Starting your own business can be an extremely challenging journey. One made even harder in a pandemic-filled world. Everybody can list the challenges: creating a business plan, finding customers, finding ways to share your product or service, promoting your company, among others. But the truth is that those challenges can be made easier with financial stability. However, most startups take time to land on solid financial ground. For that reason, plenty of them seek out monetary help from their communities.
One of the best ways for startups to reach their financial goals is to turn to crowdfunding platforms. They have several different options to take advantage of in today’s digital world. Here is a list of the top 6 crowdfunding platforms to help you finance your startup in 2021:
1. FreeFunder
FreeFunder was founded with the goal to provide a user-friendly platform that would allow all sorts of fundraisers to reach their goals. It is one of the best options for startups. It will allow you to establish a relationship with future customers through their different features. One of those features being the email updates — you are able to email updates to your donors about the campaign, so you would be able to share news about your startup as well.
Other FreeFunder features include Text-To-Donate, allowing you to create a keyword for donors to text and donate from their phone. You could choose a keyword related to your business. Another feature is the embedded fundraiser widget that would allow you to embed the fundraiser directly on your website, helping donors see what your startup is all about. FreeFunder’s mobile-friendly pages make it easy for individuals to donate and get your startup off the ground.
2. WeFunder
WeFunder was created as a crowdfunding platform that allows donors to become investors in the startups they believe in. They think that by giving donors this choice, they can vote with their dollars on the future they want to see in moonshots, alcohol, biotech, main street, and entertainment, among other industries.
The founders believe WeFunder is a new kind of stock market. They believe startups win big or lose it all, so investing in them by donating to their campaigns is like socially good lottery tickets. Donors become angel investors who can help your startup succeed.
3. FundRazr
FundRazr defines itself as a “powerful, free online fundraising platform” that works with multi-purpose crowdfunding technology for effective organizational and individual fundraising. In order to make it a trustworthy platform, they give donors the chance to donate through PayPal, Strip, GPay, ApplePay, and other digital paying methods.
This crowdfunding platform wants every fundraiser to establish a relationship with their donors, encouraging them to share achievements and milestones. For that reason, they offer several virtual graphics to email and show how the campaign is doing. In their experience, this leads to people donating multiple times, helping startups gain loyal customers from the beginning.
4. Fundly
Fundly is a crowdfunding platform with no raise requirements or starting fees. They wanted their fundraisers to be mobile-friendly, so they created an app that allows individuals to manage their campaigns from their phones and donors to donate in the same manner. But even without the app, every campaign looks good on mobile browsers, making it user-friendly.
One great feature Fundly has the option to create videos, share photos, and write blog posts. This is hugely beneficial for startups as you are able to show videos with your business story, share images of your progress or products, and write blog updates to let donors know how your company is growing.
5. Ulule
Ulule is a crowdfunding platform created to make good things happen to achieve a more diverse, more sustainable, open to all world. Their mission is to help creators move from ideas to actions. Their commitment to a more diverse community encourages them to constantly innovate their platform to allow individuals to reach their fundraising goals faster.
This platform can be great for startups because it not only gives you the chance to raise funds, Ulule allows you to test ideas to gather and grow a community. This community that you are able to create through them will, later on, become your customers. They give you the support, and you just need to bring a fantastic idea.
6. GoFundMe
GoFundMe is an already established, well-known crowdfunding platform that many individuals have used in the past — this could be a disadvantage if you consider your project may get lost in the thousands of fundraisers previously created. Their work is based on their dreams of a better world. So, they created a platform for people to help one another create that better world.
They offer their users a donor protection guarantee, a simple setup process, safety, mobile app access, social reach, and 24/7 expert advice. These features guarantee your donors will be taken care of. Their experience will be pleasant, and they will most likely become customers in your business.
Crowdfunding platforms have become a great resource and tool to finance different kinds of projects. Starting a business in 2021 can be more challenging than usual, as the pandemic has left everyone wary of what their next step should be. Relying on one of these six platforms to help you finance your startup can be the wisest decision you make as a business owner.