MUMBAI: Just few weeks back, crowdfunding platform Fairfundr was born with an aim to raise funds for various music and arts projects across the world. What sets the platform apart from the rest is its commission cut policies. It is a platform that accepts 139 local currencies from across 100 countries which would be given to the creators directly without any commission cuts.

Though, it is managed by Switzerland-based Majamba SARL, it will have many projects creators for India, said its co-founder Nikhil Hemrajani. Jeannine and Rajiv Srivastava started Majamba in 2010, got support of Vaud SPECo / Swiss Government in 2011 to do the product development. Launched the base platform in 2013 and improved it with market feedback. Got the support of IBM, CTI Startup, Swissnex India and Vaud SPECo for building the complete Majamba Music Experience platforms (that includes a Concert Ticketing Platform, Music Jambox and a Crowdfunding platform) in 2013 and early 2014. They started collaborating with Nikhil Hemrajani of the Sitara Studio in July 2014 and now we are getting ready to enable 1,000 artistes, artisans and entrepreneurs raise funds, do live shows and sell music anywhere. And Fairfundr is our first step forward.

He said, "Through this initiative, Indian artistes will be able to receive funding from all over the world."He explained why the platform is called Fairfundr by highlight the key policies of the platform. "We will curate the content of the creator before starting the initiative. Secondly, we give whatever money we receive during the campaign to creator, even if, the initiative has not reached it target in the stipulated time," he said.

The interesting policy of the platform is the commission part. "We are giving 100 per cent back to the creator compared to other crowdfunding sites that take an average commission of 10 per cent. After the project is over, the site takes its cut and gives the rest to the creator. On the other hand, we are offering 100 per cent to the creator and we take 3-4 per cent commission per donor transaction. That way no one feels the pinch," claimed Hemrajani.

One of the leading crowdfunding platforms in India is Wishberry where most of the Indian artistes put out their projects. Commenting on the competition in the space, he said, "We will be a big competition for Wishberry as we are offering something different in India as we do not have a set-up fee and other costs.  Unlike other sites, we are giving the artistes how much ever we earn so that they could use it."

The crowdfunding platform has already garnered support worldwide and currently hosts 11 campaigns with target amounts ranging from 768 USD to 408,000 USD. Out of the 11 campaigns four of them are music-based created for solo album of musician Sahil Makhija; an online music community Songstuff; Refuge: Connections; and Sounds Of Octavium.

Hemrajani is closely working with Indian artistes and musicians to get them to join the platform. By end of the year, Hemrajani hopes to add 50 projects and more 1000 projects by next year. He added, "We have reached out to musician and bands and all the artistes. We will get a response in next two weeks. So by next year, we hope to see the platform host many more projects." The platform is targeting to raise $100 million for creators. Rajiv said, "Our total planned investment is directly related to the amount of sponsorships we generate. And we plan to generate around $100 million of sponsorships in the next five years. And every penny will be invested in supporting artists, artisans and entrepreneurs become more successful."

In the future, the platform will also organise Fairfundr events and festivals. He said, "We will organise gigs for all the artistes that sign up on our site,"

Talking about investors, Rajiv revealed, "We already have supporters like the Swiss Govt. and IBM. And we are in negotiations with strategic investors - investors who are essentially suppliers - who will make money from our success."

The platform was launched in India at Swiss Embassy Bangalore and in Switzerland at Lausanne.