Category Archives: Crowd Funding
Catapooolt all set to Catapult Crowdfunding in India with an Asian Record – Bizztor (press release) (blog)
Are we all ready to witness the biggest day of the crowdfunding in India? Catapooolt through their initative The Economic Times Catapooolt Changemakers Season 2 is making an attempt to create an Asian Record by launching crowdfunding campaigns of around 35 Startups.
Its a first of its kind initiative in the country with 30+ innovative leaders,50+ startup ecosystem,800+ investors and mentors,1 million+ Indians to crowdfund with an amount of 1 Million USD+ assured crowdfunding.
The competition plunged into their journey through CATAPOOOLT ROADSHOW on first stage travelling to 8 different cities followed by a unique Startup Pitch and LIVE crowdfunding series giving an opportunity to early stage disruptive startup ideas and for all those interested in supporting the next big ideas, to come together and catapooolt to growth! Each Roadshow was spearheaded by a panel discussion by leading startup investors and ecosystem partners on the local startup challenges and growth hacks.
Looks exciting???
This is just the initial hustle, a much bigger picture is yet to come
The Economic Times Catapooolt Changemakers Season 2 is hosting Round 2 which will see winners of 1st round holding opportunity to be given a representative target of Rs 75,000 to be raised via crowd funding as a qualification.
All campaigns will be provided Crowd Funding Coaches and mentors which includes Sudeep Singh-Country Head Start-up Grind, Nitin Bajaj- Country Head f6s, Bhavesh Kothari- Co-Founder Mentorpreneur, Shraddha Patil-Co-Founder Mentorpreneur, Rohit Sardana-Head of BWDisrupt, Shivam Ahuja-Head of Delhi Start-ups, Aprna Mishra-Founder CEO Club Cafebiz,Abhinav Tandon- Co creator at Gurukul.
The mentor guidance will be on deck improvement and how to raise funds via crowdfunding, how to market their product, how to strategise alliance and how to channelize their product. The reward based crowdfunding campaigns on Catapooolt will help them in Market Buzz, Idea Validation and gain new customers.
The startups would be given an opportunity to raise funds on their disruptive ideas from 19th may till next one month and weekly announcement of winners in this one month will be made to keep the spirits high of each startup by providing special advantages. The competition is also in process of making an Asian book of record for having maximum number on campaigns uploaded on a single day. To emphasise round 2 qualified startups will see many advantages, mentioned in brief below-
* Media Buzz
* Marketing
* Idea validation
* Mentor support
* Crowdfunding coach
* Marketing & Takeoff: Guides and webinars
* Special advantage to weekly winners
Post successful completion on raising their successfully targeted goals on round 2,top 15 startups get an opportunity to reach the final stage
Round 3 will have Top15 startup pitch to over 30 serious investors for equity investment. The event will also be graced by A-List Celebrity, Relevant Government Officials, Prominent International Speakers and others.
The top 15 startups who make it round3 will be given a special F6s Alpha Card, any founders of member companies that have graduated from top accelerator programs, or have raised funding automatically qualify for Alpha membership. The program is invite-only and there is no membership fee.
What are the benefits of Alpha membership?
Alpha members get exclusive elevated benefits from partners that are unavailable to the broader F6S community. Only Alpha members are able to access and view these benefits. Additionally, Alpha members get access to exclusive invite-only startup event.
What is the membership card used for?
Members show their cards for priority access to startup events, free entry to co-working spaces around the world, and to redeem certain member benefits. With benefit partners, they can forge mutually beneficial partnerships with leading companies that provide services which are relevant to the startup ecosystem and the needs of our members businesses.
So now you know successful crowdfunding campaigns are not an accident. Surely you need to have a start with the idea but apart from a good idea for a product or service you also need: a great video pitch introducing the product, photos and videos of the product, good branding, customer service system, great perks or updates, a prototype, the price estimate,market planning,community building,media mileage and strategy to penetrate into the market.But above all, you need to present yourself as a professional company in order to instil confidence in your potential.
So if you wish to be the next big change, come join us at Catapooolt Changemakers by witnessing and contributing in being a part of the next big revolution.A new chapter is going to be inscribed, stand a chance to be a part of it. Our country has been preaching the concept of Digital India for quite long now,its high time we put into practise the concept and start contributing to the change.
Should you invest in Bitcoins, crowd funding, P2P lending? – Economic Times
After dabbling in traditional investment avenues like stocks, fixed deposits, gold, mutual funds and real estate, some investors are venturing into more adventurous territorydigital currency, crowdfunding and P2P fundingto make their wealth grow.
While the returns have been satisfactory in many cases, others have lost money too. We look at the pros and cons of some alternative investing avenues.
Bit by bit There are a little over 15 million bitcoins in circulation today and no more than 21 million will be mined ever, making the virtual currency attractive to investors. The rising demand for and lack of supply of have pushed up the price of bitcoins from $16 per coin in 2013 to $1,700 today.
Sensing the potential of bitcoins as an investment, Bengaluru-based Ashrith Govind, 23, started investing Rs 5,000 a month in the cryptocurrency three years ago. Encouraged by the returns30% annually he is now investing Rs 30,000 a month.
Ashrith Govind, 23, Bengaluru His alternative investment: Started investing Rs 5,000 a month in bitcoins in 2014. Now invests up to Rs 30,000 a month.
However, an investor in bitcoins has to be ready to face extreme volatility. In 2015, Govind lost Rs 1.5 lakh when price of bitcoins dropped significantly. One bad trading day can mean a loss of Rs 12,000 for him.
Sathvik Vishwanath, CEO and Co-Founder of online platform Unocoin says, There is a financial risk in investing in bitcoins. Like in equity markets, investors tend to buy when prices are up and sell at lows. Then there is a technology risk too which can render bitcoins virtually worthless in future.
More importantly, the legality of bitcoins is in question in India. Warning against the use of bitcoins, Minister of State for Finance Arjun Ram Meghwal stated in Parliament that, The absence of counter parties in usage of virtual currencies including bitcoins, for illicit and illegal activities in anonymous/pseudonymous systems could subject users to unintentional breaches of anti-money laundering and combating financing of terrorism laws.
Financial advisers feel bitcoins as an asset class should ideally be avoided. Shree Parthasarathy, Partner, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India warns, The money invested in bitcoins, if at all, should form an insignificant part of your portfolio and you should be able to afford to lose all that money.
Lend and earn P2P platforms have brought lenders and borrowers closer. Technology allows easy credit to borrowers, while lenders earn high returns on idle funds. Chennai-based Jose Joseph, 45, has been lending on P2P platforms since 2015. On the Rs 1 lakh he has put in so far, he has earned an average return of 20%.
Jose Joseph, 45, Chennai His alternative investment: Started lending money on P2P platforms in 2015. Has invested Rs 1 lakh so far.
However, before lending you should study the borrowers profile carefully to compute the risks before making a lending decision. Rajat Gandhi, CEO and Founder of P2P lending firm, Faircent, says, Most P2P platforms provide details about borrowers. They are classified across risk buckets from low to very high and selection should depend on your expectations.
The biggest risk is that of defaults and P2P platforms not helping in collections. So, before you lend money ask about the platforms collection assistance policy.
As Bhavin Patel, CEO of P2P lending firm LenDen-Club says, P2P lending is still at its nascent stage. Its unclear what will happen to a P2P loan during a major downturn. Lenders need to be careful when the economy is slowing down.
Going with the crowd Crowdfunding has also found favour among those looking to invest in the startup space. Gurgaon-based Sandeep Aggarwal has invested in nine startups till now this way. Aggarwal says, I make it a point to understand the market and longevity of products and services the company is going to offer. I prefer to interact with the founders and core management team for better insights.
This mode of investing works best for those with a long time horizon of at least 5 years as probability of losses is high in the initial 2-3 years.
Sandeep Aggarwal, 44, Gurgaon His alternative investment: Has been investing in startups through crowdfunding since 2015. Has invested in nine startups so far.
Chaitanya V. Cotha, serial entrepreneur and investor cautions, Such investment comes with a lot of terms and investors own a very small stake. There are no rights for the investor and you dont really have a voice in decision making made by management.
According to Apoorv Ranjan Sharma, Cofounder and President, Venture Catalysts, the common risk in investing through crowdfunding is the herd mentality among investors. The other risk is the product not seeing the light of the day because of operational challenges. Chances of fraud are also high. As Cotha says, Many so-called start-ups are in the market looking for a quick buck.
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Should you invest in Bitcoins, crowd funding, P2P lending? - Economic Times
Cork Foundation’s Live Crowd Funding event – The Avondhu Press (press release)
An innovative live Crowd Funding Event held by the Cork Foundation,raisedfunds for four Cork Social Enterprises recently.
The event consisted of a mix of potential donors and Cork business leaders, who were presented with a pitch by each of the four participating social enterprises, after which, many of the invited guests pledged their donations to the organisation they felt most connected with.
A selection criterion for all social enterprises for this fundraising activity was that they had to be supporting sustainable jobs and making life better for people living in Cork something that is vital for any Social Enterprise that the Cork Foundation supports.
After careful consideration four organisations were chosen; Helium Arts, the Field of Dreams, First Light and Shine Ireland.
Helium Arts is anational childrens arts and health organisation, which endeavours to bring art, creativity and play to children and teenagers in hospitals and healthcare settings across Ireland. They received 1,100 from donors on the night.
The largest donation of 3,931 was contributed to the Field of Dreams, an offshoot ofDown Syndrome Cork, which supports approximately 360 families across the Cork region.
First Light, offers support and information, and promotes research into the sudden, unexpected, often unexplained deaths of infants and young children. They received the generous donation of 1,387.
The final Social Enterprise to benefit was Shine, an organisation founded in 2011 and which has worked with hundreds of families of autistic children across Cork city and county to secure assessments, therapies, services and appropriate education for their children.
For further information on the work of the Cork Foundation and how to support their work please visitwww.corkfoundation.com.
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Cork Foundation's Live Crowd Funding event - The Avondhu Press (press release)
Will crowdfunding get a synthetic biology win? – PLoS Blogs (blog)
From 2008 to 2014 the United States investedaround $820 million in synthetic biology research. About 0.07% as much money went to synthetic biology projects through crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter, Indiegogo, or Experiment.com. Of those crowdfunded projects, the Kickstarter campaign called Glowing Plants was by far the most well-funded. Glowing Plants, like its name suggests, aimed to genetically engineer plants that could light up using the genes from fireflies. After a tenuous four years of alternative funding and backup plans, the goal of making a brightly glowing plant is officially shelved.The question is whether Glowing Plants will continue to be the high mark for crowding funding of synthetic biology or whether there are future successes out there.
In 2013, Antony Evans got well overseven times his $65,000crowdfunding goal to engineer plants that light up. The pitchlaid out an ambitious plan for howthis fun glowing plant fit into the promise of synthetic biology. It was nothing like a technical grant proposal that a synthetic biology researcher usually submits for funding. It was selling the idea of a synthetic biology product that you could put on your desk. A fun novelty item thats more play than work. Unfortunately, technical hurdles exist even for playful ideas.
If you go back through Glowing Plants updates you can track the arc of theirambitions.
April 23, 2013: Glow Plants project launches on Kickstarter
April 30, 2013: How bright can we make our plants grow?
August 13, 2014: accepted by Y combinator! They got to present at the tech accelerators Demo Day and pitch investors.
April 10, 2015: Should we switch plant species
May 20, 2016: Help us build momentum on WeFunder! This platformed helped to raise another $250,000 for the project with donors buying small shares
August 3, 1016: 5 out of 6 genes successfully integrated into a plant
April 18, 2017: Stopping work on the Glowing Plant Contamination in the fragrant moss strains caused the team to downsize to still afford to get the planned shipments out. With the financial hit, their plan to put revenue toward the glowing plant research wasultimately halted. They conclude that that despite that failure the project can still leave a positive legacy in inspiring people to learn more about synthetic biology and its benefits and hopefully one day someone does finally make a Glowing Plant.
There has been plenty of media attention for both the initial hype of Glowing Plants and the eventual decline into unrealized ideas, but that doesnt mean there wont be other high profile uses of crowdfunding for synthetic biology.
Synthetic biology still makes it way onto a lot of the popular crowdfunding sites that have science:Kickstarter,Indiegogo,WeFunder andexperiment.com. Yet none of these campaigns have reacher the financial backing that Glowing Plants got. Typical synthetic biology crowdfunding is raising a few thousand dollars and is primarily supporting educational activities.
The most common kind of crowdfunding success involves the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition that gives student the chance to work on and present their own synthetic biology projects.Some successfullyfunded research projects include $3001 forDNA memory,$2500 fordetecting tuberculosis,$2189 for paper based pathogen detection, $1572 for detection of expired oxytocin medication,and $2120 for a high-school team studying crosstalk between neighboringgenes. Typical federal grants for synthetic biology research on the orders of hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars over a few years.
Synthetic biology research is still expensive. For asynthetic biology product to be fundedand hit the market takes an enormous amount of money. While iGEM teams can count student learning itself as a victory, any crowdfunding that promises a deliverable product will be in trouble. For instance, experiment.com has a collection of iGEM projects being funded.
Glowing Plants creator, Antony Evans, wrote a piece on equity crowdfunding and explained why the inherent tension between promising rewards and the challenges and uncertainties of biological research makes Kickstarter a bad model for scientific research. He seesequity crowdfunding as a more powerful tool in the biotech space. This newly legal mechanism called title III equity crowdfunding allows early stage startups to raise money from any ordinary person in return for shares in the company.
But no crowdfunding mechanism brings along the advisory input one would expect from a traditionalinvestor. Good investors usually bring some expertise, guidance, or connections. Distributed funding is unlikely to bring that human capital. Even if some of your investors have those capabilities, none will have enough influence in the company to make an impact.
Synthetic biology will continue to get cheaper as DNA synthesis costs drop and the DIYBio community matures. That said, there are still many research projects that seem poorly suited for crowdfunding.
Ultimately, I think synthetic biology will get some victories in the crowdfunding arena. Its unlikely to be a cure for cancer or global warming, but hopefully theres a fun idea out there that can be made possible with small dollar backers and the power of biology.
See the appendix to the U.S. Trends in Synthetic Biology Research from the Wilson Center to calculate synthetic biology funding from 2008-2014.
Atlantic: Whatever Happened to the Glowing Plant Kickstarter?
MIT Tech Review: Why Kickstarters Glowing Plant Left Backers in the Dark
Synbiobeta: Review of RevBios Crowd Funding Campaign
Top Sites for Crowdfunding Scientific Research
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Will crowdfunding get a synthetic biology win? - PLoS Blogs (blog)
Impact Guru, GlobalGiving tie-up to scale crowd funding in India – Daily News & Analysis
Impact Guru, India?s leading crowd funding platform for NGOs, medical and personal causes has entered into a strategic partnership with US and UK based GlobalGiving, the world?s first and largest non-profit crowd funding platform.
This partnership will enable vetted Indian NGOs and social enterprises raising money on http://www.impactguru.com to offer tax benefits to international donors in US and UK, particularly NRIs (Non Resident Indians) / PIOs (People of Indian Origin), when they donate towards social causes using GlobalGiving?s technology on the Impact Guru platform.
India is home to the highest number of nonprofits in the world (33 lakh NGOs), and raises more than Rs. 8,500 crore annually from international donors. Tax incentives are often considered a crucial factor in encouraging philanthropy. By offering tax exemptions to US and UK donors, this partnership will help Indian NGOs and social enterprises to attract more philanthropy or grant capital from the Indian diaspora.
The Indian government estimates that there are more than 60 lakh NRIs / PIOs residing in the US and UK. According to a research report by The Bridgespan Group, if the charitable contributions of Indian diaspora in US were consistent with those of other American households in similar income brackets, and they directed 40 percent of their philanthropy to India, Rs. 8000 crore additional funds could flow from such donors towards Indian social causes per year.
International donors can be rest assured about the transparency and authenticity of the participating organizations as all participants will need to go through an intermediary facilitating the process of due diligence or should have been vetted in the past by one.
Social enterprises based in India are also eligible to either fundraise online or route their grants via Impact Guru. Beyond India, this partnership will also enable nonprofits and social enterprises across Southeast Asia (including Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia) to raise funds via Impact Guru.
?Having spent over a decade outside of India prior to starting Impact Guru, we can relate to the desire of Indian diaspora to give back while obtaining local tax benefits, and their concerns around transparency of Indian NGOs. Impact Guru is thrilled to be partnering with GlobalGiving to address these gaps, thereby making us the platform of choice for crowd funding by Indians globally,? said co-founder and CEO Piyush Jain, Impact Guru?s.
?GlobalGiving is excited to partner with Impact Guru to help Indian NGOs transact with donors in India, the US and the UK on a single giving platform. This partnership will help GlobalGiving, Impact Guru and the global social sector to understand more about how donors and NGOs interact locally and globally,? said GlobalGiving?s Spokesperson, John Hecklinger, Chief Network Officer.
In the past, Impact Guru has executed a successful partnership with Fundnel, a Singapore based private investment platform. This collaboration strengthened the Indian platform?s presence in Southeast Asia. Since 2016, Impact Guru and Fundnel have helped mobilize over Rs. 329 crore for various projects across 15 countries.
Impact Guru was also recently chosen as the official crowd funding partner of Project Inspire, an initiative by Singapore Committee for UN Women and MasterCard that focused on creating a better world for women and girls in Asia Pacific. It raised approximately Rs. 25 lakhs from more than 1,100 supporters from over 30 countries in less than a month.
(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
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Impact Guru, GlobalGiving tie-up to scale crowd funding in India - Daily News & Analysis
Plastc Card Is Cancelled: The Dangers Of Crowd Funding Tech – Forbes
Forbes | Plastc Card Is Cancelled: The Dangers Of Crowd Funding Tech Forbes It looked like sci-fi. One card to rule them all. Plastc was a smart credit card that looked like something out of a movie. Bluetooth connectivity, wireless charging, a built-in touchscreen, and more. The idea was you could upload all your various ... |
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Plastc Card Is Cancelled: The Dangers Of Crowd Funding Tech - Forbes
Can crowd funding help scale up solar power for Africa’s poor? – The Standard (press release)
When Ronald Van Harten arrived in Kenya from the Netherlands in 2015 he was determined to invest in solar-powered equipment for homes across Africa, make a profit and help the rural poor get energy.
But within two years his company EcoZoom, which sells solar lights, radios, MP3 players and other equipment to some of Kenyas poorest residents, ran into financial difficulties.
The banks were not willing to lend him the capital he needed to stay afloat and loans available from microfinance institutions were too small.
So, like a number of new technology companies seeking to scale up their programmes in Africa, he turned to a crowd funding company.
Few banks if any could finance a social investment project dealing with people seen as high risk group, and even worse banks are expensive and give conditions that are not easy to meet, he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, referring to high interest rates charged by banks.
TRINE, a Swedish company which raised funds for EcoZoom, has a community of about 1,000 young investors in northern Europe willing to each give a minimum of 25 euros ($27.14) to solar firms which aim to help the worlds poorest.
Using crowd funding, it has raised more than 750,000 euros ($814,200) for 10 renewable energy projects since its launch last year, said Matthew McShane, TRINEs regional manager in East Africa. The firm has invested in countries including Kenya, Zambia, Uganda, Tanzania and Senegal.
In Kenya, EcoZoom received 170,000 euros in February, while 160,000 euros went to Azuri East Africa, part of Azuri Technologies. Two solar micro-grids have also received funds.
The majority of (our) investors can invest in many other ventures in Europe but choose to put their money in social impact projects partly because they want to touch the lives of the poor and partly because returns are slightly higher when compared to ... normal investments, McShane said.
The returns are about 6 percent, because of the perceived higher risk associated with this market, he said.
GROWING TREND
Globally, crowd funding provided $2.1 billion in investment in 2015, and investments in developing countries alone are predicted to exceed $96 billion a year within a decade, according to the World Bank.
It is emerging as an increasingly important means of financing new technology at scale in rural Africa, said Azuri Technologies CEO, Simon Bransfield-Garth.
Unlike microfinance institutions where large investors make many small loans to firms, crowd funding allows many small lenders to provide substantial finance to organisations with the reach and scale to deliver significant impact, he said.
Crowd funding is clearly no longer just for start-ups and has the potential to provide a new class of capital for energy access, Bransfield-Garth said.
Azuri East Africa turned to crowd funding when it wanted to raise cash to help its Kenyan partner, Raj Ushanga House, sell solar panels to 1,200 homes, helping 6,000 people access electricity.
Crowd funding is one of the most progressive and innovative ways of raising money for projects, and relatively unexploited in Africa, said George Wachiuri, a leading Kenyan investment advisor and head of Optiven Ltd, a company based in Nairobi.
"It is a trend we should see grow in Africa in the future, especially when projects impacting the poor are involved, said Wachiuri.
Crowd funding needs to be carried out by specialised firms that are well versed with the concept, he added. One needs a good understanding of how this type of fundraising works to be able to execute it successfully.
TRINE conducts due diligence on a company seeking investment, assessing its business model, supply chain, profit margins and ability to repay, before starting to raise funds.
In East Africa, where it has helped fundraise most, the firm is attracted by relatively high awareness about solar energy with mature markets, and the availability of mobile money platforms - such as apps - that mean consumers can easily make payments using their mobile phones, McShane said.
"So far ... things have gone smoothly. Those we have given money to are making their repayments on time and so far we cannot say there is risk in funding these investments, said McShane.
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Can crowd funding help scale up solar power for Africa's poor? - The Standard (press release)
Donate safely: Avoiding crowd funding scams – KXLY Spokane
Donate safely: Avoiding crowd funding...
SPOKANE, Wash. - The Spokane area has seen several stories that showcase positive effects that crowd funding has had right here in our community.
A GoFundMe page was used to raise thousands of dollars for the family of Lizzie Knudsen, a Deer Park mother killed in a car wreck that also injured her daughter.
The Spokane community also used the site to try and save its beloved Donut Parade and, once, a GoFundMe page even bought former Spokane County Sheriff's K9 Laslo a bulletproof vest.
It's those kinds of stories that highlight the good crowd funding can do, opening the doors for people anywhere to donate to any cause.
When something really tragic like this happens, we all want to reach out and help- that's great, said Kirstin Davis with the Better Business Bureau.
But, online fundraisers also opens the door to vulnerability, which scammers will pounce on.
Anytime that- whether it's a single person or the general public or a certain population thats being affected, they are going to take advantage of that situation, Davis said.
It's exactly what the family of Robert Godwin Sr., gunned down in a Facebook video by Steve Stephens on Sunday, fear could be happening to them. Several accounts have been set up in his name for their benefit, that did not originate with them.
Some of those pages are legitimate, but the family is asking the nation not to donate to GoFundMe accounts.
Closer to home, that's exactly what happened when three people were killed in a Lake Coeur d'Alene boat crash last year. A woman started a GoFundMe page for the families but instead, used some of the money raised to buy a tanning salon.
How do you make sure your money gets where it's supposed to go?
Just take a minute and step back and say: 'What is the best use of my money, and how am I going to get it to that person or where I want it to go,' Davis said.
It might be awkward, but the BBB says a good way to see if a page is legitimate is to ask.
Take that extra step of verification. make sure that that crowd sourcing site or link is actually going to the people that you know or you want it to go to, Davis said.
To check out which crowd funding sites are accredited by the BBB, head to their website here.
You can also check out the BBB Scam Tracker, to report potential fraudulent pages.
GoFundMe has a guarantee for donors and beneficiaries. For more information on that, check out their policy here.
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Donate safely: Avoiding crowd funding scams - KXLY Spokane
Maharashtra schools raise Rs 216 crore via crowd funding – The Indian Express
Written by Alifiya Khan | Pune | Updated: April 18, 2017 6:55 am Over 1,000 Zila Parishad schools in Dhule district of Maharashtra have turned digital.
An LCD projector worth Rs 78,000, a Lenovo laptop and Wi-Fi-enabled classrooms are the latest additions to this Marathi-medium government school at Dhekusim, a village of 1,800 people in Jalgaons Ambaner taluka, some 360 km northeast of Mumbai.
Suresh Patil, headmaster of the zila parishad school, says the changes, including a 2,000-square-foot compound wall and revamped classrooms, came not through government intervention but from funds raised from villagers. When we reached out to people and sought help to improve the school, the villagers donated about Rs 5.5 lakh. As of today, at least 10 students have left private schools to join our school. Our total number of students has gone up from 42 to 78, Patil says.
This isnt an isolated story in Maharashtra. Data available with the Maharashtra State Council of Education Research and Training (MSCERT) shows that between July 2015 and December 2016, school teachers in the state managed to raise a whopping Rs 216 crore from the public funds that have been utilised for revamping classrooms, building new toilets and on digital initiatives, among others. According to the MSCERT data, Ahmednagar district has ensured the maximum public participation, having raised over Rs 30 crore, followed by Pune (Rs 19.82 crore), Solapur (19.03 crore), Aurangabad (15.59 crore) and Nashik (14.80 crore).
So what inspired these Maharashtra government schools to seek funds? Nand Kumar, principal secretary, state education department, says one of the reasons could be the Pragat Shaikshanik programme rolled out by the state government two years ago.
One of the components of the programme was the compulsory reporting of public participation. Until now, schools didnt actively seek outside funds. But now, since the programme documents public participation, teachers have started actively reaching out to the community, encouraging them to contribute and also seeking corporate help. There has also been an overall improvement in the quality of education, reflected in many recent surveys, due to which villagers have started investing in zila parishad schools, he says.
While in most districts, the change is being brought about by the community as a whole, Dhule district, said to be the first in the state to have 100 per cent digital classrooms in its government schools, might owe its transformation to a 35-year-old investment banker, Harshal Vibhandik.
I live in New York and two years ago, I came back to my hometown in Dhule. I had Rs 9 lakh with me and after visiting a few schools, I decided to digitise nine of them. But then, villagers wanted to pitch in too and that is when the 70:30 funding idea came to me, with villagers raising the majority of the money, Vibhandik says.
An idea that started off with nine schools soon covered all 1,103 zila parishad schools of Dhule with the bankers friends from abroad, donors, villagers, local NGOs all pitching in.
Vibhandik, who is working from India for now, says he also travels to other districts. People are investing in the idea, villagers are investing in it. It is amazing to see the change, says Vibhandik.
While public participation has cut down on the long wait for government funds and elevated the image of zila parishad schools, it has had an unexpected outcome the autonomy it provides to teachers to secure funds has led to some innovative methods.
At the Kardelwadi zila parishad school in Punes Shirur taluka, every donated item from the table fan to even blackboard dusters has the name of the sponsor. Primary school teachers Dattatrey and Bebinanda Sakat say they figured out that the practice encourages more people to donate. It gives them a sense of fulfillment and it doesnt really take anything from us. So we started writing the names of the donors. Now for almost anything we need, we just turn to the villagers and they get it for us instantly. So from computers to science labs, our small village school with less than 100 students has almost everything that a big city school would. This truly is a peoples movement for education, says Bebinanda.
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Maharashtra schools raise Rs 216 crore via crowd funding - The Indian Express
Crowdfunding: affordable bee surveillance for hive health – Scoop.co.nz (press release)
Press Release Hivemind Ltd
New Zealands smart hive innovation company, Hivemind, is launching a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo to help beekeepers check their hives remotely, and take proactive action to keep their bees safe and happy.Press release: Hivemind, Christchurch, New Zealand, 29 March 2017
Hivemind crowdfunds affordable bee surveillance for hive health
Smart hive minder helps beekeepers #savebees and maintain #healthyhives
Hive Strength Monitor with WiFi alerts beekeepers of early signs of trouble
Tracks and reports changes in bee activity, hive temperature and humidity
Enables proactive just-in-time beehive protection
Helps reduce bee and honey loss from pests, disease, hunger, and swarming
New Zealands smart hive innovation company, Hivemind, is launching a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo to help beekeepers check their hives remotely, and take proactive action to keep their bees safe and happy.
The Hive Strength Monitor with WiFi campaign aims to develop and commercialise an affordable and accessible WiFi version of Hiveminds flagship satellite-based Hive Strength Monitor for all beekeepers.
It is targeted at responsible beekeepers, commercial pollinators, and honey lovers alike around the world who are committed to keeping all bee colonies happy and strong.
Remote bee monitoring saves bees
The benefit of the new Hive Strength Monitor with WiFi and Smartphone App is the ability for beekeepers to see from their mobile device that their bees are happy and busy doing what they should be doing pollination and honey.
The system comes with sensors and remote monitoring software that measures bee activity and hive conditions, and alerts beekeepers of changes in, humidity, temperature, and bee numbers.
With the hives connected to their own WiFi network, beekeepers can open their Hivemind app to quickly assess the condition and wellbeing of their hives. Large-scale deployments can also install a WiFi hotspot to provide intensive hive monitoring at minimal monthly fees.
Our Hive Strength Monitor can also help beekeepers pick up any early signs of trouble and to act quickly to prevent or minimise both loss of their bees and potential spread of disease, says Hivemind Director, Berwyn Hoyt.
Any sudden changes in activity or temperature could mean the bees are swarming, or dying off due to disease or hunger, or that the honey from the hives is being robbed by wasps. Hivemind data alerts can allow beekeepers to proactively assess the situation and mitigate any risk to their hives quickly.
After two years in development, the launch of Hiveminds maiden satellite model designed for commercial bee pollinators and manuka honey producers, was partly funded by the New Zealand Governments Callaghan Innovation Today, there are close to 300 commercial Hivemind installations across New Zealand, Australia and the US, with customers reporting increases in their honey yields by as much as 18%.
Mike Everly at Forest & Bees Native Honey was one of Hiveminds early adopters. He explains, Our manuka honey hives are placed in very remote sites in New Zealand, many accessible only by helicopter. Knowing what is happening through the season is critical to decisions about if and when we may need to add boxes, and when we need to harvest. Using this data, we selectively check on areas and make much better management decisions. I could not be happier with the data and information the Hivemind system provides.
Keeping bees happy
The importance of the role bees play in the survival of our planet cant be understated. Pest invasions, diseases, fungi, pesticides, overcrowding, and diminishing food sources are contributing to poor hive health, swarming, and colony collapse.
Keeping bees happy has become a primary environmental concern where technology can play a significant role, says Hoyt. With better understanding of bee behaviour and hive conditions, beekeepers and commercial pollinators can potentially prevent swarms, dying colonies, and the spread of disease by mitigating risks early.
We hope that with enough support, our WiFi enabled Hive Strength Monitor and smartphone app can help beekeepers worldwide to better understand and optimise the condition, health and yield of their managed honey bee colonies, says Hoyt. The United States market in particular has a large pollination industry, which has recently been troubled by disease and Colony Collapse Disorder.
Hiveminds crowd funding campaign is now live on Indiegogo: http://hivemind.co.nz/hive-monitor
Thank you for your support!
About Hivemind
Hivemind is an apiculture innovation company established in Christchurch New Zealand in 2012 by brothers Berwyn, Ben and Bryan Hoyt. The Hivemind Scales and Hive Strength Monitor are the companys flagship products launched in 2014. Since then, close to 300 Hivemind Hive Strength monitor systems have sold to commercial beekeepers and pollinators across New Zealand, Australia, and more recently, the United States. Hiveminds smart hive technology achieved finalist recognition for innovation in the both the 2016 NZ Hi Tech Awards and the 2016 NZ Innovation Awards. Visit http://www.hivemind.co.nz
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How will the Hivemind Hive Strength Monitor for WiFi work?
The new Hivemind Hive Strength Monitor for WiFi will enable beekeepers to remotely monitor their hives and record the data for review online at hivemind.co.nz.
Sensors and technology developed by Hivemind attach to the front of a hive to collect data on:
Bee numbers entering and leaving the hive to track whether and by how much bee numbers increase in spring, what time of day the bees start and stop flying, and how activity compares to other nearby hives connected to the system
Brood temperature to determine whether the queen is laying, if the brood is healthy, or alerts the beekeeper if the hive gets too cold and needs insulating
External ambient temperature which can be compared with the internal temperature to explain bee activity
Hive humidity to determine whether the bees are getting enough water and can provide an early cue about hive diseases
The data is then transmitted automatically from the hive via the users own WiFi to Hiveminds smartphone app. Users can then log in to their hive data from their mobile device and quickly check the condition of their hives and bee activity without disturbing the bees by unnecessarily opening and moving hives. The app will also enable them to link and share photos, notes and other reminders to the charts, and show the effects of their beekeeping management.
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Crowdfunding: affordable bee surveillance for hive health - Scoop.co.nz (press release)