US crowdfunding site Kickstarter has started to accept projects based in the UK, with over 200 UK projects available on launch day.
Kickstarter is a crowdfunding platform for creative projects, such as films,art and technology.
Since its original launch, only US-based projects were able to request funding on the site, although the funding could come from anywhere in the world. Now, Kickstarter is looking to add to the $350million it has already raised for US projects by expanding into the UK.
How does Kickstarter work?
A project creator sets their project’s funding goal and deadline. If Kickstarter visitors like the project, they can pledge money to make it happen. If the project succeeds in reaching its funding goal, all backers’ credit cards are charged when the deadline time expires. If the project falls short of its target, no one is charged. Funding on Kickstarter is all-or-nothing, meaning if the project doesn’t reach its funding goal, it doesn’t get any money (so far, 44% of projects have reached their goal).
Kickstarter take 5% of the funding target, if the goal is reached.
It’s important to remember that by contributing to a project, you are not going to make any sort of return or profit on your money. The idea behind Kickstarter is to get projects funded, not to provide any sort of financial profit to contributors.
In order to post a project from the UK, you’ll need to be a permanent resident of the UK, have a bank account, government issued ID, and a credit or debit card.
UK listings form part of the overall Kickstarter site, with the only difference being the currency of the funding goal. Listings are split by city, or you can browse categories, where you’ll see all of Kickstarter’s projects, not just UK projects.
One of the first UK projects, and currently one of the most popular, is Picade, which is an arcade cabinet to house a Raspberry Pi computer for retro gaming. Here’s how it looks on Kickstarter:
Backers of projects can be offered rewards for making a contribution; in the case of Picade, for example, there are various levels of reward depending on how much you’d like to contribute, from £2, for which you’ll get updates on how the project is progressing, up to £192, which will see you receive a Picade when they’re ready to ship.
Heard a rumour recently that the FSA is proposing to outlaw ‘Collective Investment Schemes’, which would be a real shame.
Hi Rob
Firstly, to the commenter above, crowdfunding is not a “collective investment scheme”.
We also work with a similar company called Funding Circle (I won’t post a link as it might look like I am spamming!) and we have had a great experience so far. These schemes are the future, of that there is absolutely no doubt.
Cheers…Chris
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