Kickstarter opens in Asia, starting in Hong Kong and Singapore
Kickstarter officially launched on Wednesday in Singapore and Hong Kong, a move the company expects will smooth the way for startups in the region keen to be part of the crowdfunding phenomenon.
This represents the company's proper entrance in Asia, and it hopes to attract more companies from the region onto the platform that helped launch hits like Oculus, the Pebble watch and Coolest Cooler.
SEE ALSO:Amazon launches Kickstarter sectionBefore this, entrepreneurs who wanted to be on Kickstarter needed to either be a resident in, or have a registered company in regions such as North America, Australia or Europe. Now, Hong Kongers and Singaporeans are added to the list.
Yancey Strickler, CEO and cofounder, told Mashablethat while "tens of millions" of dollars have been pledged from backers in the two Asian countries, most projects aren't from the region, in part due to the earlier requirements.
"The hurdle will now be lower for entrepreneurs here," he said.
So far, 100,000 people from Singapore and Hong Kong have backed Kickstarter projects in the seven years since the company was launched. Residents in Singapore — a country with around 5 million people — have pledged nearly US$30 million to around 35,000 projects, he noted.
11 million people have backed 110,000 projects since Kickstarter launched in 2009.
Still, that's just a tiny fraction of the 11 million people who have backed some 110,000 projects since Kickstarter launched in 2009, so Strickler is expecting backer participation to grow after the expansion.
He wouldn't specify how much he expects the audience numbers here to grow, but said he doesn't expect it to catch up to the U.S. market. "My hope is to see a nice, steady presence of projects coming from creators in Asia ... We've always grown organically. We don't spend money on marketing or advertising or big launch events."
He said Hong Kong and Singapore were picked as the first two markets to kick off Kickstarter's Asian expansion because "there is already substantial backer communities here."
This means the company has less education to do with regard to managing expectations.
Often, newcomers to crowdfunding think the concept of backing a project is the same as buying a confirmed product off-the-shelf, and get annoyed when projects fail to deliver on time — or at all, he noted.
- ·“笋货”上市采购旺!清远西牛麻竹笋迎秋季尝鲜热
- ·免费赠票!快来围观2023年最后一场乡村音乐盛会
- ·一人持卡 多人使用 随时充值 余额累计
- ·全力以赴做好岁末年初安全生产工作
- ·优化广东优质农产品产销资源对接!“农友圈”又有新动作
- ·在火出圈的《奢香夫人》天地,书写阳光威宁新篇章
- ·勇担社会责任 奉献爱心
- ·名山县残疾人园艺协会成立
- ·What to expect when a tech bubble bursts
- ·因为年菜,今年过年不一样
- ·荥经县174名贫困学生获资助
- ·客户遭遇电信诈骗 建行员工慧眼识破
- ·Foreign, multicultural students rise amid declining school population
- ·名山县残疾人园艺协会成立
- ·一位老检察官的检察人生
- ·@尔滨老铁,南方小番茄来了!