Equity Punk & Crowdfunding
Posted on January 24, 2010
Filed Under Everything Else, Politechs, Social Media | Leave a Comment
I am now the proud owner of a share in Scotland’s hippest Brewery. BrewDog is a brewery located in the north of Scotland and they recently launched an online “crowdfunding” scheme selling shares to raise £250,000 of equity.
Crowdfunding is not a new concept but one that has flourished under the Internet and in particular, the rise of social media. It’s basically a way of getting money (funding) from a group of people (crowd). Recent high profile examples include the recent Obama election campaign. By harnessing the new powers of the Internet – essentially the ease of taking online payments and the access to millions of people through social networks such as Facebook – Obama’s team managed to secure nearly a billion dollars via small, online donations.
Another example is the more recent Haiti disaster appeal. By harnessing the same networks of Facebook and Twitter using a viral message, Red Cross launched a fundraising service allowing you to donate money by text. Within 48 hours they had raised $8 million.
From global to local, crowdfunding has really come into it’s own since the Internet took over the world. Watch out for many more examples coming up over the next few months.
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