What is "crowdfunding"

n. (label en finance) funding by many individuals pooling their money together for a common goal, usually via the Internet.

Crowdfunding (a form of crowdsourcing) is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising monetary contributions from a large number of people, today often performed via Internet-mediated registries, but the concept can also be executed through mail-order subscriptions, benefit events, and other methods. Crowdfunding is a form of alternative finance, which has emerged outside of the traditional financial system.

The crowdfunding model is based on three types of actors: the project initiator who proposes the idea and/or project to be funded, individuals or groups who support the idea, and a moderating organization (the "platform") that brings the parties together to launch the idea.

In 2013, over were raised via crowdfunding worldwide, which increased to in 2014 and was estimated at over in 2015.