Believe it or not, 2020 was a game-changing year for Investment Crowdfunding, the most scalable alternative we have to venture capital.

Investment Crowdfunding attracted $239.4 million in investments in 2020, up from $134.8 million in 2019. And it is predicted that crowd funders will invest at least $500 million in 2021.

While it is true that these numbers pale in comparison to investments made by venture capital firms in 2020 ($156.2 billion, up from $138.1 billion in 2019), venture capital funding went to only 11,000 companies, with the average investment exceeding $14 million.

Even though the very wealthy are investing ever-increasing sums in search of their unicorns, they are not expanding significantly into diverse founders and industries. This will be up to us.

Remember, virtually every adult can participate in Investment Crowdfunding, while only about 8% of us are eligible to invest in a venture capital fund. If only 1% of the wealth held in stocks, savings, and retirement accounts were shifted from big banks and Wall Street, we would have a funding ecosystem worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Think of all the inequities we could reverse by simply democratizing what, and who gets funding.