GetFunded is now open for pre-registration to all businesses more than a month after Apps Genius revealed its plans to enter the crowdfunding space.
Apps Genius develops, markets, publishes, and distributes social games and applications for consumers. And in an effort to promote its latest initiative and draw in the best candidates, the company is offering up to $5,000 in funding per project for the first 25 selected and feature the projects on GetFunded.com. The company says it will be evaluating originality, sustainable competitive advantage and potential market size. Company contributions will range from between $500 and $5,000.
This initiative has been made possible through the US government’s JOBS Act, which has a provision that enables the practice of crowdfunding, in which social media is used to publicly solicit a large number of small investments.
The beta launch of GetFunded will take place 45 days from now, in late July, and the platform will allow the public to donate to the development of a range of products and services.
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In its initial beta release, GetFunded will allow users to contribute to a project in exchange for services or products. Depending on the implementation of the JOBS Act, the company says it might be possible for firms to use crowdfunding as a source of financing by selling securities.
“We see two very unique and large opportunities with Getfunded.com,” says Adam Kotkin, CEO of Apps Genius. “The first is to open up traditional crowdfunding to all businesses, and the second is to build and position the GetFunded platform to take advantage of the JOBS Act which will allow investors in projects to receive equity instead of the current product pre-orders or gifts given.”
Crowdfunding has really taken off over the past 12 months, with the likes of Kickstarter hitting the headlines for a number of high-profile, publicly-funded projects. Smartwatch Pebble, for example, broke all records with its $10m raised from the ‘crowd’. And earlier this week we reported that Independent Film Development Corporation (IFLM), a Nevada-based distributor of digital films, had launched IndieBacker for movie-makers looking to raise funds for new projects.
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