If you are looking to raise money for your company -- or keep up at cocktail parties -- you should have a few facts about crowdfunding up your sleeve.
Crowdfunding is a way of raising money for a new venture by soliciting small donations from many people online. The biggest platforms in the industry are Kickstarter and Indiegogo. In the last five years, crowdfunding has grown from a tool for off-beat bands to raise money from fans for an album they can’t afford to produce to a way for some really high tech inventors to get access to capital for their new, innovative startups.
Consider the Pebble watch. It’s a customizable, digital wristband that tells time, runs apps and sinks with your smartphone. The founding team set out hoping to raise $100,000 and raised more than $10 million on Kickstarter.
Related: This Site Allows Celebrities to Crowdfund for Causes in Real Time
Clarity, a San Francisco entrepreneur-advisor matchmaking service, teamed up with Column Five Media to build the infographic below with a summary of what crowdfunding is, how quickly it has grown as an industry in recent years and some quick facts about the next generation of crowdfunding.
