The crowdfunding campaign of Plugify ended in quite a high note. The goal of the Amsterdam startup was to raise €200,000, which they cleared right after launching the campaign. The startup ended up with almost €690,000. Even after the deadline, pledges kept pouring in for the booking platform for live artists. The funding currently approaches €750,000.
Booking.com for artists
Plugify is a platform which makes finding and booking a live artist or musician a lot easier. CEO and co-founder Eline Leijten experienced the inefficiencies of the music business first hand when performing with the Hermes House Band. With Plugify she aims to make bands more accessible by becoming a Booking.com for live artists. This includes a lowest-price-guarantee. The ease of use and lower margins, compared to booking agents, should make it attractive for the participating artists as well.
Busy weeks on the platform
The campaign on crowdfundingplatform OnePlanetCrowd did not only leave the startup with a large sum of money, it was also a lot busier than before. “The amount of artists that signed up grew by 25 percent and the requests from user grew just as much”, says Leijten. “It is good to see that crowdfunding leads to mouth-to-mouth advertisement. Investors promote Plugify within their network, which directly leads to new requests from customers.”
First The Netherlands, than Europe
The €750.000 will be used by Plugify for sales and marketing. It will also look into expanding the team and develop the product further. Leijten: “With the raised sum we really can put Plugify on the map in The Netherlands.” And after the rest of The Netherlands, the outside world awaits. After capturing the Dutch market, the Amsterdam startup wants to expand to other European countries.
Photo by Madeleine Bolle
[Disclosure: The consultancy branche of our parent company Proudly Media has consulted for Plugify. The article is independently written by one of our editors]
