Crowdfunding in Taiwan last year grew 14 percent year-on-year to NT$3.77 billion (US$122.44 million), as more projects were launched and people were more willing to sponsor innovative ideas, crowdfunding consultancy Backer-Founder Co (貝殼放大) said on Tuesday.
Nearly 2,000 crowdfunding projects were launched in Taiwan last year, with a total of 1.03 million “backers” — people who sponsor the projects for rewards or make a donation — compared with about 1,500 projects and 1.15 million backers in 2021, Backer-Founder said.
Alhough the number of backers declined from a year earlier, the amount of money raised from each backer increased 27 percent to NT$3,660, suggesting that people are becoming more interested in crowdfunding projects, the company said.
Photo: Tyrone Siu, Reuters
“More and more creators are able to propose innovative and viable crowdfunding projects to win support from consumers. We are optimistic that crowdfunding will continue growing in Taiwan in the future,” it said.
Backer-Founder said it expects the size of crowdfunding this year to rise 20 percent annually to NT$4.5 billion.
Last year, five local projects raised more than NT$100 million each, compared with two in 2021, the company said.
Donation project “Taiwan Stands with Ukraine,” launched by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the WaBay platform, raised NT$180 million from 56,130 people, and was the first crowdfunding project to exceed NT$100 million in Taiwan, the company said.
The funds raised were used to purchase medical supplies for Ukraine, it added.
The other four projects involved backers receiving a product in return for their money, Backer-Founder said, adding that the new products were mainly innovative home appliances such as robot cleaners.
Crowdfunding was introduced to Taiwan 11 years ago, with solid growth in the past few years, it said.
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