In Japan fundraising has
become one of the highest hurdles a startup can overcome. Young Japanese
entrepreneurs in dire need of cash, however, are now resorting to “crowd
funding” to take care of their financing needs.
How did crowd
funding grow in Japan?
In recent months,
young people interested in setting up startups have turned their eyes to crowd
funding because it is hard for nascent companies to raise funds.
Inspired by IT
trendsetter Chris Anderson’s latest book “Makers” and the U.S. “maker movement,”
an increasing number of Japanese are looking for ways to produce something
outside a factory setting, boosting potential demand for seed funds.
“In the second half
of 2012, Chris Anderson’s ‘Makers’ was published and it started to prove the
superiority of crowd funding as a way of promoting the Japanese manufacturing
industry,” Campfire said in a press release in January.
This method attracts
not only entrepreneurs and creators, but also investors.
It is a very useful way of raising funds
said Hiroyuki Kuroda, secretary general for Venture
Enterprise Center.
A lot of people can easily join the projects (as financial supporters) with low risks, if they agree with the purpose.
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The Japan Times
