Crowdfunds to aid student projects now

Crowdfunding platforms are no more meant to raise funds only for social causes. Students are now using them to raise funds for the creative projects they plan to present at national and international level competitions. Besides college funds, students also get financial aid through sponsors, which usually are not sufficient to develop a competitive product capable of winning against the best in the world. The crowdfunding activity also acts as a platform for these students to connect with their alumni. Wishberry, a crowdfunding platform has observed that, on an average, 70 per cent funds come in from alumni. Student projects that crowdfund on Wishberry, are primarily by engineering students from reputed institutes across India such as MIT, NMIMS, VIT University, R.V. College, NIT, K.J. Soumaiya, etc.

Students are raising funds to develop automobiles, robots and drones to participate in globally renowned events such as Baja SAE, Formula student, Formula SAE, Elite Karting, Robocon, AUVSI, etc. Anshulika Dubey one of the co-founders of Wishberry, said, "Our crowdfunding platform started in 2012. So far, 26 student projects have raised over 40 lakhs on Wishberry."
On an average, a student campaign manages to raise Rs 1,63,548 and these campaigns have recorded an astonishing success rate of 70 per cent (the success rate signifies the percentage of campaigns which raised 100 per cent or more of their crowdfunding target.).