MIDDLE EAST CROWD FUNDING TOP 5 PLATFORMS
CROWD FUNDING
Just when we thought that the financial scene of
our society could not get any more boring, it just turned around gave us the
most pleasant shock of decades. The JOBS Act that was passed in April of 2012
paved the way to investment crowd funding, but the JOBS Act Rulings by the SEC
have yet to be fully implemented to formally kick the market off.
The Crowd funding
Industry Report by Mas solution put out
data showing the overall crowd funding industry has raised $2.7 billion in
2012, across more than 1 million individual campaigns globally. In 2013 the
industry is projected to grow to $5.1 billion.
What is Crowd Funding?
Crowd funding (alternately crowd financing, equity crowd funding,
crowd-sourced fundraising) is the collective effort of individuals who
network and pool their money, usually via the Internet, to support efforts
initiated by other people or organizations. Crowd funding is used in support of
a wide variety of activities, including disaster relief, citizen journalism,
support of artists by fans, political campaigns, startup company funding, motion
picture promotion, free software development, inventions
development, scientific research, and civic projects.
Crowd Funding Models:
There are 2 main models or
types of
crowd funding. The first
is
what’s called ..
1. Donation-based funding:
The real origination of crowd funding has come through this model, where funders donate via a collaborative goal based process in return
for products, perks or rewards.
2.
Investment crowd funding:
The second and more recent model is investment crowd funding, where businesses seeking capital sell ownership stakes online in the form of equity or debt. In this model, individuals who fund become owners or shareholders and have a potential for financial return, unlike in the donation model.
Although we have an impressive list of
successful Crowd Funding platforms all over the world, middle east has been
seeing some new action in this area. The Top 5 Crowd Funding Platforms in the
MENA region and some more are as follows..,
1. ZOOMAL
The platform, Zoomaal, is backed
by several venture capital firms throughout the Arab region and aims
to support projects that require $5,000 or less, says CEO Abdallah Absi.
Each project must fit into one of the platform's categories and be accompanied by a video, a biography of the project owner and a series of "gifts" to incentivize potential backers to
pledge money. Uniquely, Zoomaal will focus on projects in the Arab
world. “There’s currently no organized platform where potential donors, including Arab expats, can browse projects in the Middle East,” says Absi. Once the payment is collected, Zoomaal wires it
to the project owner.
In line with regional sensitivities, banned projects include anything to do with alcohol, politics, violence, religion and pornography.
Globally, crowd
funding is seeing
explosive growth. In 2012, the market grew
81%
to
$2.7 billion, according industry researchers Massolution. But in the Middle East the concept is only just catching on.
2. YOMKEN. - EGYPT
A non-profit social enterprise, it aims to link
up low-tech manufacturers -- who, in Egypt, are often slum-
dwellers -- with artists, scientists, engineers and product designers who can help them
innovate in their businesses. Once a prototype of
a new product has been made, it can be posted on
the site, allowing customers to pre-order.
Launched in July of 2012 to offer project-based crowd funding to the Arab world.
While it’s Dubai-based
and largely focused on films, one of its prominent current projects includes a bid for a mobile art bus in
Palestine.
4. YOOFERS
- BEIRUT
Launched in Beirut, as a global platform encouraging people to leverage their social networks to fund
small items they need. Unfortunately for reasons unkown this one has closed down recently..
Entelak.com is a crowd funding platform directed towards the Middle East, with the aim
to
help the Arab economy by connecting entrepreneurs and the crowd who would be interested in investing in their
startups. Entelak team screens fund raising applicants, reviews their business and legal
documents to ensure their credibility. Once approved their business with all details are posted online for the public to
fund within a 90 day
time frame.
Who can join as a capital seeker/fund
raiser?
Following countries:
• UAE &
• Egypt.
More countries will be included later on.
• You must have a legally registered Company either
in
Egypt or
UAE.
• You must pass legal and financial screening.
Crowd funding holds out the
promise—or threat—of revolutionizing how funds for projects or businesses are
raised. Managing the complexities of this emerging method of raising capital
requires experience in multiple disciplines, including securities, tax,
financial services and e-commerce.
·
Businesses
establishing novel models for equity crowd funding
·
Securities
brokers and dealers adopting or enhancing Internet-based platforms
·
Portals
for non-equity crowd funding, such as platforms that offer donation, reward
and/or pre-sale models
·
Financial
service institutions and new entrants interested in peer-to-peer lending
·
Accelerators,
incubators, angel organizations and startups creating portals or raising funds
through crowd funding
·
Support
organizations that provide back office and other services to crowd funding
portal
Projects submitted in this platform are subject to its
review. That is before it will go live for social communities to see online.
Those that will not make it to its standard will be given help. The
entrepreneur behind the idea will be trained under its expert personnel. This
is one platform crowd funding Arab projects who have a small network of
supporters. It had been said that they have only had 70 in total.