Crowdfunding site Ketto raises Rs 50 lakh to send Jharkhand girls team for USA Cup

Ketto, a crowdfunding platform for social causes, closed its biggest crowdfunding campaign last month raising little over Rs 50 lakh that will be used to sponsor 15 underprivileged girls for The USA Cup, one of the largest football tournaments in the world.

Yuwa, the organization behind the team of tribal girls from rural Jharkhand seeking to play in the tournament, approached Ketto who along with Star Sports helped promote the campaign on their platform and worked collectively to raise money.

“623 funders backed the campaign that closed in 30 days flat through June,” said Varun Sheth, Co-Founder, Ketto.

“Star Sports came on board with us to help promote this campaign as our goal was on a higher side and we needed them to promote the initiative across television and power it online too,” Sheth added.

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To date, Ketto has raised over Rs. 1 crore across 30-35 campaigns since the Mumbai-based startup was launched in October 2012 by Sheth and Bollywood actor Kunal Kapoor.

Ketto works on a donation-based model and launches 10 campaigns a month. In November 2013, the crowdfunding company raised its first round of angel funding to the tune of $120,000, from Calcutta Angels.

“Now we want to raise $1 million. We have just starting working on our plans to raise a second round of funding,” Sheth said. Once monies are raised, Ketto founders aim to launch 100 campaigns on a weekly basis.

Ketto has grown organically and gets 5,000 unique visitors a day on its platform. Presently 50 percent of this traction comes from outside India - US, Middle East, Canada, and Australia, Sheth added.