Due to the passage of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act and a global explosion of crowdfunding platforms, 2012 was an amazing year for crowdfunding — and 2013 is poised to be even bigger.
Three major trends currently dominate the industry: platform consolidation, niche platform growth, and the development of alternative crowdfunding solutions. One of the earlier examples of consolidation occurred during the summer of 2012, when EarlyShares acquired HelpersUnite. More recently, two U.K. reward-based platforms, Crowdfunder and Peoplefund.it, merged to defend their turf against Kickstarter. Meanwhile, white label solutions like Launcht, invested.in, and catarse.me fueled a rapid expansion of niche platforms focused on a specific region, category, or demographic. And finally, technologies like SelfStarter and ignitiondeck helped some crowdfunders forgo crowdfunding platforms altogether.
To read the original article: The Crowdfunding Industry in 2013 and Beyond
