Crowdfunding is having a moment in Taiwan, with campaigns growing in size and diversity: report

Ever since 2011, when the first few local crowdfunding platforms, including Flying V and zeczec, were launched, crowdfunding has becoming one of the most popular means to raise funds for creative and innovative ideas in Taiwan.

Taiwanese crowdfunding news site CrowdWatch publishes a report about Taiwan’s crowdfunding ecosystem every year. In the 2019 report, it points out that over 900 local crowdfunding campaigns hit their funding goals and raised a total of more than NT$1.6B ($55.5M) last year.

In 2019, the 20 most-backed projects are backed by 9,511 people and the 20 most-funded projects receive NT$24M ($800k) on average. Both figures have seen a 50% growth over a year.

Since 2017, the number of projects that make it to raise more than NT$10M ($330k) doubles every year. In 2019, there are at least 35 such cases, including POIEMA Fit (created by POIEMA), an air purifier for home that raises a whopping NT$134M ($4.4M) on flying V and makes the most-funded product ever in Taiwan. The same company has also raised around $1M for its car air purifier in 2018.

In recent years, there have also seen an increasing number of Taiwanese startups launching their products on US-based Indiegogo (such as personal air purifier Luft Cube), Japan-based Makuake (such as AI-powered coffee machine iDrip), and other overseas crowdfunding sites.

On local crowdfunding platforms, everyday consumer products -- such as bluetooth earbuds (created by XROUND), smart baby monitor (created by Cubo AI) and AI-powered, portable instant voice translation device -- are the most popular among backers. Eco-friendly products like reusable water bottle and straw for bubble tea have also seen increasing popularity as consumers are going greener to stop producing plastic waste; it can be linked to the ban on single-use straws that went into effect last year, too.

There are other crowdfunding products that attract numerous backers for how they address a real-life issue:

Qbi magnetic toy blocks
Why are kids bored of toys so quickly? Qbi, believing it’s because they don’t have playmates sometimes, creates a modular set of magnetic toy blocks to encourage children to have fun with their parents and at the same time develop logical and creative thinking skills. The company is confident that the toy not only is safe to kids but provides much better experience than others that are more affordable yet less interesting to play with.

〔Original :Meet Startup @ TW〕
https://meet.bnext.com.tw/intl/articles/view/46212