When Melbourne-based crowdfunding site Pozible launched in 2010, they were already already chasing the tail of the largest crowdfunding site, Kickstarter, based in New York City, USA. Yet in Australia, founders Rick Chen and Alan Crabbe were the first to introduce the idea of having the masses pledge sums of money towards creative projects via their website.
Other than working around heavy regulations set by the Australian Securities and Investment (ASIC), Chen and Crabbe had to gain the trust of project creators and build confidence amongst the general public to increase pledge support.
Events like “Let’s Talk Crowdfunding”, hosted at HUB Melbourne, become one way of building trust. “Crowdfunding was still a very new concept back then to Australians. We felt it was necessary to fund these events in order to introduce the general public to projects that were successfully backed and allay any concerns by backers and project owners alike.”
As of February 2013, the platform has helped funnel a total of AUD$8 million (SGD$10.2 million) across 1,300 successful projects since it was established in May 2010. It’s widely considered one of Australia’s most popular crowdfunding platforms working in partnership with prominent festivals within the Australian arts industry such as the Melbourne and Sydney Fringe Festivals.
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