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Tilt.com
See parent
Company typePrivate
IndustryCrowdfunding
FoundedTexas, United States (February 8, 2012 (2012-02-08))[1]
FounderJames Beshara
Khaled Hussein
Headquarters
370 Townsend, San Francisco, California
,
United States
Area served
United States
Key people
James Beshara (CEO)
ServicesCrowdfunding
ParentIndependent
(2012-2017)
Airbnb
(2017)[2][3]
Websitetilt.com [dead link]

Tilt (formerly Crowdtilt) was a crowdfunding company that allowed for groups and communities to collect, fundraise, or pool money online. The company was legally certified in securing fundraisers for non-profit organizations. James Beshara and Khaled Hussein launched under the name Crowdtilt in February 2012 out of Y Combinator. The company was initially based in Texas and was then headquartered in San Francisco, California.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10]

Background

Tilt CEO and co-founder James Beshara, a 2008 graduate of Wake Forest University, developed the concept for the group-funding platform while working as a microloans collection officer in South Africa.[11] Beshara utilized the concept of social collateral to create Dvelo.org, which aimed to provide group-funded loans to micro-insurance organizations.[5][12][13] When Dvelo users began to use the service to fund non-charity related ventures, Beshara shifted the company's model to concentrate on raising funds for parties, gifts, events, or any other cause that a user proposed.[4][5][11][12][13]

Beshara brought on Khaled Hussein as a co-founder in 2011.[12] Beshara and Hussein rebranded Dvelo as Crowdtilt and were accepted into the winter 2012 session of Y Combinator.[11][13][14][15][16]

Developments

In May 2012, the company closed its first round of funding at $2.1 million.[17][18] Investors included SV Angel, CrunchFund, and Reddit's Alexis Ohanian.[13][17][18]

In November 2012, the company met federal regulations regarding fundraising for nonprofits.[19] As a result, Crowdtilt fully supports charity fundraising, providing users with tax-deductible donation receipts.[18][19][20][21]

In December 2012, the company released a crowd-funding API that allows startups and third-party developers to integrate Crowdtilt's functionality into applications.[21][22][23][24]

In April 2013, the company raised $12 million in Series A financing.[7][23][25] The financing was led by the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.[7][23][25] This round of financing brought Crowdtilt's total funding to approximately $14 million.[23][26]

In December 2013, the company raised $23 million in Series B funding to help the company continue to grow its team and expand internationally.[27][28]

On July 31, 2014, Crowdtilt rebranded as simply Tilt.[29]

On August 28, 2014, Tilt announced that it was dropping fees for groups looking to collect money.[30] It is now free for organizers to collect money with their groups, and free for all contributors using their debit card for payments (a standard 3% processing fee still applies for credit cards). Previously, Tilt charged collect organizers a 2.5% fee on the total money pooled.[31]

Tilt began a collaboration with ESPN Fantasy Football in August 2014 to provide a safe, secure and simple way for league commissioners to collect ESPN fantasy football league dues.[32]

Services

Tilt.com

Tilt's principal product is a group-funding platform that allows users to contribute to and create campaigns of their choosing.[4][14][15] Every campaign is assigned a tilt point, which defines the minimum amount of funding needed to make the campaign successful.[4][5] Users can contribute as much as they like, and campaign funds are only released if the tilt point is met. A 2012 VentureBeat article reported that, “86% of [Crowdtilt] campaigns are successful, and on average, raise almost twice as much as they need to tilt. Campaigns that reach 34% of their goal have a 99% chance of going all the way, and 38% of activity happens in the last few hours.”[17] It is free for organizers to collect money with their groups, and free for all contributors using their debit card for payments (a standard 3% processing fee still applies for credit cards).

API

In December 2012 the company released an application programming interface (API) which allows third-party integration of the Tilt group payment functionality into any application.[22] The API's universal payments interface is compatible with multiple payment processors in any currency.[21][22][24][33]

Notable campaigns

The following are a few of the notable campaigns that were successfully funded on Tilt.

In May 2013, Soylent, a food substitute intended to supply all of a human body's daily nutritional needs, used Tilt to bring their nutritional drink to production. The company collected over $2,100,000 from over 20,000 supporters.[34][35]

In May 2013, Several campaigns were created to provide relief for victims of Hurricane Sandy. Crowdtilt waived their service fee for any donations and reported about $180,000 donations towards the hurricane-related projects.[17][19][20][36]

In April 2013, a Tilt campaign successfully raised over $50,000 to replace a boat "Slip Away II" that was damaged during the arrest of Dzhokar Tsarnaev, a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings. The boat's owner, David Henneberry, commented that he "doesn't want the money and would rather have it go to a fund for the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing."[7][8][9][10] However, in October 2013 he accepted $50,000 to purchase a used boat he named "Beth Said Yes" (for his wife), and directed that the excess go to One Fund Boston.[37][38]

In early 2014 the Jamaica national bobsleigh team qualified for the 2014 Sochi Olympics but lacked funding to attend the games. An online campaign was set up to raise $80,000 through Tilt.[39] When it closed on January 22, 2014, the campaign had raised $129,687.[40][41]

In January 2014, To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Ice Cube's classic song It Was a Good Day, a campaign was created to get a Goodyear Blimp embossed with Ice Cube's name. The creators launched a Tilt campaign to collect donations for a charity based in Ice Cube's hometown of Compton, California. The campaign raised over $25,000 for "A Place Called Home" to help at-risk youth, and Goodyear made the blimp fly at an event for Ice Cube, children and community members.[42][43]

In February 2014, Jared Guynes created a Tilt campaign to throw a 700-person Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles party and invite Vanilla Ice to perform.[44] More than 250 people donated the $35,000 to fund his party at South Side Music Hall in Dallas. The campaign ultimately raised more than $72,000.[45] Jared has since thrown other parties, one featuring Mario Kart, using Tilt campaigns.[46]

In March 2014, Lammily, the fashion doll with realistic proportions, raised over $500,000 on Tilt from over 13,000 supporters.[47]

Airbnb Acquisition

In 2017, Airbnb acquired Tilt for $12 million in cash as an acqui-hire, since the business was never profitable but had some talented employees.[48][49] Airbnb retired the Tilt platform in June 2017.[50]

References

  1. ^ Rip Empson (February 10, 2012). "Y Combinator-Backed Crowdtilt Launches To Become The "Kickstarter For Any Group"". TechCrunch. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
  2. ^ "Airbnb finalizes deal to buy social payments startup Tilt – TechCrunch". techcrunch.com.
  3. ^ "Tilt Blog". blog.tilt.com.
  4. ^ a b c d Sarah Mitroff (February 10, 2012). "Crowdtilt launches to group fund anything (and it means anything)". VentureBeat. Retrieved May 18, 2013.
  5. ^ a b c d "It's Kickstarter Meets 'Let's Party': Group-Funded Fun is Crowdtilt's Game". Daily Finance. March 15, 2012. Retrieved May 18, 2013.
  6. ^ Sam Dwyer (April 18, 2012). "Crowdfunding Sites for Before and After the Regulations Kick In". BostInno. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
  7. ^ a b c d Cromwell Schubarth (April 26, 2013). "Crowdtilt helps raise funds to replace Boston bombing standoff boat". Silicon Valley Business Journal. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
  8. ^ a b Brian Chappatta & Annie Linskey (April 23, 2013). "Crowd Helps Replace Boat Ruined in Tsarnaev's Capture". Bloomberg. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
  9. ^ a b Jessica Testa (April 22, 2013). "The Internet Is Raising Money For The Boat Destroyed In Boston Standoff". BuzzFeed. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
  10. ^ a b "Let's Fix David Henneberry's Boat". The Daily Beast. April 22, 2013. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
  11. ^ a b c Sarah Kressler (August 9, 2012). "Peer Pressure: What Microloans and your next Group Purchase might havev in common". Fast Company. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
  12. ^ a b c Casey Newton (May 17, 2012). "Crowdtilt raises cash in new ways". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
  13. ^ a b c d J.J. Colao (August 22, 2012). "A Website To Crowdfund Your Wedding (or Party Bus)". Forbes. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
  14. ^ a b Matt Lynley (August 22, 2012). "This Startup Is Going To Change The Way You Plan Events With Your Friends Forever". Business Insider. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
  15. ^ a b Sarah Perez (August 27, 2012). "Reddit Gets Two New Donation Options Powered By Crowdtilt And Dwolla". TechCrunch. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
  16. ^ Tom Watson (August 31, 2012). "Reddit's Fundraising Partnerships: A Vote Up for Philanthropy?". Forbes. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
  17. ^ a b c d Rebecca Grant (November 7, 2012). "Crowdtilt funds pipe dreams into existence". VentureBeat. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
  18. ^ a b c Ken Yeung (November 21, 2012). "Crowdtilt focuses on non-profits with new fundraising support, tax-deductible receipts, and lower costs". The Next Web. Retrieved 2013-05-19.
  19. ^ a b c Liz Gannes (November 21, 2012). "Crowdfunding for a Cause: Nonprofits Can Now Hold Fundraisers on Crowdtilt". All Things Digital. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
  20. ^ a b Rip Empson (November 21, 2012). "Group-Funding Platform Crowdtilt Opens To Non-Profits, Now Offers Tax-Deductible Donations, Receipts". TechCrunch. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
  21. ^ a b c Rip Empson (December 12, 2012). "Crowdtilt Launches Crowdfunding API To Give Developers Easy Access To Group Payments & Social Fundraising". TechCrunch. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
  22. ^ a b c J.J. Colao (December 12, 2012). "The Crowdfunding API Is Here: Welcome To A New Era Of E-Commerce". Forbes. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
  23. ^ a b c d Rip Empson (April 18, 2013). "Crowdtilt Confirms $12M Raise From Andreessen, Sean Parker, Dave Morin & Others; Tables Mobile Acquisition". TechCrunch. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
  24. ^ a b Kevin Sundstrom (December 12, 2012). "Today in APIs: Crowdtilt Releases an API That Provides Group Pay Ability, Jibe Mobile Raises $8.3 Million, and 8 New APIs". ProgrammableWeb. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
  25. ^ a b Rip Empson (March 22, 2013). "Crowdfunding Platform Crowdtilt Lands $12M From Sean Parker, Andreessen & More; Now Acquiring To Expand Into Mobile". TechCrunch. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
  26. ^ J.J. Colao (April 18, 2013). "Crowdtilt Raises $12 Million From Andreessen Horowitz And Sean Parker (For Real This Time)". Forbes. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
  27. ^ Alex Konrad (16 December 2013). "Popular Group Funding Startup Crowdtilt Raises $23M In Series B Round". Forbes.
  28. ^ "Crowdtilt Closes $23 Million Series B Funding Round Led by Andreessen Horowitz - Business Wire". businesswire.com.
  29. ^ Jen Thorpe for Geek News Central. August 1, 2014 Crowdtilt Gets a New Name and Logo
  30. ^ Beshara, James (28 August 2014). "The Best Things In Life Are Free: Tilt Announces Free Crowdfunding". Tilt Blog. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  31. ^ Taylor, Colleen (28 August 2014). "Tilt, The Startup Formerly Known As Crowdtilt, Drops Fees For Groups Pooling Money". TechCrunch. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  32. ^ "Touchdown: Tilt partners with ESPN to power payments for its fantasy football leagues". PandoDaily.
  33. ^ Ki Mae Heussner (December 12, 2012). "Crowdtilt opens API to bring group-funding to any site". GigaOM. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
  34. ^ "Soylent Raises $750K On Crowdhoster. Who's Next?". Tilt Blog.
  35. ^ "Crowdtilt (YC W12) raises $750K for Soylent and many others: Open source crowd funding with no restrictions". Y Combinator Posthaven.
  36. ^ Dylan Love (November 1, 2013). "Here's Why Some People Are Dumping Kickstarter For Crowdtilt". Business Insider. Retrieved May 19, 2013.
  37. ^ Ng, Christina (October 3, 2013). "Man Who Found Boston Marathon Bomber Gets New Boat". ABC News. Retrieved October 16, 2013.
  38. ^ "David Henneberry, Man Who Found Boston Marathon Bombing Suspect, Gets New Boat Thanks To Strangers". Huffington Post. October 3, 2013. Retrieved October 16, 2013.
  39. ^ "Help the Jamaican Bobsled team get … - Tilt". crowdtilt.com.
  40. ^ "The Internet wants to help send the Jamaican bobsled team to Sochi". For The Win.
  41. ^ Borden, Sam (Jan 18, 2014). "Jamaican Bobsledders Seek Money for Sochi Trip". The New York Times. Retrieved Sep 12, 2014.
  42. ^ Aylin Zafar. "There's A Charity Campaign To Make Ice Cube's Goodyear Blimp A Reality". BuzzFeed.
  43. ^ "Help Put Ice Cube On The Goodyear Blimp For Charity". Co.Exist.
  44. ^ "Cowabunga! Donors shell out $35,000 for Ninja Turtles superfan's 'epic party' with Vanilla Ice". dallasnews.com.
  45. ^ "Crowdfunded EPIC PARTY: Vanilla Ice… - Tilt". crowdtilt.com.
  46. ^ "Mario Kart Party Brings Back Memories". Tilt Blog.
  47. ^ "Crowdtilt Helps To Push Lammily Toward $500K In Crowdfunding Cash". crowdfundinsider.com.
  48. ^ Roof, Katie; Lawler, Ryan. "Airbnb finalizes deal to buy social payments startup Tilt | TechCrunch". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2017-08-16.
  49. ^ Harris, Ainsley (2017-04-18). "The Demise Of Tilt: A Bargain For Airbnb, A Classic Loss For Investors Like Andreessen Horowitz". Fast Company. Retrieved 2017-08-16.
  50. ^ "Tilt Blog". blog.tilt.com. Retrieved 2017-08-16.
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