Indiegogo has raised $40 million to fund overseas expansion, staff additions and improvements to its product, the company said Tuesday. The self-proclaimed largest crowdfunding platform in the world will add to its team in San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles, as well as open up offices overseas.
Institutional Venture Partners and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers led this Series B round with help from existing investors Insight Venture Partners, MHS Capital, Metamorphic Ventures and ff Venture Capital. Indiegogo raised $15 million in 2012, and since then has facilitated 1,000 percent more fundraising and grown to 85 employees. It has hosted 190,000 campaigns since its launch in 2008.
Indiegogo wants to seize on opportunities in the international marketplace. Campaigns have launched in 190 different countries, and Indiegogo supports contributors in five currencies (U.S. dollar, Canadian dollar, euro, pound sterling and Australian dollar) and four languages (English, German, French and Spanish).
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“We’re committed to making Indiegogo the world’s funding engine and giving people access to capital worldwide,” founder and CEO Slava Rubin said in a statement. “With IVP and KPCB’s support, we can rapidly take critical steps to helping more and more people fund what matters to them.”
Indiegogo and Kickstarter are two of the most popular crowdfunding platforms in the world. Kickstarter got more attention at first as home to two of the largest campaigns on record, the $10 million Pebble smartwatch campaign and the $8.6 million Ouya gaming console campaign. Celebrities such as Zach Braff and “Veronica Mars” creator Rob Thomas used it to fund their movies as well.
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Yet Indiegogo has helped secure funding for projects like Scanadu Scout, Canary and the Jamaican bobsled team’s trip to the Winter Olympics. Freddie Wong is using Indiegogo to fund season three of his show “Video Game High School” after using Kickstarter the last two times.
Unlike Kickstarter, Indiegogo lets you keep your money if you don’t reach your target. It has also expressed interest in supporting equity crowdfunding, which lets contributors earn a financial stake in the project – but only when it is open to all investors.
“Indiegogo is playing a central role in the transformation of the global economy,” John Doerr, general partner at KPCB, said in a statement. “We are excited to partner with Indiegogo to help support the dreams and aspirations of the Indiegogo community and continue establishing Indiegogo as the leading international platform for funding new ideas and innovation.”