TORONTO – After three months of work, Canadian-based Kickstarter users have launched projects in hopes of funding their entrepreneurial ventures.
Canadian users are now able to view projects from users in cities including Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal and Calgary.
Kickstarter announced in June that Canadian-based creators would finally be able to launch campaigns on the site. Users in other countries are able to donate to Canadian campaigns, with amounts listed in Canadian dollars.
The U.S.-based company, launched in 2009, is the world’s largest funding platform for creative projects. Users can post projects related to everything from technology, arts, music, fashion, and publishing and maintain full ownership and control of their projects even if funding is achieved.
Since its launch, more than 200 million people have pledged over $300 million to projects.
Canadians were previously able to use the American site to fund projects, but required a U.S.-based bank account to do so.
Canadian-made projects have already made a mark on the site, such as the Pebble smartwatch built by former University of Waterloo student Eric Migicovsky. The smartwatch set a fundraising record on Kickstarter and has since developed into a popular smartphone accessory.
But the first official Canadian projects, revealed Monday with the launch of Kickstarter Canada, are already gaining backing on the site.
An Ottawa-based project by creative writer Catherine Brunelle has already gained 55 per cent of its funding since launch on Monday. The author is trying to raise $3,000 in order to self-publish her book titled, “Adventures of Claire NeverEnding,” a novel about nine generations of women all connected by their middle names.
In true Canadian form, a project dedicated to engineering a stronger hockey stick is also raising pledges towards a $75,000 goal.
The Toronto-based project dubbed “The COLT: Engineering a Better Hockey Stick” uses nanocrystalline metal cladding technology on lightweight carbon composite sticks, to produce high-performance hockey sticks.
By Monday afternoon, the project had already raised over $6,000. One user commented, “Best of luck on this. It’s literally a game changer.”.
Other notable Canadian projects range from a device that uses voice and gesture commands to control household electronics, to a children’s sand castle building kit that allows users to make intricate geometric shapes.
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