Patreon Is a Recurring Tip Jar for Fans Who Love Everything You Make

Jack Conte of Pomplamoose has a different take on paid subscriptions.
Patreon-feature

CircleUp Raises $7.5M Led by Union Square Ventures

One VC firm seems a little obsessed with crowdfunding.
CircleUp

Mosaic Helps the Little Guys Invest Directly in Solar

Mosaic is posting $900,000 in solar projects that promise a 4.5 percent estimated annual return to individual backers.
Mosaic

Medical Crowdfunding Site Watsi Becomes Y Combinator’s First Nonprofit Startup

“I’ve never been so excited about anything we’ve funded,” says YC chief Paul Graham.
Watsi

News Byte

Kickstarter Channeled $274M Worth of Funding to Indie Projects in 2012

We’ve written before about unreliable estimates for the size of the total crowdfunding market, but here’s one that’s a bit more concrete. Kickstarter, which is thought to be the largest player (some others, like Indiegogo, don’t release stats) said today that 2.24 million users provided $274 million in funding for 18,100 successful projects in 2012, with total funding up 238 percent from the year before. There were also a bunch of great Kickstarter parodies last year.

Independent ISP Tries to Raise $325M on Indiegogo to Launch a Satellite (Kinda)

It’s certainly the largest online crowdfunding campaign I’ve ever seen.
monkeybrains_satellite

Crowdfunder Targets the Social Enterprise

X Prize, Singularity University and others sign on to help social enterprises raise money.
Crowdfunder

iOS Transit App Refunds Its Kickstarter Backers

Refunds aren’t standard practice on Kickstarter, despite the fact that some projects fail to complete whatever they were backed to do.
openplans_kickstarter

Christie Street Launches a Kickstarter for Products

Still waiting on that Kickstarter product you backed? Christie Street says it has a better solution.
Christie Street

Crowdfunding for a Cause: Nonprofits Can Now Hold Fundraisers on Crowdtilt

Crowdtilt says it is the first crowdfunding site to fully support charity fundraising.
Crowdtilt

Kickstarter CEO: No IPO for Us, and No Equity Crowdfunding Either

SEC Moves Forward on JOBS Act — First Up, Allowing Companies to Ask for Money

Former Google Exec Dave Girouard Starts a “Kickstarter for Young People”

Widely Cited Crowdfunding Market Estimates Are Probably Too Optimistic

Crowdfunded Genetics Makes Its First Gene Discovery

Rally.org Cause Crowdfunding Platform Raises $7.9M of Its Own

With $261M Pledged, Kickstarter Commits to Sharing Daily Stats

A Big Venture Round for Crowdfunding: Indiegogo Raises $15M

Ahead of the JOBS Act Rush, CircleUp Launches Crowdfunding Platform

Senate Passes Crowdfunding Bill With Added Protections for Nonaccredited Investors

Kickstarter Comes Into Its Own

With a Little Help From My Friends Investors: House Passes Crowdfunding Bill