Crowdfunding is taking off in Asia. Depending on the country and the legal environment, rewards based and investment based crowdfunding is moving forward as the new approach to capital formation. While the United States has been a leader in rewards based crowdfunding, Europe and Australia has led the charge on the investment side. Asia is revving up to leverage all aspects of crowdfunding with some countries, such as China – already experiencing dramatic success.
Crowdfunding Asia is scheduled to take place in Singapore the first week of August. Many global industry leaders will be presenting and sharing their unique perspectives on the nascent industry. Singapore, one of the wealthiest countries in Asia, is a major commercial hub and the fourth largest financial center. Multi-national corporations from around the world have established corporate offices in this city state. As a commercial center, it is an appropriate location for a regional conference on the crowdfunding industry. Singapore as a country has recognized the importance of entrepreneurship and leaders are trying to create a “self sustaining startup ecosystem” that allows Singapore start-ups to tap on the expertise, nework and investments from influential investors. Some leaders see creating a “trusted hub” of equity crowdfunding as part of this new ecosystem.
Crowdfunding Asia will open on August 4th with a welcome by Mark Ogrady
of the U.S. Department of Commerce | International Trade Administration. The event, organized by PhoenixICT, has many big names in the global crowdfunding 
industry including:
- Paul Niederer – ASSOB
- Oscar Jofre – Equity Crowdfunding Alliance of Canada
- Anu Bhardwaj – Women Investing in Women
- Jason Best – Crowdfund Capital Advisors
- Doug Ellenoff – Ellenoff Grossman & Schole
- Andrew Tinney – KPMG
- Jimmy Wu – Taipei New City, RDEV
- Jonathan Sandlund – TheCrowdCafe
- and many more
Recently Australia based platform Pozible opened up an operation in China. Most likely this is the first of many global crowdfunding companies looking to move into one of the most economically diverse and dynamic regions in the world.
