First crowdfunding platform initiated in Belgrade

This Tuesday (September 19, 2017), the first local crowdfunding web platform for group financing called Investing in Idea started operating, and the founders believe that this form of funding, already well present globally, will enable local entrepreneurs and investors to use their potential.

– In short, the message of the platform is – don't expect anyone else to create business opportunities for you. Do it yourself. If you have a business idea, look for someone with money, if you have money, find someone with an idea, if you cannot start a new business alone, join with someone – says Nebojsa Kujovic, one of the founders.

Crowdfunding, on which the platform Investing in Idea is based, promotes connecting and joining forces to the end of joint investments in ideas and projects and the important thing is that, even with relatively small amounts of money, everyone can become an investor if they join forces with those who have equally as little.

In the past years, the crowdfunding market has become one of the fastest growing markets in the world, as it has been doubling in volume year after year. The World Bank estimated in 2015 that the crowdfunding market would have a turnover of close to USD 100 billion by 2020, says the press release of the initiators of the platform Investing in Idea.

The most famous crowdfunding platforms in the world are Indiegogo, Kickstarter, Kiva, MicroVentures, Lending Club, Generosity, Zopa, Crowdcube, Seedrs, Crowdfunding Berlin etc.

According to available data, over a fifth of Americans (22%) have taken part in some form of group financing, and as many as 3% have initiated their own crowdfunding projects, whereas, in Serbia, this kind of financing is nearly unknown and has been carried out through foreign platforms exclusively so far.

Investing in Idea is a new product in the Serbian market, focusing on the potential lying in the local accumulation and resources, and the aim is to find a way to activate them more easily and use them more efficiently, Kujovic notes.

– Methodologically, the platform belongs to the group of crowd equity investments. It enables the members to invest money or some other business resource for the purpose of acquiring a stake in the new company or an existing joint company – he adds.

Compared to standard crowd equity models, he points out, the platform is adapted to the conditions of southeast Europe.

For example, Kujovic explains, there are no limitations to creating ideas or possibilities of investment, aside from, of course, ethical and legal limitations.

– The access to the platform, the registration, establishing business ideas and investing are fully free, initiators (ideas) and investors (money) are found directly through the platform and they negotiate about the partnership. The negotiation process between them is conducted freely and directly, and the decisions are made by each side individually. The aim is to found a joint company, which is registered in line with the current Company Law.

The investment in the joint company can take another form aside from ideas and money, for example, key knowledge, intellectual property, office space, equipment or land, he notes.

eKapija recently wrote about the possibilities of crowdfunding in Serbia.