Chinese firms using crowdfunding sites to crack US market

Hong Kong

ONLINE crowdfunding sites have been the place to raise money to research the theory of everything or back a San Francisco startup. Now, Chinese tech companies are using them to crack the US market.

Yet these aren't exactly struggling startups. Take, for example, XGimi Technology, a Chinese manufacturer of miniature, home-theatre projectors that are Internet-enabled. The company, based in the western China city of Chengdu, raised more than US$300,000 this year for a new LED projector on the crowdfunding website IndieGoGo Inc. All while getting glowing coverage from tech blogs.

Back home, it hardly needs cash or publicity. It's already raised 400 million yuan (S$84.3 million) and is valued at more than one billion yuan by in…