Raising Capital Articles

By Maria Valdez Haubrich

Crowdfunding—a method of soliciting small donations of money from large groups of people online—is growing exponentially, according to new data from research firm massolution. According to the company’s annual 2013CF – Crowdfunding Industry Report of more than 308 crowdfunding platforms (CFPs), CFPs worldwide raised $2.7 billion in 2012–an 81 percent increase compared to 2011.

CFPs successfully financed more than 1 million crowdfunding campaigns, with 95 percent of these taking place in North America and Europe.  In North America alone, crowdfunding volume more than doubled, growing by 105 percent to hit $1.6 billion. This year, massolution expects worldwide crowdfunding volume to top $5 billion, largely thanks to new laws in the U.S. that will enable crowdfunding to expand beyond simply seeking donations or rewards-based contributions, and actually seek equity investments.

The current report focused on lending-based, donation-based and reward-based crowdfunding. However, thanks to the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act signed into law last April, which will allow non-accredited investors to make investments in companies in return for equity, equity-based crowdfunding is expected to grow substantially in 2013 and beyond.

The SEC still needs to revise several key sections of the act before equity-based crowdfunding can take place in the U.S. While the SEC has failed to meet deadlines for doing so, the regulations are expected to be set by the end of the year.

What types of campaigns are most likely to get funded via crowdfunding? Massolution identified the five most popular types of crowdfunding campaigns and found social causes still lead the pack; nearly 30 percent of all crowdfunding activity involves social issues.

However, business and entrepreneurship campaigns are moving up in the ranks, with 16.9 percent of crowdfunding activity last year coming from this category. In fact, massolution reports that last year’s growth in lending volumes was primarily due to crowdfunded microloans and community-driven loans to small and midsized businesses.

Films and performing arts accounted for 11.9 percent of all crowdfunding activity in 2012, and music and recording arts accounted for 7.5 percent. The emerging category last year was energy and environment, which accounted for 5.9 percent of crowdfunding activity.

A few interesting trends massolution points out that could have implications for small businesses:

• Crowdfunding is no longer just for small companies seeking to fund individual projects, but is poised to become a means by which big corporations and even institutions could raise funds. This could mean even greater competition in the crowdfunding space, making it harder for small companies to stand out.
• At the same time, new platforms are likely to emerge dedicated to smaller companies and even specific industries, which could make it easier to find financing within these platforms.
• In fact, there’s even opportunity for entrepreneurs to start their own crowdfunding platforms to target underserved niches.

Image by Flickr user James Cridland (Creative Commons)