Indiegogo raises $40M so anyone can fund anything (and not on Kickstarter)

What do vibrators, anti-malaria patches, and Nikola Tesla have in common? Indiegogo.

The popular crowdfunding platform announced today that it has closed $40 million in a hefty second round of funding. The money will support Indiegogo’s global growth and fund efforts to catch up with its bigger, better known rival, Kickstarter.

Indiegogo claims to have hosted more than 190,000 campaigns from 190 countries. It said that funds raised on Indiegogo have grown by 1,000 percent over the past two years. Its goal is to make Indiegogo “the world’s funding engine.”

Crowdfunding has soared over the past couple years, generating millions of successful campaigns and billions of dollars around the world. It gives creators, small businesses, charitable causes, and individuals a channel to raise money they need to bring a project to life.

Indiegogo distinguishes itself from Kickstarter by having more flexible standards on the projects it accepts as well as more flexible funding — projects that don’t meet their goal can keep pledges in exchange for paying a higher fee. The company recently released a new feature that enables companies to embed crowdfunding campaigns on their own websites that mirror campaigns on Indiegogo

Two major trends have emerged within the young crowdfunding industry. First, we’ve seen a number of niche, sector-focused platforms arise, such as CircleUp, Neighbor.ly, and Watsi (funding consumer goods, civic projects, and medical care, respectively.)

We’ve also seen companies like Indiegogo and Crowdtilt open up their technology so anyone can embed a crowdfunding campaign on their own site rather than going through a third party.

It is an exciting time for the crowdfunding industry, and it’ll be interesting to follow how all these platforms fare and evolve.

Institutional Venture Partners and Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers led this round, with participation from existing investors Insight Venture Partners, MHS Capital, Metamorphic Ventures, and ff Venture Capital.

Indiegogo is headquartered in San Francisco. I was founded in 2008 and this brings its total capital raised to $56.6 million.