Perhaps the most significant entity reconsidering the crowdfunding landscape is the government itself. Later this year, pending SEC regulations will come into effect as part of the JOBS (Jumpstart Our Business Startups) Act, allowing businesses to seek investments by offering equity to backers. While platforms like Kickstarter provide avenues for DIYers and makers to gain support without relinquishing control of their projects, equity crowdfunding serves as an alternative to traditional venture capital and bank loans.
This new model shifts the definition of crowdfunding from the familiar rewards-based backing to a more investment-focused approach. Both methods engage the community for small contributions to launch an entity—be it a company, product, or charity—but the rewards-based system enables creators to gauge interest prior to production.
As these regulations roll out, we can expect a variety of crowdfunding platforms to start emerging. For instance, CrowdIt plans to introduce equity crowdfunding when it becomes permissible, according to co-founder Graf.
Before this launch, however, CrowdIt is debuting a broad-focused platform featuring a $10,000 prize for the highest-funded project. The competition runs until August 16, with various entrants accepted until June 3. CrowdIt grew from common criticisms of Kickstarter’s opaque approval process, aiming to integrate a peer-review system into its platform.
The framework involves experienced users opting in to review project categories they are knowledgeable about and voting on whether the projects merit a place on the platform. Graf acknowledges that this will require an active community to kickstart the process, so initially, CrowdIt will handle the reviews independently.
“We believe that backers want to be involved in something bigger than just financial contributions,” Graf explains. “That’s the core of our platform—people desire to engage and feel part of something beyond mere funding. We’ve seen this in how individuals contribute even modest amounts to projects with no expectation of return, simply to show support.”
CrowdIt will also focus on fostering networking, collaboration, and team projects through a feature they call the Dreamer console. While specific details on these functionalities remain under wraps, they have indicated that a direct messaging system and chat rooms will be available. Participation is optional, and the platform is actively seeking engineers, incubators, attorneys, and venture capitalists for collaboration.
CrowdIt’s initiatives reflect the broader challenges faced by new crowdfunding ventures: while the industry is expanding, Kickstarter maintains a dominant position that makes it difficult for smaller platforms to thrive. Following the launch of Kickstarter in the UK, two larger crowdfunding platforms in that region merged shortly after. Additionally, a campaign for a novel paper USB drive known as intelliPaper struggled to gain traction, with its creators pointing to a lack of exposure as a critical issue. For any crowdfunding effort to succeed, it is essential to capture the attention of the public, and right now, most of that attention is fixated on Kickstarter.