Indiegogo switches gears to more closely screen crowdfunding campaigns

Crowdfunding platform Indiegogo is changing the way it does business, shifting from an open platform where anyone can raise money for just about any purpose to a closed model where every campaign will receive a manual review before it can go live.

“Candidly, we have not always lived up to our backers’ expectations,” said Will Haines, vice president of product and customer trust at Indiegogo. When the company launched in 2008, there were few restrictions on would-be entrepreneurs seeking to raise money from like-minded backers. But Haines says that “open” isn’t what the crowdfunding community really wants now, more than a decade later.

“Crowdfunding is not shopping — people generally understand that now — but it also shouldn’t be a leap...

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