Gearing up for its fourth annual crowdfunding festival, One Spark announced that creator application is now open.
One Spark’s co-founder, Elton Rivas, stated:
“It’s hard to believe that we’re entering One Spark’s fourth year. Above all else, what resonates the most is being able to see the Creators that have found success after using One Spark to perfect their pitch, receive market validation and feedback for their project, connect with other great people and raise funds to help move forward. There’s no better feeling for us than reading about Creators like Rethreaded receiving grant money, PartPic visiting the White House to showcase their product to the President, Menuat’s electronic tablet menus being in over 350 restaurants, Bedder Covers recent growth, and Hemming Park’s recently announced major overhaul.”
Elton Rivas went on to explain festival’s details and details about this year’s event:
“We’re excited to see what the next wave of Creators does before, during and in the months and years following One Spark 2016. If you’ve been hard at work thinking about putting together a Project, then take action and lstart your One Spark journey today. While there’s still a long way until the festival next April, today marks the first day we begin accepting Creator Applications for One Spark 2016.
“We’ve made enhancements to the format this year to keep the predominant focus on Creators and crowdfunding campaigns. Thinking back to the days that we started One Spark, crowdfunding as an industry has grown exponentially. The industry as a whole is projected to rapidly grow past the $100 billion mark in the near future. There are now niche companies emerging for specific categories of crowdfunding projects and just recently the SEC passed a ruling that made it a reality for over 250 million Americans to be able to contribute to equity-based campaigns. Yes, much has changed since those first days, but our focus on Creators remains the same.
“Harnessing the power of the crowd has always been at the core of One Spark, and we think it will be easier than ever for Creators to do that at One Spark 2016. In the interest of focusing on quality over quantity, our Jurors will work together to select up to 50 Creators in each category. These Creator projects will be showcased throughout six Creator Districts in the festival footprint April 7-9, 2016.
“Our new condensed footprint will better allow attendees to engage with Creators in their specific categories. Also, Creators will now be able to launch their own crowdfunding campaigns to run BEFORE, during, and AFTER One Spark.
“All campaigns will launch on March 29, 2016 with a large push from One Spark to the media and the campaigns can carry for up to 90 days from the start date (as set by each Creator themselves). This will afford Creators the ability to gain significant interest in the Project before the festival, as well as capitalize on the momentum they build at One Spark 2016. So, if you’ve got a dream startup, game-changing work of art, new product, or a project focused on social good, submit your application for One Spark 2016 today. We’ll keep Creator Applications open until January 29th, but there’s no time like the present. We would be nothing without Creators, and we’re looking forward to seeing the new crop in 2016. Let’s make this the best One Spark ever!”
Check out a short video that highlights some of past creators and the One spark festival itself below.