Crowdfunding in Japan is growing more slowly than it is in the US, and there is a very good reason for that as it has followed a different growth path. Crowdfunding started out here as primarily a way to raise money for charitable causes, and it’s only recently been able to disassociate itself from that image.
Another interesting thing about the crowdfunding phenomena here is that at the moment it is having a larger impact on corporate Japan than on smaller Japanese ventures.
Makuake is one of Japan’s largest crowdfunding platforms. It was spun out of CyberAgent in 2013 with Ryotaro Nakayama (or Naka as his foreign friends call him) as CEO.
Of course, things are changing fast. More and more creative individuals are taking advantage of crowdfunding platforms, and last year the Japanese government amended the law to allow new ventures to raise capital via crowdfunding.
So perhaps we should say Crowdfunding in Japan is not just about startups
For more podcasts about the startup scene in Japan, check out Disrupting Japan.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA - Privacy Policy - Terms of Service