Thu. Mar 28th, 2024
wishberry

Wishberry, which is an online crowdfunding platform for creative projects, is now making an entry into the film financing. With this new category, it aims to help bring on board high net-worth individuals with the intention to invest in low budget cinema.

The new offering, which is currently in pilot mode, will be launched as a full-service platform by mid-2018. However, the company has clarified that it will continue to provide its Kickstarter-style rewards-based crowdfunding platform to creative projects as well.

Typically, the budget for such films ranges within ₹1-4 crore and the company says that it has already raised over half of the budget through funds from high net-worth individuals (HNIs).

The company has revealed that through the backing of angel investors Rajan Anandan, Sharad Sharma and Mohandas Pai, it initiated its film investment services by raising ₹2.65 crore for 3 feature films – ‘Chuskit’, a poignant but lively tale of a Ladakhi paraplegic girl who is battling her condition to go to school; ‘1 Missed Call’ a Marathi film set in the 90s that is a satirical tale of a village in India that witnesses its first mobile phone before it even gets electricity; and ‘Chippa’ a Hindi ‘coming of age’ film starring child actor Sunny Pawar of the Oscar-winning ‘Lion’ fame as the main lead

Commenting on this development, Priyanka Agarwal, Co-founder & CEO of Wishberry, said,

Over the top (OTT) platforms like Netflix, Amazon, and Hotstar have changed the game for low budget cinema. Hence, we believe that low budget films present a lucrative investment opportunity for HNIs as they can earn above market returns over shorter periods of time (12-24 months). We hope to educate HNIs about the mechanics of film-investing over the next few years and help them adopt a portfolio approach while investing in low budget-cinema to make use of this opportunity.

The main focus for the company on film financing will be for regional films that have a good box-office potential. It will also look for films with universal stories that can be relevant to international markets and digital distribution platforms.

By Jeet