Crowdfunding Options for All Kinds of Ideas and Goals

Traditionally, friends and family provided the initial funding for an idea. If things went well, perhaps angel investors and perhaps a venture capital group would be convinced to provide additional financing. For many ideas, these options are not a good fit. Today, there are many crowd funding options for all sorts of ideas and motivations including cool consumer products, women owned businesses, social causes, venture capital investors, angel investors, inventors and many more specialized options.

For all crowd funding, a big factor is creating excitement about your cause. Generally having lots of people that have an expressed an interested in your effort by sharing their email with you or connecting with you on social media is critical to a successful campaign.

General

• IndieGogo - artists, musicians, entrepreneurs and humanitarians to finance projects

• RocketHub - musicians, entrepreneurs, scientists, game developers, philanthropists, filmmakers

Consumer Products

• KickStarter - consumer oriented

• CircleUp - consumer product and retail companies, tangible products - can raise equity

Equity

• WeFunder - Invest as little as $100 in startups and small businesses. Wefunder claims to be the largest Regulation Crowdfunding portal

• Fundable - entrepreneurs raise capital to launch new businesses

• AngelList - "AngelList is where the world meets startups. Find a great startup job, invest in a startup, or raise money"

• EquityNet - Angel stage equity funding site

• MicroVentures - FINRA registered, based in both San Francisco and Austin, was founded in 2009. The company connects both accredited and non-accredited investors to startup companies for equity-based crowdfunding, and they offer both primary and secondary investment opportunities.

• OfferBoard - Equity for energy sector opportunities.

VC Stage

• CrowdFunder - VC stage crowdfunding

• OurCrowd - VC stage crowdfunding

Specialized

• GoFundMe - personal or professional projects, highly ranked and active

• Quirky - investment platform partnering with inventors to make their ideas successful for inventors

• CrowdSupply - inventors and tech gizmos - "We help hackers, makers, and designers turn great ideas into incredible things."

• Experiment - help fund the next wave of scientific research

• PeerBackers - investment banking for a wide range of entrepreneurs

• AppBackr - tracks app usage so users can find apps with non-equity funding

• PledgeMusic - new talent into the music industry

• InvestedIn - Under Construction

Social

• Kiva - "Loans for entrepreneurs doing amazing things"

• StartSomeGood - "We help world-changing projects succeed"

• FundRazr - "Raise money for what matters to you"

• CrowdRise - "Raise money for any cause that inspires you"

• Razoo - "Raise money for people, families, projects, charities, and more"

• Fundly - "Fundly is fast, easy, and has no raise requirements or start up fees"

• YouCaring - "Compassionate Crowdfunding – Optimized for Success"

• Chuffed - "We crowdfund people like you, who changed the world"

• DonorsChoose - "Support a classroom. Build a future"

Crowdfunding News

• NextGen Crowdfunding - tracks crowdfunding and highlights campaigns

#Startup