Fund seekers, investors find merit in online option
Pradeep Kumar
Chennai: Chennai-based musician Pradeep Kumar was quite fond of the works of Tamil poet Arunagirinathar and wanted to produce a musical documentary based on his works. Kumar, a 29-year-old musician trained in Carnatic and contemporary music, needed about Rs 10 lakh to make the film. He knew it would be tough to get a bank loan for this project, so tried alternative routes to raise funds.
This January, Kumar pitched his idea on the crowd-funding platform Wishberry and started campaigning for his project. Barely a month later, the project was able to garner funds of Rs 10.7 lakh from 192 like-minded supporters. Unlike a bank loan which involves many formalities and paperwork, raising money via crowd-funding was hassle-free and quicker.
Kumar is one among the thousands using crowd-funding to fund offbeat causes such as producing a movie, writing a book, venturing into a social cause, or even for building a board game. Crowd-funding helps people raise capital from a large pool of investors. “In India, the trend started 3-4 years ago,” said Vijay Anand, the CEO and founder of The Startup Centre, an accelerator for technology-based startups. “It is picking up pace now.”
Many Chennai-based projects have attracted crowd-funding through popular platforms like Wishberry, Ketto and Catapooolt. “We are in an era of idea explosion and many people are encouraged to do something on their own. They need the capital to execute the idea and also for marketing. Crowd-funding will definitely help them to raise the necessary funds quicker,” said Anshulika Dubey, co-founder and COO of Wishberry.
The platform currently has four Chennai-based campaigns running on it. Apart from being a just a platform for fund raising, crowd funding platforms also provide customised marketing and campaign management services. “Crowd-funding is the best option for creative folks having a ground-breaking idea but not able to get a venture capital fund,” said Chennai-based entrepreneur Santhosh Kumar S. Along with two friends, Santhosh Kumar recently raised '2 lakh through crowd-funding for a building a board game called King’s Kin, which aims to develop life skills in children.
“The whole idea of crowd-funding works on trust and you can find a lot of like-minded people to support your project here,” said Santhosh Kumar. “Also, if your idea did not get enough supporters, you will know that there is no market for the product at that point of time,” he said. According to Shireesh Anjal, who backed the King’s Kin project, crowd-funding could provide different kinds of benefits to the contributors depending on the kind of project they support.
“When you are backing a cause-based social impact projects, the best reward is the satisfaction of making a positive impact on society apart from changing some one’s lives for good,” he said. If one contributes to a film, album or a game, the person who funds may get early access, discounted price, gifts or even profit share. “You get a feeling of having contributed to a particular field,” he said.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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