2012 has marked the beginning of an explosion of niche crowdfunding platforms ranging from new music-centered communities like ZoshPit to sites like Gambitious that aim to further develop crowdfunding as a viable alternative to the established method of financing games.
However, even for industry experts, it can be difficult to keep tabs on all the different platforms that are available and their various benefits and drawbacks. In order to solve this problem, 530Funds, an Ohio-based startup, has created a unique discovery engine that allows users to search through the 74 registered crowdfunding sites to find platforms that best match their needs.
Since November, Richard Rodman, CEO of 530Funds, and his co-founders Max Heckel and Rohan Kusre have been working around the clock to index and categorize the latest crowdfunding sites. Many of these are niche sites that focus on a particular audience as opposed to Kickstarter’s approach, which caters to a broad array of project categories.
“We aim to be a one stop shop for everything crowdfunding,” says Rodman. “Individuals can use our search engine to find the best crowdfunding site for them, use our company profile page to view extended descriptions of the companies, and log onto their user profile to contact individuals in the industry or promote their project.”
The emergence of new crowdfunding platforms has led to speculation surrounding mergers, acquisitions, and business failures that may result from this newly competitive landscape. A lot of these new sites are designed for niche audiences and project owners have begun to ask themselves why they should host their campaign on Kickstarter if there are specific community sites dedicated to their project’s industry.
When asked about this, Rodman said “Yea, I think eventually these niche crowdfunding sites will benefit project owners more, but not for at least 6 months. Right now, sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo have more of an audience for specific categories, but that is likely to change. If you’re campaigning for a new video game and have an entire community that is interested in the gaming industry for example, you would be more likely to benefit from that audience, that is if your project is good.”
I also asked Richard about the most commonly searched terms on their crowdfunding site discovery engine. He said that since the launch of their public beta in mid November, the most frequent search terms have been “Small business” and “Business.” This trend coincides with the recent increase in public demand for information about the JOBS Act and the implications for entrepreneurs or small businesses looking to raise capital.
So far, it seems that categories like film, gaming, music, and design/technology have seen the most success on Kickstarter. Once the SEC has finished regulations regarding the Jobs Act, it will be interesting to see whether equity crowdfunding sites will follow the Kickstarter model, hosting a broad range of funding categories, or adopt the niche approach.
530Funds will undergo a major revamp in mid January that will provide project owners and pledgers even more information to help guide their platform choice. With in-depth site comparison, fundraising tips, and a multi-site campaign publishing feature, 530Funds aims to be the go-to source for individuals looking to create a crowdfunding campaign or find projects to support. To be added to their crowdfunding search engine, submit your site through the “Contact Us” portion of the 530Funds website.
