FundFind, a new South African online crowdfunding platform, went live last week and already features three new projects.
HumanIPO reported last month FundFind was in its final stages after founder Steve Larter recognised a need within South Africa for a crowdfunding platform.
Speaking to HumanIPO about the launch, Larter said: “It was quite nerve wracking for me as I had no idea how people would respond to it, but the response has been overwhelming so far.
“Everyone is receiving the concept very well and a lot of people are working on their projects as we speak.”
The FundFind site uses PayFast as its payment gateway and is also built to utilise Visa, Mastercard,uKash andMimoney to accept project contributions.
“We are looking into adding other methods of payment in the near future,” added Larter.
“I’m not going to lie, there were one or two hiccups on Monday with the site, but we managed to get them all sorted out and the site is now running smoothly.”
It was only a day after FundFind went live when the first project was launched with another two following suit later the same day.
The three projects are Hope Foundation for Girls, which wants to open an after-school facility for underprivileged girls, The Amy Larter Band’s debut album project and Coastal Cleanups, a project seeking to clean up the beaches in Port Elizabeth.
Furthermore, FundFind has a few new projects in the pipeline which are being “fine-tuned”.
Among these new projects is the funding of a television series, a feature film, a new mobile application and a startup food and beverage company.
“It is very exciting to see all of the innovations and projects coming through slowly but surely. I think our biggest challenge in the beginning is going to be education as a lot of South Africans aren’t familiar with the concept of crowdfunding as of yet,” said Larter.
“People also need to understand that once the project is on FundFind, this is not the end of their work. In order for their campaign to be successful, they need to promote it until they’re blue in the face!”
Larter said a campaign’s success begins by getting the project founder’s networks active and they in turn get their networks active on the project, essentially starting a “ripple effect.”
FundFind has so far accumulated ZAR2,000 (US$220) for the three current projects and Larter believes these figures will grow daily.
Larter said: “For me, personally, I am overwhelmed by the support I have received from friends and family as well as the general public with regards to FundFind. I really think the crowdfunding system has the potential to boom in this country and I aim to make it happen.
“For the moment, we are taking every day as a learning process to see what the funder and fundraisers want.”
“We will try our best to meet the needs of the users as far as we can. I see great things for FundFind in the future as well as for the crowdfunding in South Africa in general.” concluded Larter.
