What Is Crowdfunding?

Written by Jasir Jawaid

Do the names Pebble and Oculus sound familiar to you? The first makes smartwatches, while the other sells virtual reality headsets. Both have two different products, yet they have something in common: Pebble and Oculus are crowdfunding success stories, blowing past their funding goal and delivering on what they promised. Fitbit, another player in the smartwatch space, scooped up Pebble in 2017 for $23 million, and Facebook bought Oculus in 2014 for a whopping $2 billion.

Money raised through crowdfunding rose 33.7% in 2019, and North America sees $17.2 billion each year in crowdfunding money, according to Fundera. For a long time, venture capital and angel investors were seen as the only way to raise money for a new business. But more and more business ventures are now turning to various forms of crowdfunding, like peer-to-peer lending or online platforms reserved for accredited investors.

This article was published on JoyWallet and can be read here in full.