After Kiva, which does microlending, and Kickstarter, which specializes in crowdfunding for social and art projects, ProFounder aims to give start-ups the possibility to raise their capital not through VCs or business angels, but through their community. At Sandbox, we are very aware of the power of communities, so I believe this idea has tremendous potential. One of the problems with crowdfunding services so far have been legal issues - different countries have different laws, and having to deal with a large amount of micro-investors spread out around the world can be very cumbersome for a small company. I haven't yet figured out how ProFounder aims to solve that problem. But it's certainly a service worth watching.

(via Sandboxer Eddie Harran)

Update: I forgot to mention that GrowVC, where Sandbox Finland Ambassador Markus Lampinen is Community Manager, has a very similar concept.