{"id":33896,"date":"2023-10-20T14:32:07","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:32:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/top-10-crowdfunded-start-ups-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T14:32:07","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:32:07","slug":"top-10-crowdfunded-start-ups-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/top-10-crowdfunded-start-ups-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 10 crowdfunded start-ups – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Conforming to the stereotype that every trend that happens in the US arrives in Australia a couple of years later, crowdfunding has well and truly landed Down Under.<\/p>\n

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The concept is simple. An entrepreneur (or anyone, for that matter), posts a project online, asking for funds.<\/p>\n

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People then pledge as much money as they like towards the project. They only have to part with their cash if the entrepreneur raises their predefined funding target.<\/p>\n

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While crowdfunding is now an accepted part of US start-ups\u2019 methods of raising finance \u2013 two Aussies recently found success at famed American platform Kickstarter<\/a>  \u2013 the concept is still relatively new in Australia.<\/p>\n

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Any confusion is likely to dissipate with the recent launch of various Aussie crowdfunding platforms, including Pozible, iPledg and Project Powerup.<\/p>\n

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So does this method of funding actually lead to decent businesses? Here are 10 of the top start-ups to emerge from the crowd with some cash.<\/p>\n

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1. TikTok and LunaTik<\/h3>\n

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To US designer Scott Wilson, the idea was obvious \u2013 offer people the ability to wear the iPod Nano like \u201cthe world\u2019s coolest watch\u201d.<\/p>\n

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Having devised a simple snap-in design that allows users to house their Nanos on their wrists, Wilson turned to US crowdfunding giant Kickstarter for some cash.<\/p>\n

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Looking to raise $15,000, Wilson\u2019s idea was quickly pounced upon by backers from as far as China and India, raising an incredible $942,000.<\/p>\n

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Wilson says: \u201cWe initially hoped to get enough pre-orders to pay for tooling, some initial inventory and create a little buzz and validation in order to help us get into small retailers and distributors more easily. Now everyone is calling us.\u201d<\/p>\n

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2. New Matilda<\/h3>\n

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While TikTok is the US\u2019 largest crowdfunded effort, the equivalent here in Australia is a little smaller.<\/p>\n

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However, given the differing sizes and maturity of the respective crowdfunding markets, the $175,000 raised by online publication New Matilda<\/i> is a very decent effort.<\/p>\n

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The title was forced to close in 2010, the victim of a tight advertising market, but decided to resurrect itself using crowdfunding site Pozible. The gambit worked and New Matilda is now back online.<\/p>\n

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3. Enviu<\/h3>\n

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While the most that investors get in return for backing the raft of musicians, film makers and entrepreneurs is usually a warm glow of satisfaction, Enviu offers something tangible for your outlay.<\/p>\n

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The Dutch sustainability business used crowdfunding platform Symbid to attract 372 investors from around the world, raising the equivalent of $123,000.<\/p>\n

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Enviu managed this by giving each investor an actual part of the company. Shareholders are paid dividends and can sell on their shares.<\/p>\n

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Korstiaan Zandvliet, CEO of Symbid, says: \u201cEnviu was a special project for us, because the founders made a conscious choice for crowdfunding.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cWith this record we\u2019ve shown that equity based crowdfunding can be an excellent addition to the current ways of how companies raise capital.\u201d<\/p>\n

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4. Diaspora<\/h3>\n

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If a group of students approached you to ask for $10,000 to build an alternative to Facebook, it\u2019s likely that you wouldn\u2019t hear the end of their pitch before walking away.<\/p>\n

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Four New York University students tried this trick in 2010, aiming to raise $10,000 in order to create \u201can open source personal web service that will put individuals in control of their data\u201d.<\/p>\n

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Astonishingly, the team achieved their goal via Kickstarter within 12 days. Even before their deadline expired, the students had raised $100,000.<\/p>\n

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The 2,300 pledgers have obviously identified with Diaspora\u2019s deliberate rejection of Facebook\u2019s information sharing philosophy. The site allows users to create their own web server within a larger network, giving them control over everything that is shared.<\/p>\n

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5. OpenIndie<\/h3>\n

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Filmmaker-turned-entrepreneur Arin Crumley was a little miffed when he failed to find a distributor for his 2005 movie Four Eyed Monsters, <\/i>despite good reviews from critics.<\/p>\n

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He turned to the internet to work on a better model for independent filmmakers. He came up with OpenIndie, a web-based business that displays the number of people in each city that want to see a particular film screened in their locality.<\/p>\n

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In return, filmmakers pay a fee of $100 per year per film. The concept raised $12,400 on Kickstarter, as well as gaining a customer base.<\/p>\n

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Crumley told Entrepreneur.com: \u201cCrowdfunding gave us a core base of users right away. Also, one thing some people got [in exchange for funding] was a one-hour consultation with me about distributing their film.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cThat’s research \u2013 we’re getting insights into filmmakers’ concerns and how deals work.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Conforming to the stereotype that every trend that happens in the US arrives in Australia a couple of years later,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62430,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33896"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}