divyanshu Asopa
Will be a working on a project for which I will be going for crowd funding. Bookmarking it your answer in evernote. Thank you, sir! 🙂
Vikram Parekh
Thanks Darshan. This is very helpful.
Regards,
Vikram
asha chaudhry
darshan… in a week or two after this post gets adequate traction, i would request you to create a post around your response. it would be a huge value add…
thank you for being you!
Gaurav Saini
Hi Darshan
Thanks for your valuable inputs, I was specifically referring to asset based crowdfunding which is at a very nascent stage in US.I’ve seen trends being adopted very late in India , partially due to the problems faced by entrepreneurs and and laxity of support system.
As a technology guy I’ve seen companies like “Kickstarter” and “Indiegogo” grow and raise money for many projects but not for another company(hope you are getting the idea).It would be incredible if people start investing (even very small) in some company, cause then
a) it would be socially advertised automatically , cause people themselves would’ve backed the project ,and they want to reap the future benefits and hence are its best advertisers.
b)there will not be any single rich guys (Alok might be fuming right now 😛 )
I think and many would agree that we always want to create something and in the event of that we are attracted to many brilliant things, couple of which we want to drive or impact in some way or the other , and “I think investing in a startup (as a crowdfunder(cause I’m still not filthy rich)) is 1000 times better than investing in an insurance plan”.
Looking at the current scenario I doubt there are any laws in India governing investments by common man into such equity based crowdfunding . I was just curious if somebody could’ve thrown some more light on that.At a time when we are seeing crowdfunded political parties like AAP, why can’t companies be crowdfunded , making the crowdfunders atleast , if not the equity holders but the benefit reapers.
I sincerely thank you for spending your time in reading by minimal words question and answering it.Thanks a lot. I also thank Asha for actively monitoring and moderating this forum, which I frankly don’t like but since she did it and I cannot help it so still “thanks”.I would love to work with people who are interested in such kind of project
asha chaudhry
????
dude – i am not here to be LIKED.
you’ve got a problem with my above comment? or is it something else?!
if you’re referring to this part of the line i asked you about which i found confusing – “I think it has got a great potential and it is like disrupting the monopoly of rich people (did I mention someone before in my post).” …..
go ahead and add it for all i care. it seemed distracting and i wasn’t too sure whether you’re taking a personal dig or not??!!
now in this comment above you’ve said something similar – “b)there will not be any single rich guys (Alok might be fuming right now 😛 ) “
i don’t really understand what the context is – and what you are trying to insinuate. pardon my ignorance.
fyi – i asked you about it. as a practice i don’t touch members’ content (apart from alok’s posts) unless offensive.
i didn’t edit your post (which i could’ve). and i don’t get your sarcastic thank you bit. and frankly speaking i’m not interested either.
have an awesome sunday!
Gaurav Saini
I’m just telling you frankly how I felt, when you just saw your message popped up in my inbox.You seem like NSA @rodinhoods, hope you have not applied any filter with word “Alok”
BTW I liked your “Dude” 🙂 and I didn’t refer anything..
PS : Nobody asked for your help , you can help me for what I asked for.If you are not able to get it, doesn’t mean everybody else will fail to get it as well.And I care for only those who are able to get it.You are free to go ahead and edit my post cause that will be your right, but expressing one’s ideas or questions should not be influenced by anybody.
Had an awesome sunday..& No offense meant..!!!
Rishi
Some great info. there, Darshan. I didn’t know there existed a NCFAI 🙂 I think crowd-funding works great for certain companies looking to raise funds (e.g., non-profit, startups dealing with something tangible, physical products etc.) Like you mentioned Pebble (and Ouya) are some great examples of crowd-funding. I also think equity based crowd-funding has some challenges (regulatory, legal, and fit for certain stages/types of companies) to overcome, and might not be the best for all businesses.
Gaurav Saini
First day , and you are already making waves Rishi..!!!
Thanks for your valuable comment.Why dont we take equity based crowdfunding to P2P currencies.
PS : I’ve more such Ideas , if someone is willing to invest in 🙂
Rishi
Gaurav, I’m not sure if I completely get your idea just based on few words you mentioned, but I can second guess what you might be thinking.
Let me be upfront that I have a very limited understanding of P2P/crypto-currency such as Bitcoin. P2P currency (being decentralized) has its advantages, but it’s still a grey area to many investors and governments. Forget common man!
Given current levels of acceptance, I *think* it’s difficult to scale. Bottom-line — it adds risk and complexity to the problem you’re trying to address. Having said that, don’t take my word for it. If you really think you’re onto something, you should work on it. You can also study what/how some of the other startups in this area are doing; there are few already in this space.
P.S. Based on my limited experience + numerous mistakes I made, I can tell you this…the problem with ideas is that investors don’t put money on ideas unless you have a prior track record building a successful business / have a significant breakthrough or IP / know the investor personally / have pre-established customers/partners etc. For everything/everyone else, traction is the answer. 🙂
Gaurav Saini
+1 But I think P2P currencies are already getting backing from lots of biggies like Winklevoss and it is quite disruptive ..Also the way current international and national laws are being framed I doubt if they will ever be made easier for a common man 🙂
Darshan Bhambiru
Consolidating posts on Topic!!!
Another CrowdFunding Success Story (Or Two) Fin and Gecko
More here : “crowdfunding“
The biggest problems of crowdfunding in India
Crowd-funding for startups. Is it a good idea?
My experience with crowd funding Tangle
$1,705USD – Raised of $5,000 Goal. This campaign has ended and will receive all funds raised. Funding duration: June 16, 2013 – July 31, 2013 (11:59pm PT)
Awaiting an Outcome response yet !!
Crowdfunding a Sci Fi Short Film – Project Fusebox !!
$494USD – Raised of $25,000 Goal (Project closed). This campaign has ended and will receive all funds raised. Funding duration: December 14, 2013 – January 31, 2014 (11:59pm PT).
Fund raiser campaign “crowdfunding” for WeCode on ideigogo.com
$0USD – Raised of $156,000 Goal (Project closed) This campaign has ended and will receive all funds raised. Funding duration: November 28, 2013 – January 27, 2014 (11:59pm PT)
Interview of a Solar Soldier
Why I care about the right bra size…
Project Lincoln: Re-inventing the batpod.
(COMIC) Crowdfunder Blunder
Disruptive! Yes!!! I would Agree to that NOW 🙂
What Entrepreneurs can learn from Bitcoins!
Cheers!!!
Alok Rodinhood Kejriwal
Darshan,
Shall I retire now from TRH?
:)))
Alok Rodinhood Kejriwal
SEBI has some dranconian laws on this.
I’m not sure if even kickstarter now is ‘legit’ to allot SHARES for cash – or they still do it for love + goodies?
I know there was gonna be an enactment by Obama in April – has that happened?
Ps – what is your BACKGROUND to do this? Any finance/banking history?
Darshan Bhambiru
Who Moved My Bitcoins…?!! 🙂
You cant Retire!! When you are not even Tired yet!! 😉 😛
Just Your Friendly Neighborhood Alien!!! Feels Great With such Responses and Charges up the Energy Boosters!!
Moving into Hyper Drive!! Wish you a Colorful and Happy Holi!! Cheers!
Jaytirth Ahya
Interestingly found this.
And we launched LetsVenture.com Beta on Sept 29. 😉