The History of Crowdfunding

In its simplest meaning, crowdfunding is a group of people contributing money to finance an idea, such as a project or a company. The crowdfunding industry has rapidly grown in popularity as a way for entrepreneurs to test their projects, gain visibility, and raise money.

 But do you realize that it has a long and rich history with roots going back to the 1700s?      

How Did It All Start?
The Irish Loan Fund was established in the 1700s by Jonathan Swift to provide loans to low-income families in Ireland. This was the earliest recorded form of microfinancing, the providing of financial services to individuals.

In 1884, Joseph Pulitzer began a campaign in his newspaper The New York World of crowdfunding for the Statue of Liberty’s foundation after the group in charge of collecting funds for the structure failed to meet their goal. Over 160,000 donors from all backgrounds came together, donating as much or as little as they could to raise $101,091 in five months, allowing the statue to be completed.

Crowdfunding and the Internet
The appearance of the Internet encouraged people all over the world to interact with each other and projects or causes that they are passionate about, resulting in crowdfunding as we know it.

In 1997, the British rock band Marillion used modern crowdfunding to collect funds from their followers to support a tour in the United States. Since then, crowdfunding has risen rapidly with different crowdfunding companies and forms emerging such as crowd fundraising, peer-to-peer consumer lending, peer-to-business lending, equity crowdfunding, and invoice financing.

ArtistShare, inspired by this case of fundraising, launched the first dedicated crowdfunding platform in 2000. More crowdfunding platforms emerged soon after, and the crowdfunding industry has continued to expand year after year.

Since 2008, the most famous platforms have been founded, such as Indiegogo, Kickstarter, or Peerbackers. Crowdfunding sales tripled from $530 million in 2009 to $1.5 billion in 2011, and it is predicted to continue rapid growth in the coming future.

Crowdfunding Today
Nowadays, the variety of different types of crowdfunding platforms is enormous. Below, are the best crowdfunding platforms that can help launch your startup idea. We’ve defined the top six ones based on their ease of use, a track record of helping consumers raise money, price plans, social network integrations, and more. These platforms will help you in obtaining the funds you need for your endeavor, whether you are an entrepreneur, an artist, or a climate change advocate:

✔Best Overall: Indiegogo

✔Best Overall: Indiegogo

✔Best for Startups: SeedInvest Technology

✔Best for Nonprofits: Mightycause

✔Best for Investing: StartEngine

✔Best for Individuals: GoFundMe

It’s worth saying that these 6 platforms are more targeted on the quantity of startups. If you are looking for a more dedicated solution to match your startup, increase your success rate, enjoy low costs, and even get additional services, like marketing help, venture building assistance, etc., we’d recommend that you choose a platform like Venture Rocket Eurasia.

On the VentureRocket Eurasia platform, we also offer crowdfunding investment opportunities for accredited, professional, and institutional investors from all over the globe as well as assist startups in their growth, by providing venture building capabilities.

If you are a tech startup searching for global fundraising opportunities, feel free to register here.

Explore great startups verified by our team and register as an Investor or an Ecosystem Member here.