Indiegogo expands its efforts to help Chinese startups reach global consumers
Posted in: Today's ChiliWhile crowdfunding company Indiegogo has been running a pilot program in China for the past couple of years, it’s now building on those efforts with the launch of the Indiegogo China Global Fast-Track Program.
CEO David Mandelbrot is in Shenzhen, China this week to announce the program, which is designed to help Chinese entrepreneurs reach a global audience. In an email, he told me:
The China Pilot Program is officially out of pilot phase — today, we are officially launching the Indiegogo Global Fast Track. During the pilot phase, the team experimented with different ways to help service Chinese brands and manufacturers who were looking to launch products overseas. After helping companies raise over $100 million and launch over 3,000 China-based projects over two years time, the team has finalized its new suite of services.
Those services include guidance around crowdfunding and marketing in the United States and other countries, access to a network of more than 65 service providers (including retailers and marketing firms, as well as Indiegogo’s manufacturing partner Arrow Electronics and shipping partner Ingram Micro) and Chinese-to-English consultation with bilingual staff.
Even while in the pilot phase, Indiegogo has had some success stories in helping Chinese companies launch globally. For example, Bluetooth headphone company crazybaby raised more than $4 million across three campaigns.
Mandelbrot said Indiegogo also has opened a satellite office in the Tencent incubator in Shenzhen — a manufacturing hub that’s become a hub for hardware startups, too.
Apple will add Live Listen support for AirPods in iOS 12, according to a new report. The company didn’t include the detail during its WWDC 2018 keynote, but a leak claims iPhone users will soon be able to enable the feature on their handsets. Live Listen was originally exclusive to hearing aids under the Made for iPhone program. The information … 
MyHeritage is the latest company to suffer a security breach after a researcher found a file containing email addresses and hashed passwords for more than 92 million users. The researcher alerted MyHeritage to the breach Monday. The data includes acc…
Amazon has signed a deal with Jordan Peele, the New York Times reports, that, going forward, will give the company a first look at any new TV series coming out of Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions company. The move extends an ongoing relationship between…
Apple’s multi-player support for augmented reality experiences will support more than just the two-player games the company showed off during the WWDC 2018 keynote, with ARKit 2.0 in iOS 12 bringing unexpectedly comprehensive – and private – ways to use AR. Debuting on the iPhone and iPad later this year, iOS 12’s updated augmented reality system will depend on new, … 
Google has announced that Project Fi customers can now add children under the age of 13 to a group plan, expanding the service’s usefulness for families. The company is also offering controls for parents to monitor their child’s data use, including seeing how much data they’re using and also control how much they can use their smartphone. Google announced the … 
