Here’s the startup news making headlines today on other Web sites and blogs. Pebble is rolling towards a record, Canadian crowdfunding pleas continue, and self-publishing gives way to social publishing online.
A Kickstarter record
University of Waterloo grad Eric Migicovsky has set a recordon Kickstarter. Pebble, a project to makesmartphone compatible watcheslaunched by Migicovsky’s company Allerta Inc., has raised almost $3.5million so far, the biggest amount ever raised on the crowdfundingsite. Nearly 25,000 people had pledged a total of $3.4 million to theproject as of early this morning. And the buck still hasn’t stoppedthere: crowdfunders still have 31 more days to contribute money to thePebble project.
By Christine Dobby at the Financial Post
Crowdfunding in Canada?
In other crowdfunding news, the founder of an Ottawa-based charitablecrowdfunding site says Canadianlaw must be changed to allow equityinvestment fundraising online. (Only non-profitcrowdfunding is legalhere.) That would put Canada on equal footing with the U.S. which justchanged its law accordingly, says Paul Dombowsky, CEO of Ottawa startupIdeaVibes. IdeaVibes has teamed up with Telus on a crowdfunding sitecalled Fundchange to raise money for non-profit causes. But he hopesIdeaVibes’ crowdfunding tech platform will one day find traction withfor-profit startups seeking money … if Canada’s legislation is everupdated.
By Vito Pilieci at the Ottawa Citizen
Social startups for bookworms
The Internet totally disrupted the publishing world and now socialmedia-based startups are disrupting the book industry yetagain. One ofthose startups is Toronto’s Wattpad. Founded by Alan Lau and YvonneYuen in 2006, it allows authors to post unpublished written worksonline anddevelop a fanbase. it’s now one of the world’s largest onlinecommunities for creating and sharing stories. Author BrittanyGeragotelis got over 13 million views for her serialized stories onWattpad.
By Gideon Hayden at BetaKit
