Are conservative Canadian attitudes influencing support levels for crowdfunding here?
The Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance (CATA) has created an onlinesurvey to find out. The survey is designed to assess what Canadiansthink about crowdfunding and how willing they are to either solicitfunds online for their own startup venture, or invest money in astartupthat way.
CATA is one of a cluster of Canadian business and technologyorganizations lobbying provincial governments to legalize equitycrowdfunding, which allows people to directly invest in startupcompanies through social media platforms like Kickstarter.Equitycrowdfunding is in the process of becoming legal in the U.S. butremains illegal in Canada. CATA president John Reid has warned thatcould putCanadian startups at a competitive disadvantage with their Americancounterparts when it comes to raising money.
The survey could help measure the level of support for equitycrowdfunding in Canada, which is traditionally viewed as a more riskaverse nation than the U.S., said Paul Dombowsky, CEO ofIdeavibes, an Ottawacrowdsourcing, crowdfunding and marketing firmthat teamed up with CATA to launch the survey.
“We wonder whether our conservative nature is getting in the way ofattracting broad based support for crowdfunding (in Canada), whether itbe for startups, social enterprise or charities,” Dombowsky said in anews release.
The online survey will be open forresponses until Aug. 25.