Who backs crowdfunding campaigns? Investors are male, young and have university degrees
The average crowdfunder is a university-educated man in his late twenties, according to alternative finance specialist Choice Loans, which has crunched the numbers on where crowdfunding investors are coming from and what they back.
Crowdfunding is booming, no question about that. Campaigns grew by a staggering 420 per cent last year. But who’s backing them, exactly?
Almost two-thirds of crowdfunders are men, according to the study, and the most common age is late twenties or early thirties.
Some 3.3 million people backed one of 22,000 Kickstarter campaigns last year, pledging roughly $500m. Popular campaigns will see their funding goals multiplied several times over, like one of the most successful projects: a ridiculously desirable Inspector Gadget-style commuter jacket, which raised 400 times its target.
The study also found men and women tend to back different things. While women are most likely to back culture and food, men back tech and games.
As crowdfunding continues to grow, new projects have soared up to help investors make smarter decisions, such as the newly-launched British startup that provides an FCA-approved rating on all campaigns.