Kickstarter and Indiegogo get new rival in Indonesia with launch of Crowdtivate

Two telco giants from Singapore and Indonesia this week launched Crowdtivate, a crowdfunding site primarily meant to help tech startups, content creators, and entrepreneurs in Indonesia raise capital from backers both inside and outside Indonesia.

Crowdtivate launched for the Singapore market in April last year. The site is a joint venture between Singapore’s StarHub and Indonesia’s Indosat.

The Indonesian launch gives entrepreneurs in Indonesia an alternative to using crowdfunding sites like Indiegogo or Kickstarter, and it’s also an extra option for shoppers who want to buy gadgets direct from young startups.

Crowdtivate offers three different ways for startups and shoppers to use the site – crowdfunding, crowd voting, and crowdsourcing. The crowdfunding part is pretty straightforward, as startups gather cash from supporters in exchange for rewards. The voting feature lets startups validate their ideas by collecting up-votes and feedback from the community. No rewards or funds are exchanged through the voting feature. The crowdsourcing aspect helps entrepreneurs gather contributors with valuable skills and resources to help execute the concept. In a non-monetary exchange of skills and resources, it’s up to the creator to provide other incentives or rewards for these contributors.

According to Indosat, the site also aims to offer support in terms of business incubation and regional outreach. Certain projects that are selected by the Crowdtivate team may receive additional assistance, which could include user testing, marketing support, funding, free software development, and company infrastructure.

Indosat CEO Alexander Rusli said in a statement that the firm wants to provide “visibility for startup entrepreneurs both on a local and global level.”

During the Singapore launch last year, StarHub CTO Pak Lum Mock went on record as saying that:

As telcos we are dinosaurs […] we don’t have the deep pockets like Facebook to throw billions of dollars at Whatsapp. If we have a platform to encourage people to put their ideas on, and if enough people vote for the idea, then the idea can probably be [profitable] for us.

See: 4 Indonesian game developers that have been crowdfunded

This post Kickstarter and Indiegogo get new rival in Indonesia with launch of Crowdtivate appeared first on Tech in Asia.

Kickstarter and Indiegogo get new rival in Indonesia with launch of Crowdtivate