Ever since Indiegogo raised that massive $40 million Series B this year, the crowdfunding platform has been laser-focused on building out its mobile presence. In fact, CEO Slava Rubin said in an interview with TechCrunch recently that if Indiegogo were launching today, it would be a mobile-first company.
So it should come as no surprise that Indiegogo is ready to launch an iOS mobile application for the first time. The app has been live in Canada for about a month, as the company quietly tests various features. But now the native mobile version of Indiegogo is out in the wild for all to see.
“We didn’t prioritize funders or campaign owners over one another,” said Rubin. “Whether you’re making an update to your campaign or just browsing for a cool project to back, we want it to be an amazing experience.”
But it goes further than accessibility to the platform — Indiegogo wants to use the smartphone to further personalize the Indiegogo experience on mobile.
For funders, the app will let you explore and follow certain campaign categories, discover campaigns through personalized recommendations, and claim campaign perks. And of course, when you find a campaign you like, you can simply back that product via the app.
Indiegogo campaign managers can’t yet create a whole new campaign on mobile (and I’m not sure they’d want to), but they can take almost complete control over their campaign with the ability to see contributions in real time, monitor comments, post updates and photos, thank contributors, and promote the campaigns via social media.
Soon, campaign creators will be able to put together an Indiegogo campaign on the fly through their phone.
The launch of the app comes on the heels of two big changes for Indiegogo. The first was the rebranding of the website, which focuses on the user and the campaign instead of Indiegogo as a brand. Personalization, along with mobile accessibility, is another huge priority for Indiegogo right now. The second change comes with the appointment of Viktor Kovalev from Yelp! (along with a number of other high-profile mobile-focused execs).
“As we focus on personalization, and ensuring that the user experience is tailored around the user, mobile is only going to be a tool for us,” said Rubin. “Having a mobile presence like this will allow for an even more localized and personalized experience, which will take away even more friction.”
The Indiegogo app is available now on the Apple App Store, with Android availability coming soon.
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