DesiredWings buys Catapooolt

Reward based crowdfunding platform DesiredWings.com has acquired crowdfunding and community engagement platform Catapooolt for an undisclosed amount. Following the acquisition, both the brands will continue to operate as separate entities focusing on different segments of the crowd funding industry.

Owned and operated by Starting Blocks Media Ventures Pvt. Ltd, Mumbai based Catapooolt was founded in July 2013. It caters to sectors like sports, politics and social enterprises, apart from startups. Catapooolt had raised an undisclosed amount in seed funding from VentureNursery Angels in April 2014. The round also saw participation from: ah! Angels, the angel network of CLUB ah!; Calcutta Angels; and a group of industry professionals.

It claims to have funded over 70 projects, raising more than Rs 150 crore from over 4,000 contributors. DesiredWings is a category-agnostic platform facilitating business idea validation and development, apart from helping startups pre-fund their future products and services. The crowdfunding segment has grown considerably in advanced economies. According to an estimate by World Bank, crowdfunding investments are estimated to touch $90 billion by the end of 2017 in the US alone. But the space is still nascent in India—most online crowdfunding platforms in the country have come up in the last 2-3 years.

In January this year, Mumbai-based crowdfunding platform for creative artists Wishberry raised an undisclosed amount in pre-Series A funding led by iSPIRT’s. In April 2016, crowdfunding startup Impact Guru had secured $500,000 (Rs 3.3 crore) in seed funding from Singapore-based venture capital firm RB Investments and Fundnel, a Southeast Asia-based private investment platform. In January 2016, crowdfunding platform BitGiving had raised an undisclosed amount from Wazir Advisors founder and managing director, Capillary Technologies co-founder and Impulse Marketing’s co-founder, among others.