Karsten Wenzlaff, Advisor
August 26th, 2025
Karsten Wenzlaff is a Crowdfunding and Fintech Expert from Germany. He is Secretary-General of Digit[...]
Category Archives: Fintech Opinions
Resistance, Rejection, And Ridicule. Start-up Expectations From Indiegogo’s Danae Ringelmann
Forbes by Ewan Spence | December 2, 2014
“I wish we’d had an Indiegogo to launch Indiegogo,” Danae Ringelemann reminisces. “It would have gone a lot faster.”
I’ve met up with the founder of the crowd funding website Indiegogo. Founded in 2008 it spent years trying to secure its own funding to allow the service to firstly survive, and then thrive, as one of the leading crowd funding sites. Fresh from speaking at last month’s Web Summit in Dublin, Ringelmann knows all about the difficulties of funding a vision.
Incredibly empathetic, and almost evangelical in her enthusiasm, she is educating everyone who will listen about the power of Indiegogo’s crowd funding model. It’s not just about projects raising funds, it’s a way to mitigate marketing risk (and execution risk), a way to work alongside traditional finance routes, and it’s a way to turn everyday dreams into reality.
Much like the dream of the founders of Indiegogo had.
Related: Indiegogo Founder Speaks on Why Crowdfunding is an Equal Opportunity Platform
“We were rejected by ninety-two VCs and Angel Investors [famously including Y Combinator, as Forbes Jeff Bercovici found out recently], which proved the point of Indiegogo. We needed to exist. We needed to remove this gate-keeping process so every idea could thrive.
Getting Indiegogo started, like all start-up stories, was a mix of horror and naivety. The prototypes of Indiegogo saw service for many years before funding arrived. Ringelmann takes me back, “We launched in 2008 with a few case studies. Then we went to raise funding to grow faster. That was the plan, but the financial markets crashed, and began our dark period of just plugging away, throwing out that launch schedule, and going from campaign to campaign. We didn’t raise much funding until March 2011.
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“We were always growing, but it felt… lonely. We weren’t a faster, cheaper, or better version of something, we were a whole new way of doing things with no comparison. That made it harder to explain what this thing was.”
It’s clearly a time that had to be endured rather than enjoyed. Like any good leader, Ringelmann enjoys looking upwards and onwards, but I suspect this dark period has tempered the Indiegogo team into a far stronger final product.
“We were passionate about what we were doing, passionate despite reason. When we launched Twitter had just got going, Facebook was still college-only, MySpace was all the rage, and my co-founder likes to say that Obama wasn’t even a word.
“Any other logical person would have said give up, it’s not working. But we knew this was the future, we knew this would help people who would not be served by the traditional system. You don’t need everything worked out before you launch. You can only see what users want after you show them something and see if they use it or now. Get an early prototype out, it’s simple.”
Related: Indiegogo Is Testing Optional Insurance Fees For Crowdfunded Products
That process has inured Indiegogo to the process that Indiegogo users have to fight through to get started with their dreams. What lesson would Ringelmann pass on? “Expect resistance, expect rejection, expect ridicule, and expect things not to got to plan.” Tagged on at the end of that list was the heart of the struggle of many creatives. ”Expect self-doubt when you are building something new and important for the world. My father loved to say that ‘…the world has incredible inertia, it loves to say no.’ Its your job to keep saying yes.”
So what changed? Every project has a moment that it goes over ‘the hump’ and while success is not assured, success can be seen. For Ringelmann and Indiegogo it was a single campaign. “It was a campaign we had no contact with, but it was immensely successful. It was about two people solving problem and they needed money to do it. So they took it into their own hands… and did it.”
Related: Code4Armour™ Launched Crowdfunding Campaign on Indiegogo; 25% of Goal Reached in First Day
“He spent years hiding people from execution. Two CNN reporters had been following his story, and after saving thousands of peoples’ lives, his own life came under threat as his kidneys started to fail. He did not have the money to do anything about it. So the reporters did an Indiegogo campaign, and raised enough to fly him to South Africa for surgery.
“That really moved me. People had been following this man’s story around the world and now they had the opportunity to actually save him. And they did. That was the moment I knew this [Indiegogo] was something really important.” Indiegogo has thrived since then, with close to 300,00 campaigns having been run through the website.
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The National Crowdfunding Association of Canada (NCFA Canada) is a cross-Canada crowdfunding hub providing education, advocacy and networking opportunities in the rapidly evolving crowdfunding industry. NCFA Canada is a community-based, membership-driven entity that was formed at the grass roots level to fill a national need in the market place. Join our growing network of industry stakeholders, fundraisers and investors. Learn more About Us | Crowdfunding | Support NCFA.
Is crowdfunding for the 1% or the 99%? Dr. Richard Swart on Crowdfunding and Regulation
Crowdfund Insider by JD Alois | November 14, 2014
Dr. Richard Swart, of UC Berkeley and Crowdfund Capital Advisors, recently addressed the Deep Impact Conference in the UK via video to address the hot topic of crowdfunding and regulation. Swart is a frequent speaker on crowdfunding and is a highly respected researcher on the new form of finance.
Dr. Swart answers the question regarding what is the appropriate form of regulation. He reflects that most regulators today are not fully aware of the “paradigm shift” and disintermediation of traditional finance – especially when addressing SMEs. Crowdfund Insider suggests that "Every US Politician & SEC Regulator Should Watch this Video".
Related: Global Crowdfunding with Dr. Richard Swart, UC Berkeley, Director of Crowdfunding Research
Some interesting bullet points:
- By 2020 over 40% of the population will be self-employed
- Most young people today realize their future does not exist inside a large organization
- We (US) do a relatively poor job of training and mentoring entrepreneurs
- Average person in the US has made over 220 pitches before receiving funding for a company
- Most young firms are in need of financing yet bank lending has been on a precipitous decline
- Decline of bank lending to small companies has been on the decline for 28 straight years
- Tax incentives and regulations need to be designed to encourage investing in SMEs
- Most fortunes can be traced to investing in private companies but the wealth must be patient
- There is a fear of private markets and fear of private investments that is unwarranted
- With appropriate portfolio diversification risk in investing in SMEs can be mitigated
- Strong opposition from opponents of crowdfunding has curtailed it for 3 years
- Crowdfunding can act as a rapid job creator
- Crowdfunding enables skill acquisition and workforce development
- We can allow equity crowdfunding to flourish and still protect investors
- If we are smart, we can fashion a regime that creates millions of new jobs
Related: Why Financial Firms Are Now Joining the Crowd
Dr. Swart asks the question; “Is crowdfunding for the 1% or the 99%? This is a false argument. It is for everyone”. That is only if the regulators and politicians let it be so.
[youtube width="570" height="400"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZpq4B1aODA#t=14[/youtube]
The National Crowdfunding Association of Canada (NCFA Canada) is a cross-Canada crowdfunding hub providing education, advocacy and networking opportunities in the rapidly evolving crowdfunding industry. NCFA Canada is a community-based, membership-driven entity that was formed at the grass roots level to fill a national need in the market place. Join our growing network of industry stakeholders, fundraisers and investors. Learn more About Us | Support Canadian Crowdfunding.
The A to Z guide to media relations for crowdfunding
The Globe and Mail by Jackson Wightman and Christa Fairchild | November 19, 2014
Crowdfunding on platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo has become a popular way for small companies and startups to show proof of concept and raise money for their ideas.
Getting it right takes serious effort and across many business functions, including public relations. Media coverage can make or break a campaign due to increased exposure and the perceived credibility of third party outlets. However, getting the PR piece of a crowdfunding campaign right is no picnic.
Here to help you generate killer coverage for your company’s campaign is the A to Z guide to conducting media relations for a crowdfunding campaign.
Related: Four ways to get the media behind your crowdfunding campaign
A is for advice. Before launching your crowdfunding campaign’s media relations activities you should seek out advice from those who’ve done it before. While hiring a PR firm may be beyond your budget, there is sometimes merit and it will save a lot of headaches. If you can’t afford the expense speak to other entrepreneurs who’ve generated good coverage for their crowdfunding efforts.
B is for beginning. Since most crowdfunding campaigns sink or swim in the first 24 to 72 hours you want media coverage to appear at the beginning of the initiative, not on day 30 when any traffic referred by media sites is going to be less impactful.
C is for control. As with any media relations effort you’ll have little to no control over if and when media publish their stories on your crowdfunding campaign. Use the minor degree of control you have very wisely and carefully.
D is for decorum. Crowdfunding campaigns can be stressful. The media relations piece doubly so. Media misquote the CEO. They publish later than they say they will. Journalists that are given an advanced look at a product pen pieces that rip it to shreds. There is, however, very little value in being rude to the folks who buy (digital) ink by the barrel. Maintain your decorum with media at all times.
Related: Infographic: 11 essential ingredients every crowdfunding campaign needs
E is for embargo. Remember what the letter C was for? Well, one way to exercise a modicum of control over when media publish is to use an embargo. If you tell media outlets they cannot publish before a designated date, and they respect that agreement, you may end up with a beautiful crescendo of noise that equates to a large surge in web traffic to your campaign’s page.
F is for fundraising. Media coverage can do a lot to drive fundraising, so carefully monitor referral traffic to your page from third party media placements to get a sense of PR’s impact.
G is for genius. This is what you’ll be called if you generate significant media coverage for your company’s crowdfunding initiative in the first 24 hours after launch.
H is for hard work. You will need to put in more of it than usual in advance of your campaign going live. While media relations tends to be an activity where the heavy lifting happens in advance of a launch or special event, this is even more true with crowdfunding initiatives. From our experience, about eighty per cent of the media relations work happens before you go live.
I is for integrated. Your media relations efforts need to be integrated with the other parts of your crowdfunding campaign. Practically speaking this means having a plan to share big media placements with your online community, assessing whether you want to dedicate some budget to using syndication service like Outbrain to give some of the nicer coverage an extended life, and generally thinking through how communication channels mesh.
Related:
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Reverse Crowdfund-gineering: Five Ways to Integrate Events into your Crowdfunding Campaign
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The Myth Of Magical Crowdfunding — And What Actually Works
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Why Crowdfunding Is a Must-Have Marketing Tool for Brands
J is journalism. You need to know about the professional interests of those who practice this craft if you hope to get any media coverage for your campaign. A journalist’s job is to report on things of interest to her audience, not to advertise your business and its products. In other words, the simple fact that you’re launching a crowdfunding campaign is not enough to land that coveted front-page story.
K is for keep your friends close. We typically recommend giving a few media outlets a sneak peek into whatever product, service or project is going to launch before the embargo lifts. This usually means big outlets get the special treatment. While this is sound policy, a crowdfunding effort is a good way to solidify existing media relationships. Make sure you give a few outlets you’re already friendly with an advanced look at what you’ve got planned – even if they are smaller.
L is logistics. Because of the relatively high cost of logistics, product shipping and other business functions, crowdfunding campaigns are best seen as plays for exposure not vehicles for raising money. It may sound strange, but the economics of crowdfunding on the platforms currently popular turn the activity into a marketing initiative, increasing the importance of strong media relations.
M is for multiple newsworthy announcements. Every crowdfunding effort gets to announce its launch. Hopefully you have your ducks in a row and can get a good surge of media coverage immediately after you kick off. However, when you design your campaign it’s a good idea to think through secondary announcements – such as potential partnerships or product refinements – that may result in more media coverage and provide your campaign with other boosts in traffic after any initial stories appear.
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Equity Crowdfunding: Noise or Music to Your Ears
Venture Law Corp | Alixe Cormick (blog) | Nov 6, 2014
There seems to be a perception in Canada that equity crowdfunding is “noise” or a “flavor of the month” fad that will quickly disappear. It is the opinion of some, the traditional ways of raising capital, using brokers, finders, angel network events, and venture capital pitch meetings, works and will never be replaced.
Certain regulators and market professionals involved in the capital markets even believe there is no legitimate role for equity crowdfunding. Some even believe that equity crowdfunding will increase fraud, reduce the ability of companies to raise capital, and end in tears for all involved.
On October 30, 2014, I participated on a panel at the annual Vancouver Island Economic Alliance Summit titled “The Buzz Around Business Crowdfunding – Noise or Music to Your Ears?” Daryl Hatton, the CEO of FundRazr, one of the top donation and perk crowdfunding portals in the world, and Peter Elkin, an active angel investors and the Founder and CEO of Capital Investment Network, rounded out the panel participants. Stephanie Andrew, an Associate Partner at Espresso Capital, acted as moderator. Dirk Heydemann, of Heydemann Art of Photography in Nanaimo, introduced the panel and sponsored the panel session.
The room was filled with community economic officers, community leaders, small business owners and others interested in learning more about crowdfunding. Daryl Hatton provided the audience with an overview about crowdfunding and highlighted a few recent equity crowdfunding campaigns to help illustrate the diversity in who is using crowdfunding and for what purposes on platforms such as Fundrazr and others.
My formal presentation as part of the panel focused on equity crowdfunding. I wanted to drive home that equity crowdfunding is happening now. Operating portals exist in Europe, United States and in Canada. Average successful equity crowdfunding campaign sizes vary across funding portals with some portals average campaign size ($1.6 million) coming close to the average private placement size on the TSX Venture Exchange ($1.9 million).
Although Canada is looking at two crowdfunding specific securities law exemptions from registration, Canadian securities laws already have private placement exemptions that can be used to crowdfund a business venture. There are benefits and drawbacks associated with all forms of crowdfunding, but it is definitely not just “noise”.
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The National Crowdfunding Association of Canada (NCFA Canada) is a cross-Canada crowdfunding hub providing education, advocacy and networking opportunities in the rapidly evolving crowdfunding industry. NCFA Canada is a community-based, membership-driven entity that was formed at the grass roots level to fill a national need in the market place. Join our growing network of industry stakeholders, fundraisers and investors. Learn more About Us | Support Canadian Crowdfunding.
Ron Suber’s Guide to Improve the Crowdfunding Industry
Crowdfund Insider | | Nov 3, 2014
Recently I participated in the Third Annual Global Crowdfunding Convention and Bootcamp in Las Vegas and Ron Suber, President of Prosper Marketplace, a peer to peer or “marketplace lending” platform, spoke about the nine actions or initiatives that the marketplace lending industry in general and Prosper specifically undertook which led to the booming growth and success in the industry. His message was intended to be a “how to” guide, whereby through adopting this criteria, the much smaller crowdfunding industry may be able to achieve new levels of growth and recognition. Since the event, Suber has modified his nine initiatives in preparation for the AltFi Global Summit on Tuesday, November 4th. I appreciate Suber’s points and think they have greatly benefitted the marketplace lending industry. I am using this opportunity to further analyze such actions’ applicability to the investment crowdfunding space and provide thought, modifications or alternatives.
Provide predictable and appropriate returns as advertised.
While this makes perfect sense for a fixed income product like a consumer loan, this is much more difficult for an equity stake in a small or startup business. Such entities are by nature unpredictable and often without comparable investments to determine what the “appropriate” return should be. The part of this message to take to heart however, is to accurately “advertise” the potential return. This means the crowdfunding industry needs to ensure that the risks of investments, including total loss, are fully and understandably explained to investors.
No guarantees. Tips on performing basic campaign due diligence?
Provide easy to access and analyze data and update over time.
This is essential with any type of commercial transaction and/or investor. The parties must have full information in order to make informed decisions and providing adequate information, also alleviates liability from the disclosing party. As Suber states, the information must be easily accessed and analyzed—meaning, neither brief salesy info nor a copious information dump will do. In addition, ongoing reporting and updates is essential to keep investors apprised of their investment’s performance.
Crowdfunding insights from analyzing over 400K Crowdfunding campaigns
Diversity of investors.
This is a great benefit of using the internet and general solicitations, which allow platforms the opportunity to reach entirely new types and classes of investors. This is essential for both marketplace lenders and crowdfunding platforms.
Crowdfunding, a Canadian Investor's Perspective
Diversity of borrowers.
When matching supply and demand, you can see how important this is to marketplace lending. It also resonates in crowdfunding, as this is an opportunity for minorities and other people who have historically had difficulty raising capital, due to geography or background, the opportunity to source capital from a new breed of investors. It is statistically proven that people tend to invest in people like them with respect to race, background and gender. By diversifying both the investor and investee base, we can provide economic growth and prosperity to entirely new segments of the population.
Ten reasons why Women are turning to crowdfunding
Build an ecosystem and infrastructure.
This is a page that crowdfunding could really take from the marketplace lending industry playbook. Marketplace lending now has a robust system for the transfer and custody of funds and a host of third party data and analytics providers, which can assist both investor and borrower. The crowdfunding industry is still quite behind in this area, as people are trying to find competent escrow and account services which can scale to the transaction level necessary and no central repository for data relating to the multitude of crowdfunding platforms springing up daily has emerged.
Katipult White label Real Estate Crowdfunding infrastructure-software
Mobile – adoption of mobile technologies to appease investors and borrowers.
I agree that this is the way things are moving but put this toward the bottom of the list, as we need to make sure that the pipes work before we allow unlimited access. Although I do envision a world of event driven investment, where you could be at a demo day and see a wonderful new product or idea and invest instantly with your mobile device.
Safety and Soundness.
Suber equates this with the use of bankruptcy remote vehicles for investments, which I am a fan of. I don’t think the investor should bear both the credit risk of the underlying investment and the credit risk of the platform itself. Regardless, this isn’t exactly applicable to crowdfunding, however the concept is important. We need to limit as much risk as possible for the investor. We can do this by ensuring that the listing companies are properly diligenced, that adequate information is provided and that investors are educated as to the general principals of investing. Also, a self-regulating organization for crowdfunding platforms to set of best practices and standard of ethics and of course a set of thoughtful and workable regulations set forth on a federal level are crucial to the soundness and success of the crowdfunding industry.
NCFA Canada Launches Crowdfunding Standards Board
Existing Client Marketing leads to loyal repeat customers and word of mouth marketing.
This is important to any business, but especially when we are talking about transparent marketplaces in a social environment. Poor customer services, inequitable treatment of investors or listing companies, actual fraud or unsustainable failures could easily undermine any progress this industry has made. Existing clients must have a successful empowering experiences for this industry to grow and thrive. As we have seen, through the use of social media, clients can quickly become evangelists, but this of course cuts both ways and poor performance can just as rapidly be disseminated to the masses.
Why Crowdfunding is a must have marketing tool for brands
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The National Crowdfunding Association of Canada (NCFA Canada) is a cross-Canada crowdfunding hub providing education, advocacy and networking opportunities in the rapidly evolving crowdfunding industry. NCFA Canada is a community-based, membership-driven entity that was formed at the grass roots level to fill a national need in the market place. Join our growing network of industry stakeholders, fundraisers and investors. Learn more About Us | Support Canadian Crowdfunding.
Four ways to get the media behind your crowdfunding campaign
Financial Post | Jackson Wightman and Christa Fairchild | Oct 30, 2014
We’re going to let you in on a little secret: Crowdfunding campaigns on platforms such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo aren’t really about the fundraising.
In fact, crowdfunding projects usually cost the startup money for logistics, promotion, management of a backer community, and other business functions that are tested during a campaign. The return on investment of such projects is community building and exposure.
Add to this the fact that the first 24 to 72 hours of a campaign usually determines whether it sinks or swims, and you have a recipe whereby well-timed, properly executed media relations are incredibly important to positive return on investment.
Regardless of what your product is, getting the media relations piece of a crowdfunding campaign right is difficult.
Media publish on their own schedules, they’re generally deluged with information about non-newsworthy nonsense, and crowdfunding is not shiny and new anymore. Fortunately, media relations is still a game of relationships. This is where targeted relationships with relevant start-ups, business, or fintech media outlets can be incredibly instrumental in giving your campaign the exposure it needs.
Here are four keys to conducting media relations for a crowdfunding campaign:
Three-quarters of the work should happen before the campaign goes live.
Most of the time – whether it be a new product launch, a special event, or a press conference – media relations happen in advance. You build a target media list and develop messages early; you create media materials before you need them; etc. However, with any crowdfunding initiative we’ve worked on there’s even more input at the front end. It’s imperative work happen early so that coverage can appear in the initial phase of the campaign and drive traffic to your fundraising page. If you’ve got a product that requires a demo or a roadshow, conduct these meetings before the campaign starts.
You don’t need media coverage on Day 30 of a 30-day campaign. You need it Day 1, ideally in Hour 1.
'Learn Everything' Crowdfunding Bootcamp: Nov 6, 2014 (Full day workshop in Toronto)
Use a media embargo, but know it may go wrong.
Anytime we do work that involves a media embargo we assume things will get messy. This is because certain large media outlets (who will remain nameless) have policies about ignoring embargoes. Be sure to check before you commit. Broken embargoes usually anger media who played by the rules and got scooped. Sometimes, however, embargoes work out. When this happens there are usually several outlets who publish pieces at around the same time. It’s a beautiful crescendo of noise and tends to equate to a large surge in web traffic, which is great for a crowdfunding campaign. Because of this, the embargo lift date for any media coverage should always coincide with the dissemination of the press release and public kickoff. Don’t have media publishing the day before you launch as any traffic that might have come your way will have no place to go.
Consider multiple newsworthy announcements over the course of your campaign.
Every crowdfunding effort gets to announce its launch. Hopefully you have your ducks in a row and can get a good surge of media coverage immediately after you kick things off. However, when you design your campaign it’s a good idea to think through secondary announcements that may result in more media coverage and provide your campaign with another boost in traffic after any initial stories appear. Some journalists may be interested should you hit the funding targets that make your goals a reality. Also, consider how you might announce new partnerships that come about over the campaign. The more spikes in news coverage you can get over a campaign, the better.
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The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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The Next 3 Surges That Will Change the Future of Crowdfunding
Entrepreneur | David Drake | Oct 28, 2014
The remaining months of 2014 may still hold unexpected twists for those hoping to ride the ever-increasing crowdfunding wave in the U.S., Europe and beyond. The number of crowdfunding platforms available to investors continues to grow, with more than 536 active platforms estimated last 2012. If the SEC regulators make Title III of the JOBS Act workable (as it relates to crowdfunding), thereby imposing less restrictions on non-accredited investors, the uncapped crowdfunding market will continue to swell through more innovative platforms and startups. The ruling by this regulatory body will likely come about in late 2014, but even while the public is eagerly waiting in anticipation, due diligence is still recommended.
Related: Why Frausters won't sink Equity Crowdfunding | In Crowdfunding who is responsible for Fraud?
Here are three surges that you need to watch out for in the future:
1. The inevitable future of fraud.
Last October 2013, the World Bank reported that there have been very few documented cases of crowdfunding fraud - only 4 out of the total 43,193 (0.01 percent) projects launched on Kickstarter were identified as fraudulent. Crowdfunding research website TheCrowdCafe also reported zero incidents of fraud in the six major platforms it monitors. Keep in mind, by fraud we mean creating fake campaigns or companies, which is different from the legal concept of fraud which focuses on false representation.
The potential fraudster would have to face entire wisdom of the crowd. But the number of fraud cases, suspended campaigns, and scams in the crowdfunding industry is growing this year: GoBe, iFind, Anonabox, Scribble, Areal, Holovision, and the list goes on.
Investors should continue to be vigilant in vetting an investment venue before committing. As the crowdfunding landscape continues to widen, the chances of fraud will more than likely increase.
Some fraud risk mitigation techniques were outlined by the World Bank report, commissioned by infoDev, which the public should look for in each crowdfunding portal or campaign:
2. Going solo.
So far, entrepreneurs have relied on crowdfunding venues to vet opportunities before releasing their products to the public (aka market testing).Despite the massive amounts of capital raised via these platforms, many crowdfunding proposals are never released.
Real-estate crowdfunding platform Fundrise accepts less than 5 percent of the offering applications it receives onto its platform. On the other hand, rewards-based crowdfunding platform Kickstarter receives thousands of applications each week and accepts about 75 percent of project proposals, 25 percent get rejected because of unfollowed guidelines. That 25 percent is still a lot, considering the volume of project submissions it receives each week. This is in contrast with another rewards-based crowdfunding platform Indiegogo which encourages open funding with less stringent rules.
Related: Trends for Business Startups and Future Funders | Canadian Crowdfunding Directory
Undaunted, many companies choose to launch their crowdfunding campaigns directly through their own websites, sometimes with great success. Lockitron, which makes electronic door locks that can be opened with a cell phone, was turned down by Kickstarter. It launched a crowdfunding campaign on its website and raised more than $2 million from more than 14,000 investors in 30 days.
As the crowdfunding market grows and as the large crowdfunding platforms reject hundreds of proposals, eager solo startups will likely continue to offer crowdfunding campaigns directly to the public.
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The National Crowdfunding Association of Canada (NCFA Canada) is a cross-Canada crowdfunding hub providing education, advocacy and networking opportunities in the rapidly evolving crowdfunding industry. NCFA Canada is a community-based, membership-driven entity that was formed at the grass roots level to fill a national need in the market place. Join our growing network of industry stakeholders, fundraisers and investors. Learn more About Us | Support Canadian Crowdfunding.
