Perspectives of crowdfunding as innovative and alternative finance platform in Latvia
2017
Mazure, G., Latvia Univ. of Agriculture, Jelgava (Latvia). Faculty of Economics and Social Development
Crowdfunding is funding a project or venture by raising monetary contributions from a large number of people. Crowdfunding basically operates in the form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. Crowdfunding is also an alternative funding such as mutual loan or "peer-to-peer lending”, collective loans or "equity crowdfunding” donation based money funding or “crowdfunding” means financing models, which are not dependent on banks, institutions, nonbank lenders or various funds and organisations. Crowdfunding is a relatively new type of financing, especially in Latvia; thus, the research aim is to evaluate the possibilities for Latvia’s promoters to raise funding through crowdfunding platforms. The research proved that crowdfunding success engine is “People Funding Stories”, since people are fascinated by stories − no matter whether these stories tell about a dream of a new entrepreneur or helping other people. Latvia’s residents are open to new technologies and support the idea of crowdfunding. The basic concerns relate to organisational aspects of transactions not on the necessity of raising funds. Energetic and ambitious people from Latvia have also tried their luck to raise funds through international crowdfunding platforms like “Kickstarter” and “IndieGoGo”. Here one can mention production of a cartoon "Stones in my pocket", start-up for production of "AirDog” − a small, agile, foldable quadcopter, especially designed for filmmakers and action sports enthusiasts who use GoPro cameras, development of an electric water heater “MIIT” (on “Kickstarter”) and manufacturing of a board game “Mission to Mars 2049” (on “IndieGoGo”).
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