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Kickstarter Officially Launches in the United Kingdom Today

Thursday, November 1, 2012 14:50

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(Before It's News)

UKStartProject

Good news for our workshop/bedroom/garage Maker friends in the UK! Kickstarter has officially launched their UK Kickstarter page and with it, reasons to turn those loose ideas into golden opportunities.

Well, today it launched! While projects such as the Ouya and Pebble are setting unbelievable crowdfunding records, there couldn’t be a better time to be an innovator getting ready to launch on Kickstarter. Beginning today, if one goes to the Kickstarter homepage and clicks on ‘Start Project’, they will have a drop down menu to select the United Sates or the United Kingdom:

While existing users will notice little change, the big changes are behind the servers. Kickstarter uses Amazon for their payment system, which created problems for non-US money exchanges. To solve that problem, Kickstarter has adopted the services of a third-party to help manage the funds coming from the UK. The biggest difference you’ll see? The dollars are changed to the British pound. For Americans looking to invest in UK-based projects, there will be an integrated currency convertor for convenience purposes (a smart move on their part for impulse buys).

Now things wouldn’t feel right unless we had some tea involved right? One of the first projects on the site is Good & Proper Tea: a London-based loose-leaf brew bar which has already raised more than half of it’s fundraising goal.

Using a converted 1974 Citroen H van as a traveling bar, project starter Emilie Holmes promises to deliver tea that is “Good and Proper” to her UK friends. Not only is it the perfect project for UK’s Kickstarter launch, but it also has all the ingredients for a perfect Kickstarter video: a problem with solution, a lovable cast of characters, a believable project storyline, and a well-branded finished product. If this video is any sign of what’s to come from our UK friends, I just might spend more time on the UK site.