Crowdfunding and the beginning

Crowdfunding can be best described as the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people typically via the internet without the involvement of traditional financial intermediaries or markets, It is a form of crowdsourcing and regarded as being part of alternative finance.

While the name 'Crowdfunding' was coined in 2006 by entrepreneur and technologist Michael Sullivan for a project that somewhat ironically did not manage to get crowdfunded, modern (internet based) Crowdfunding is regarded as having started somewhat earlier. In 1997 British rock band Marillion successfully raised $60,000 for their US reunion tour through online donations from fans.

A few years later, in late 2000 early 2001 ArtistShare launched as the world's first dedicated rewards-based crowdfunding platform. Founded by Brian Camelio, it allowed musicians to seek donations from fans to produce digital recordings, establishing a tiered rewards-based system that is still widely used today