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Finance & Business Development DONATIONS/REWARDS CROWDFUNDING PORTALS Medstartr (www.medstartr.com), one of the earliest donations/rewards portals, mainly focuses on healthcare, including medical devices, health IT software development, and digital-health applications. Alex Fair created the platform with Mike Pence (former lead developer for Kickstarter) after he failed to capitalize a healthcare venture using conventional fundraising channels. "I tried to set up a campaign on Kickstarter and found out they do not support healthcare fundraising. After a bit of research, Mike and I decided to create a crowdfunding platform exclusively designed for healthcare projects" said Fair. Since its inception in early 2012, Medstartr has helped finance numerous healthcare projects with an average raised of $13,100 per campaign. While the monies raised on the Medstartr platform are usually not large, Fair believes that the funds allow entrepreneurs and earlier-stage companies to continue to innovate and ultimately succeed. "A successful campaign on Medstartr can help to validate an idea or project and engage external investors who may have the resources to invest in subsequent financing rounds," offered Fair. He added, "Before Medstartr, it was very difficult to get market validation of lots of good ideas and products in the healthcare space, which ultimately prevented them from reaching the market." In addition to Medstartr, there are several donation/rewards portals that help scientists raise funds to support specific science research projects (table 1). Of these, Microryza (www.microryza.com/), founded by Cynthia Wu and Deny Luan, two Ph.D.-trained biomedical scientists, mainly focuses on funding investigator-initiated life sciences research. The concept for the Microryza portal began when Wu was unable to secure funding during her Ph.D. work for a research project she wanted to pursue. "I had this great idea that was very risky, and I knew that it would never be funded by an NIH grant, so I started thinking about a Kickstarter-type site for life sciences projects," said Wu. After interviewing over 100 scientists to confirm that other researchers had high-risk projects with little hope of funding, Wu and Luan launched Microryza in April 2012. At present, Microryza launches approximately 12 campaigns per week after the projects undergo a rigorous screening process. Like Medstartr, the amount of money raised per Microryza campaign is usually not large (usually several thousands of dollars). Nevertheless, Wu is convinced that Microryza will help to "better inform the public about scientific research and how it is conducted" and to identify Clean Utilities made simple. Not only clean, but pure. When producing pharmaceuticals, hygiene must take top priority. The ELEMENT diaphragm valves from Bürkert make your life simpler: featuring a hygienic design, easy cleaning and minimum space requirements, they can be used flexibly with optimal flow for maximum process safety. Perfect for high process yields and your peace of mind. ELEMENT diaphragm valves: A highlight in our system and more than just a hygienic solution. We make ideas flow. www.burkert.com November 2013 LifeScienceLeader.com 51