A single crowdfunding project will generate more than $1 billion in donations before the end of the decade, Indiegogo’s CEO has predicted.
According to co-founder and CEO Salva Rubin, crowdfunding services and projects will continue to grow in popularity until the first publically funded billionaire is crowned by 2020.
Despite Rubin’s lofty predictions, the company’s current most funded project, Ubuntu, raised ‘just’ $12.8 billion. This disparity in figures isn’t dampening his spirits, however, suggesting to-date growth points to unthinkable figures in the future.
“I don’t think there is ever going to be an upper cap on what you can fund, it just takes time for that upper cap to evolve,” he said speaking exclusively with TrustedReviews.
“I think we are like Moore’s Law in reverse. With Indiegogo, every 24 months you can basically add a new zero to what the upper cap is. If you look backwards that’s essentially what’s happening.”
Getting into big figure territory, he added: “There is a big difference between $10 million and $100 million.
“The upper limit was about $10 million to say December 31, 2014. By December 31, 2016, you’ll be seeing the first campaign to hit $100 million.
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Although a $1 billion campaign is now the goal, this wasn’t always the case. According to Rubin, Indiegogo’s goals – and those of the wider crowdfunding industry – have evolved dramatically since launch in 2008.
“When we started this it was unfathomable that we would raise $10,000, now sadly we take for granted that there are hundred of campaigns getting to $10,000 each day,” he told us.
“When we had our first $1 million campaign we had a big song and dance for about a week. Now we have Flow Hive hitting $1 million in 2 hours and people are like ‘whatever’ and keep working on their email.
“Eventually it will be $1 billion and we will get excited about that.”
Related: Best crowdfuding campaigns to invest in this month
The power of crowdfunding has once again been brought to the fore in recent weeks. Despite past successes, Pebble returned to Kickstarter to fund their latest product, Pebble Time.
Having stormed past $1 million of funding in a matter of minutes, the campaign has now raised over $16 million with 22 days still remaining.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
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We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
