Client Snapshot: Indiegogo Startup Business Funding – IWD

Cherish’s client Indiegogo, the world’s first and largest crowdfunding website, is not only celebrating International Women’s Day (IWD) on March 8 – they’ve been running a campaign all week where they’ve partnered with organisations and individuals to amplify opportunities for women by showcasing their campaigns from 3 – 8 March – championing startup business funding,

As of 6 March, a whopping $1,044,649 has been contributed to IWD campaigns featured on the partner page. There are currently 40 campaigns signed up to the partnership from 40 different countries, including this one from the UK – QuantuMDx, which is crowdfunding for a handheld lab, with inbuilt DNA sequencing, that will tackle malaria with super-accurate diagnostic results in under 15 minutes.

We couldn’t mention this IWD initiative without recognising the woman behind Indiegogo – Danae Ringelmann. Danae is one of three co-founders and the inspiration to set up the platform came from remembering the endless funding struggles her mother and father faced running their storage and removals company.

“I grew up the daughter of two small-business owners,” Danae says. “Essentially I watched them struggle for 30 years to grow the business.

“They bootstrapped for 30 years, which means they were never able to get any kind of outside financing or a loan of any kind. The business was too slow growing and non-sexy, and they just didn’t know the right people. I just grew up with that awareness… that funding opportunities for small firms were not fair.”

To read more about Danae and how Indiegogo was set up, read this inspiring BBC business article by Will Smale the team placed. It’s great to see that startup business funding is growing as a topic, and particularly hearing about females leading the way at the business ‘top’. Who’s your female business inspiration? Tweet us or post your thoughts below.