Disruptive technology can help make crowdfunding safer and more successful, that's according to Céline Lazorthes, founder and CEO of Leetchi and MANGOPAY.
Lazorthes business, which aims to make social payments quick and easy, is set to process €1bn (£719m) a year by 2017, having launched in 2009 as an idea she had while at university. "Building this kind of technology took us three to four years. The experience we have is really valuable." Lazorthes told the audience at WIRED Money 2015.
The idea behind Leetchi is simple -- it allows groups of people to transfer money to an e-wallet, making collecting funds for things like parties and weddings easier.
Lazorthes eureka moment came when she had to collect money from fellow students for a university party. The social payments platform allows people to gather together money online and make group purchases. And now its doing big things for crowdfunding.
In 2013 Lazorthes launched MANGOPAY, an API that lets anyone add Leetchi's technology to the backend of their website or service. The API already been used by one crowdfunding service to raise more than €1m (£717,000) to help support Charlie Hebdo following the attack in January. "In the collaborative economy you just trust the guy who is selling you something," she explained. As MANGOPAY stores money in an e-wallet before transferring it to the recipient, Lazorthes claimed that risk is removed. "We can do almost everything on the internet, so collecting money should be simple," she said.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
