KickstarterForum.org

[sunsj]

Watch out Kickstarter, community news sharing site Reddit is getting into the business of crowdfunding.

Today Reddit announced the launch of redditmade , a new crowdfunding platform allowing Reddit’s active user base to raise money for projects created within the site’s subreddit communities.

“One of the biggest reasons we created redditmade was to allow subreddits an easy way to create official subreddit merch for their communities,” wrote Reddit marketing manager Kaela Gardner in the announcement post. “Whatever you want to make, we’ll connect you to our network of quality sourcing partners for a variety of products and walk you through every step of the process so your community can celebrate your connection and show off your pride without all the work.”

The redditmade platform is likely to strengthen the sub-communities within Reddit. The platform is also a natural fit for Reddit, which is known for having its users come together to bring attention to important issues or raise money for important causes on other crowdfunding platforms.

While Reddit is emphasizing that this new service can directly funnel money to charities, I’m more curious about if redditmade could eventually become an important new source of revenue for the company. In the past, Reddit has struggled to reach profitability, and recently raised a massive $50 million round of funding to help fix that.

[gmirambeau]

This is great for people sharing projects they support within an existing community...

[MikeTinisser]

I considered using this to fund my novel since it originated on Reddit. I might give it a look if the Kickstarter campaign isn't successful. I'm sure projects born on Reddit will have better success there than others.

[mountdream]

Should be interesting. Just think there are lots of moving parts, and this will probably work better for simpler ideas (like the t-shirts).

[kreefax]

Cool! This really shows how crowdfunding is growing in multiple directions.