The worldwide market has exploded over the last 5 years. Just like we have seen in most new technology led disruptions – the market has taken off in the USA & Europe and is now beginning to impact Asia. The global market size for crowd funding vaulted from $ 6.1 Bn in 2013 to $ 34 Bn in 2015. The ideas & charities segment is a $ 10 Bn segment out of the $ 34 Bn global market. It has been predicted that by 2025, the global crowd funding market will grow to $ 90 Bn. However, going by current trends; it could be higher than that.
Incorporated in June 2015, FuelADream.com is a crowdfunding platform and marketplace for people and organisations that aim to raise funds for creative ideas, causes, charities, events and community led activities. They have raised $ 250,000 in an initial round of funding over the last 8 months from individual investors. This initiative focuses on the Ideas and charities segment of crowdfunding & aims to impact 2.2 billion people in India, Africa & S.E Asia. Fueladream is focused on the developing markets & looks to both disrupt the traditional ways of raising funds here & create an alternative mode of funding.
“Our point-of-view as to why this category has not grown enough is that the Funder side issues have not been adequately addressed. The biggest gap is in terms of awareness – how many people in India are aware of such platforms. Two, the near complete absence of the feedback loop – how often do Funders get to know what happens after the money is given, what impact did it generate. Lastly, the kind of campaigns that are ‘pitched’ to them – some of them do leave a lot to be desired. We believe, if we can solve for these, there are a billion dreams waiting to come true”, he went on to add.
Why FuelADream.com stands apart
Fueladream is bringing a unique combination of differentiators that aim to spur market creation, and address a key need gap.
Market Creation:
Marketing & Alliances: Apart from investing in PR & digital marketing to bring traffic, Fueladream shall look to partner with brands & corporates to participate on the platform.
Organisation Structure: FuelADream.com has their own Business Development team, Content writers, and Graphic designers to help the campaigners to tell their stories in the most effective way
Campaigns in Indian languages: Why should a ‘giving’ platform appeal only in English? FuelADream.com makes a campaign pitch available in Indian languages too, starting with Hindi.. It broad bases the appeal of the stories; making it easy for the vernacular constituencies
Addressing the need gap for transparency & accountability
Profile pages for transparency – In a market place as this, it is important that Campaign Owners’ profiles are complete, clear & readily accessible for Funders to check their backgrounds & track records. Funders too can create their ‘giving’ profiles.
Commitment to updates – One of the big need gaps in the Indian market is the absence of the feedback loop to the Funders – as in, they rarely get to know what happens after the money is given, what impact did it generate. All Campaign Owners on FuelADream.com need to commit to their frequency of updates after they raise their funds, BEFORE starting their campaign here.
Crowd Rating of Campaigns for accountability: All Funders get to rate the campaign on a scale of 1 to 10 during the contribution. These ratings get aggregated into a Crowd Rating for every campaign & displayed prominently. This enables well rated campaigns to attract more Funders. These ratings remain open at the time of the updates as well, and the Funders can revise them depending on the quality & timeliness of the updates.
Some of the innovative ideas with FuelADream.com
Introducing India’s coolest & smartest ELECTRIC BICYCLE which can revolutionize the way we look at urban commuting. Has a great range – 30 km on a single charge (60 km & 100 km models also available). With a powerful 250 watts battery it can reach a speed of 25 km/hr in 10 secs. Has 5 gears in the electric mode; what’s more it can charge while pedaling. No pollution. No fuel costs. Super convenient. And it’d be available at a special pricing for Funders on FuelADream.com.
The Visakha Jilla Nava Nirmana Samithi (VJNNS) is working towards the sustainable development of tribal communities in Vishakhapatnam district; by designing mechanisms those are self-manageable by the communities. They have been designing & deploying gravity-based water systems to reach water to tribals in remote areas in the district. Young girls & women from these communities have to walk 8-10 hours a day, every day, to fetch water – which adds up to mindboggling 4200+km a year.
They build these systems & tanks, with the participation of those communities, to bring water to their settlements & eliminate this daily drudgery. This great idea has already brought water to 431 villages, benefitting 1.3 lakh tribal people, and with Fueladream crowdfunding platform, they aim to take this success story to the next few villages!
The visually challenged get cheated very often, because they can’t make out the different currency notes when they are handed to them. The Tiffy template is an invention by Paul D’souza who has been passionately working with these people for a while. This simple card-like tool helps them read the notes and figure out which note represents which currency.
The material used for this, is the same material used for credit cards, so that they wouldn’t be injured whilst using the product. And it costs as low as Rs.1-2 to produce each of these cards, so even by contributing Rs. 100; one can help at least 50 visually challenged people. Small amount, BIG difference.
ABMMS – An organization that performs life-transformative cleft lip surgeries for the poorest of the poor through a network of 14 specialty hospitals.
Argenil – Two Bangalore based millennial are creating history and a brand new genre of music in the EDM (Electronic dance music) space – called ‘Hindustani House’ – by using Indian instruments and vocals.
The Grand Maestros of Indian Music (coffee table book) – A Mumbai-based professional photographer is compiling his life’s work with 22 legends of Indian classical music into a stunning 288-page book capturing previously unseen, intimate moments with them.
Vaani Foundation – Works with children with the ‘invisible disability’ – deafness – and helps them build a bridge of communication with their parents, and rescue them from their world of silence & isolation.
Source: Newsvoir.com