It seems like crowdfunding is half of what I’m writing about these days, but it is an industry in its infancy that’s really starting to pop in the Nordics. By now you might think you have every crowdfunding platform figured out, but Lund-based startup, Crowdme, is focusing on the video niche, and is building a unique platform by focusing on that specific area.
By focusing completely on video projects, Crowdme can help video makers in two ways. First is the obvious- they can help crowdfund to pre-finance movies, but additionally can also offer video advertising afterwards to bring in additional revenues. This advertising feature is not live quite yet – they’re not generating the views to make it worthwhile – but is an interesting revenue path I haven’t seen taken by a crowdfunding platform.
Video can also be consumed right where you invest, so Crowdme is building their site to be a full streaming portal. After logging in, you’ve got a nicely designed standard setup. Users can browse pitches to invest in, see the filmmakers’ past work, and choose to invest. After a project has been financed, the Crowdme team tells us that they’ve made the filmmaking process accessible to the financiers. Filmmakers can share details about what has been done, perhaps upload some early footage, and basically make the process fun to be a part of.
I asked the team over Skype why filmmakers should choose Crowdme compared to sites like Kickstarter that have more investor volume.
“The main point why filmmakers should use us compared to Kickstarter is that we don’t stop half-way. With Kickstarter it’s a little hard to follow what’s happening afterwards. I mean people who have invested can follow a little bit, but that work is probably going to be merged onto another site. We want to keep the whole film making process available on our site,” says Axel Bengtsson, co-founder of Crowdme.
“When the film is done you can go back check the blog, check the uploader, check his profile. So you can follow the whole process from the end, and then from the beginning again,” adds Axel Eriksson, co-founder.
Currently they only have one Alpine Skiing video pitch up on the website that the crowd can invest in. So to add more content for users to check out, Crowdme is also curating cool videos and documentaries for people to check out.
In total, I find it a cool interpretation of a how a crowdfunding site should work for internet media. Right now they have the uphill climb of getting more directors and investors on site, but it’s clearly a well-put together platform with potential.
