The year of crowdfunding for start-ups?

Crowdfunding started from this…

Crowdfunding seems to have become one of the best venues for start-ups to raise funds accordingto the Crowdfunding Industry Report and the recent regulatory developments in Italy on the matter may be an interesting opportunity for venture capital funds¸ incubators and start-ups.

The Crowdfunding Industry Report estimated 452 online crowdfunding existing platforms that raised in 2011 $ 1.5 billion and in 2012 $ 2.8 billion while the estimates for 2013 are that over $ 6 billion will be raised. Based on the report¸ Kickstarter is the most popular crowdfunding platform with more than 2 million users allocating over $ 500 million to 40¸000 projects but with 18¸000 projects collecting $ 320 million.

In Italy¸ crowdfunding is still in its early stage with the regulations recently approved raising considerable interest. At the same time the tax benefits for innovative start-ups that have been approved by the end of the year and the further benefits that according to rumours should be approved quite soon have led to the enrolment of over 853 innovative start-ups in the dedicated registry at the Italian Companies’ House.