Did you know these about crowdfunding?
What is crowdfunding?
Traditionally, if you want to raise capital for a new business, project or venture, you have limited options. You can take out a loan from a bank. You can convince friends, family or angel investors to invest in your business. Or, if you have saved enough money over the years, you can start the business yourself. Alternatively, in the last decade, a new option has emerged for entrepreneurs looking to raise money: crowdfunding.
Simply put, crowdfunding is a way of raising capital from a large number of people.
Crowdfunding, or crowdsourcing, is a funding method that is usually carried out online. It involves a group of people providing small amounts of money or resources to finance a project or initiative. In crowdfunding, the creator of a project or product usually introduces it to potential backers or investors and asks them for financial support.
Crowdfunding companies often turn to social media to share their platform or ideas in order to inspire others to contribute to their crowdfunding campaign.
There are basically two common models of crowdfunding:
- The Donation Model: In this model, supporters make a donation to the project and are usually thanked or receive a symbolic gift in return. Donors are pleased to contribute to the realization of the project. The purpose can often be to support projects that benefit society or personal motivation from the growth of the company/project
- Mutual Benefit Model: In this model, supporters provide funds to the project but expect to receive value in return. For example, backers who fund the development of a new product may receive discounted prices upon completion or a share of the project’s profits.
Crowdfunding serves as an alternative source for entrepreneurs and creatives to fund their projects, while offering backers the opportunity to contribute to projects they are interested in and get early access to new products.
What are the benefits of crowdfunding?
Project and venture financing through crowdfunding is interest-free, very low-cost, fast, easy, low-procedure and collateral-free. In this way, you can make a profit by investing in crowdfunding.
Access to Early Stage Investment Opportunities: Crowdfunding platforms give investors the opportunity to participate in early stage investing, traditionally the domain of professional venture capitalists.
Investment Diversification: Crowdfunding allows investors to easily diversify their portfolios, as small amounts of money can be invested in several different ventures. This allows you to spread your capital across a range of investments, dividing and reducing your risk.
High Return Potential: When a crowdfunded company is successful and experiences rapid growth, early investors can realize a significant return on their investment.
Support Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Many investors have the opportunity to support innovative new products and entrepreneurs they believe in through crowdfunding. In this way, you can have the chance to support the initiatives you believe in and become a tangible part of the initiative.
Early Access to New Products: Many crowdfunding campaigns offer the product itself as a reward for investment. This allows investors to be among the first to try new products or services.
Interaction and Updates: Crowdfunding platforms often require businesses to provide regular updates to their investors, giving backers an inside look at the company’s progress and development. This allows you to keep a closer eye on your investment.
How to crowdfund?
You can become a member of various crowdfunding platforms by providing the necessary information. In this way, you can contribute to the funding by investing in projects that are opened to crowdfunding with the platform within the funding period opened.
Where can the funds not be used?
The collected funds cannot be used by entrepreneurs for real estate purchases, real estate investment funds, and participation in other initiatives. If this situation is revealed as a result of independent audit, action will be taken for violating the legislation.
How can I sell the shares I have purchased?
As investors, you can sell and transfer the shares you own in any way you wish. There are no restrictions.
Entrepreneurs or the partners of the venture company listed in the campaign cannot transfer their shares within three years following the start of the campaign period, except for transfers to be made due to inheritance, inheritance sharing, property regime provisions between spouses or forced execution, and transfers to be made by entrepreneurs or venture company partners to qualified investors or among themselves.
Will we be liable for the debts of the companies we buy shares in?
According to the Turkish Commercial Code No. 102, shareholders of joint stock companies are liable only for the capital shares they have subscribed and to the company. Shareholders do not have any responsibility for the private law debts of the company; in other words, shareholders are not liable for these debts.
What is the right of withdrawal?
If you wish to withdraw from your investment, you can exercise your right of withdrawal within 48 hours from the moment the payment order for the fund provision is issued.
I bought shares but I want to withdraw. What should I do?
If you wish to withdraw from your investment, you can exercise your right of withdrawal within 48 hours. You can use the cancellation option next to your investment in the My Investment Account section of your profile and receive your payment back without any deduction.
What happens if the Funding Campaign fails?
If the fund raising process of the campaign does not reach its target, it will be deemed unsuccessful and the amounts sent to the investors to buy shares will be returned by TakasBank without interruption.
Will there be any deduction on the returned amounts?
Your investment amounts will be refunded without any deduction.
Note: While the above information is compiled based on the Fonbulucu platform, terms and conditions may vary according to crowdfunding platforms.
ShopiVerse CEO Orxan Isayev: What are the 2 main reasons why we use crowdfunding?
“There are two main reasons why we use the crowdfunding system. The first one is our belief that the people and companies that will become partners of ShopiVerse with their investments will add value to our initiative as brand ambassadors. Another important reason is that with the financial resources to be obtained, the three-year projection we have planned will be reduced to one year, thus saving time. With the funding we are targeting, we will first strengthen our existing software and marketing team. In this way, we will also strengthen our mobility to increase our international brand awareness. We aim to expand to the world, especially Europe, by taking our next investment from abroad. As ShopiVerse, we aim to create another unicorn from Turkey by taking 1.2% share from the market we are in until 2027.”
You can click the link below to invest in ShopiVerse.
