Good news, Australia. The next time you back a Kickstarter project, you may not have to spring an additional fee for international shipping. The crowd-funding platform has just announced that it is launching in Australia and New Zealand "in the very near future".
Kickstarter has been the springboard for some of the most exciting products to launch in the past few years. Products like the Ouya games console, the Pebble smart watch and the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset all got off the ground thanks to the crowd funding platform.
Previously, Kickstarter was only open to creators in the USA (and later the UK), although there were plenty of budding Aussie entrepreneurs who managed to find workarounds to those restrictions.
But with the plan to launch in Australia and New Zealand, projects like the Opena, Moore's Cloud and the Wallee M case won't have to bypass the service's US and UK restrictions.
Crowd-funded learning?
To kick off the Australian Kickstarter revolution, the company is holding two events to educate locals on how to get the most out of the platform.
Running in Sydney on Sunday September 1 and Melbourne on Monday September 2, the Kickstarter School is being run by Kickstarter's Leland Rechis to prime local entrepreneurs on how to create a successful project.
Both events are free, but have already been booked out, although you can still add your name to the waitlist.
With the events happening this weekend, it's a fairly safe bet that the local arm of the service will be launching soon, although the company hasn't announced a firm launch date yet.
- Want to get the most out of an Aussie Kickstarter? Better learn how to use crowd funding...
