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The Rise and Growth of Crowdfunding Websites
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The Rise and Growth of Crowdfunding Websites
Posted By Fred Hale, Jan 22, 2013
2012 was a big year for crowdfunding platforms such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo. These sites allow users to submit projects for community funding of a target amount. Once the community has pledged enough to meet the target amount, the sites release the funds to the user. The popularity of these platforms has grown exponentially: the community of Kickstarter pledged nearly $320 million towards projects in 2012, more than triple what it did in 2011. Indiegogo reported that projects in 2012 not only received more funding than those in 2011, but also met their goals, on average, in much less time. Some experts believe that the coming years will be even more impressive. Forbes predicts that crowdfunding will reach $6 billion in annual revenue in 2013, with even greater growth in 2014. Why such optimism? Forbes writes that with time, crowdfunding will become a more generally accepted tool to raise capital and will undergo a huge boost when corporate America officially embraces it. There is also the opportunity for even further growth when Kickstarter begins allowing international users to submit projects to the site - currently, although Kickstarter received funding from around 90% of countries worldwide, only users in the United States and the United Kingdom can submit projects. 2013 is shaping up to be another stellar year of growth for crowdfundining platforms. Source (Techcrunch): http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/03/indiegogos-2012-in-crowdfunding-campaigns-raised-20-more-than-in-2011-with-shorter-funding-periods/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29 Source (Forbes): http://www.forbes.com/sites/groupthink/2012/12/27/crowdfunding-will-make-2013-the-year-of-the-gold-rush/ Source (Forbes): http://www.forbes.com/sites/tanyaprive/2012/11/27/what-is-crowdfunding-and-how-does-it-benefit-the-economy/ Source (Kickstarter Blog): http://www.kickstarter.com/year/2012#countries Source (The Verge): http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/9/3854604/kickstarter-is-on-pace-to-collect-1-billion-dollars-in-funding-this-year