With passing years, crowdfunding is becoming popular among entrepreneurs mainly because it’s a great way to ‘test the waters’ before you actually go big and launch the product/service. You understand your idea’s worth and where it stands in the industry. It’s actually the crowd telling you what’s working and what needs to be weeded out – that’s what any entrepreneur wants. So if you’re idea is powerful, we believe crowdfunding is your perfect launchpad.
This encourages people to invest in any particular campaign as per their wish. The range of investment can be from Rs 100 to lakhs and also the investors varies from campaign to campaign,
We’ve seen how people invest on a couple of promising products on our platform – for example, a tech company called Leaf Wearables came up with this product for the safety of women called ‘Safer’ and raised Rs. 5,16,670. Unico’s world’s smallest blue tooth earphones also raised over Rs. 90,000 on Ketto. Additionally, edible spoons from a company called Bakeys that took the whole world by storm raised over Rs. 24, 92380 on Ketto. The concept was pretty strong and promising. Maybe a few more years down the line, we’ll see revolutionary ideas like Pebble and Oculus opting for crowdfunding, and people investing on them.
The direct benefits of crowdfunding include getting market traction, accessing early adopters, social proof, press coverage, potential investor interest, pre-selling, access to capital, risk hedging, etc. It also helps generate user feedback allowing for enhancements or sourcing new ideas.
Lately, we can see some of the new trends emerging in India.
Recurring funding
The recurring funding model enables campaigners to raise funds from their donors on a recurring basis. For instance, if the campaigner is an artist then the donor will his/her fan. Through recurring, the fans get the exclusive subscription to the artist work in return for their contribution. Introduction of the recurring model will ensure a constant source of income for these artists, helping them to only focus on their art as a full-time job.
India is at a stage where it has just started to understand the value that crowdfunding can add to fulfilling their dreams. These new trends will only add to the country’s fascination towards this emerging concept of fundraising and speed up its momentum towards having a significant global impact.
Campaigner Verification
The authenticity of campaigners has always been an issue. But now most of the crowdfunding platforms including Ketto now focus on the identity, motive, and objective of the campaigner. The details of goal amount are shared on the campaign page through graphs.
Page trending
Nowadays, the most active campaigns are placed and showcased on the official trending page. This helps viewers to understand which campaign is grabbing more eyeball and they can directly make a donation.
Microsite
The microsite provided can be used by various organizational partners like NGO’s, media channels, colleges etc. For instance, Ketto created the microsite for Global Citizen, Colors Infinity, Indian Army etc. Many organizations and NGO’s are using these microsites for their ongoing campaigns.
Team Fundraising
Fundraising is best done in a team. Having more helping hands multiplies your reach and helps you raise more funds. Ketto dashboard allows you to add more members to raise funds in a fun and effective manner.
The credibility of NGOs – Some of India’s top NGOs have raised funds on Ketto – Teach for India, CRY, Oxfam, Rapid Response, Nanhi Kali to name a few. We’re Asia’s most visited and trusted crowdfunding platform – so we make sure the fundraisers started by NGOs are safe, transparent and most importantly trustworthy.
Nowadays, crowd provides their full support towards unique projects. Ketto has witnessed these in many of their creative campaigns.
Bakey’s Edible Cutlery- Bakey’s were ‘Edible’ because they were made of flours. They contained absolutely no chemicals or preservatives and were just flours kneaded with water and are 100% natural products. BAKEYS’ was established in 2010 in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, to provide an alternative to plastic disposable cutlery and the bamboo disposable chopsticks. The campaign raised a number of Rs24, 92,380.
Mixtale: Drink It ! Mix It !- Mexer Foods and Beverages LLP, a startup born in the city of Mumbai. Young budding entrepreneurs got together to bring to the market READY TO DRINK(RTD), FIZZY(Carbonated),CAFFEINE FREE and NON ALCOHOLIC Beverages(Mocktails). The campaign raised Rs 2,57,700 and gave shape to their business.
In regards to Tapping Emerging Market for Social Impact, crowdfunding platforms in India have been active in every way.
Creating awareness – The process of crowdfunding involves participation from a large number of people which spreads the word among people and their respective networks. It’s the most convenient way to give a wider reach to any cause – that’s what makes it the perfect choice for any NGO/activist with a cause in mind.
More participation – Supporting a cause via donations is no longer restricted to the elite or the upper class of the society. Now everyone from a philanthropist to a school student can pitch in if they feel strongly for a cause.
Possibilities of collaboration – Ketto has partnered with over X NGOs since its inception. Since multiple NGOs have successfully raised funds on Ketto, we connect NGOs with each other in case they have a cause that could create a bigger and more meaningful impact on collaboration.
The credibility of NGOs – Some of India’s top NGOs have raised funds on Ketto – Teach for India, CRY, Oxfam, Rapid Response, Nanhi Kali to name a few. We’re Asia’s most visited and trusted crowdfunding platform – so the fundraiser started by NGOs is safe, transparent and most importantly trustworthy.
About the Author
Zaheer Adenwala is a high-tech Co-Founder and CTO of Ketto- Asia’s most visited crowdfunding platform. Being a mechanical engineer from Drexel University, Philadelphia, he moved back to Mumbai in 2008 and started his career as a Product Manager @ Affinity, a digital ad network. There he worked on multiple consumer-facing properties as well as internal products. In 2011, he moved to Media.net which is one of India’s largest digital ad networks where he was heading a Product team. Most notable products built there was the Mobile ad suite that contributed 23% of the revenue within 1 year of launch.
In addition to that, he has worked on deploying an Affiliate Management system, CRM, and a host of internal products. Throughout his career, Zaheer has worked within the multicultural environment, from a large company to a startup.
Zaheer has known Varun (CEO of Ketto) since his school days. The master of cool energy joined Ketto and its founding team in 2013. Ketto’s tech department rose to new heights under his guidance and leadership, often working after hours and hours with no breaks.
In his spare time, Zaheer is an intrepid traveller who enjoys reading books over a cup of coffee and facing the cognitive challenge of new personal projects.
Crowdfunding- The current industry, its trends and growth
