What is Patreon? Patreon Review

Platform Introduction

The artists on the Patreon platform were initially mainly YouTube video creators and web cartoonists, but now the artist categories cover video/film, comics, podcasts, comedy, handmade DIY, music, illustrations, games, science, dance and drama, writing, animation, photography, education, etc.

Crowdfunding

Each artist or content provider on Patreon will set up their own Patreon page to introduce themselves and their works. Through this personal homepage, artists can choose to have fans sponsor them regularly and in fixed amounts every month, or sponsor a new work after it is released. Artists usually set a goal, such as the amount of money they hope to raise each month, and the project will end when this amount is reached. This part is similar to general crowdfunding platforms.

In addition, fans can cancel their crowdfunding payments at any time, and artists are also required to provide some benefits to crowdfunding fans (generally exclusive gifts related to the content). The "weight" of the gifts will vary depending on the amount of crowdfunding.

In terms of funding threshold, Patreon requires only $1 as the minimum, and artists can freely set other amounts, such as $3, $10, etc. Patreon's crowdfunding method is just like the meaning of the name Patreon: small sponsors.

Platform Fees

Patreon's profit model is to charge a 5% handling fee, and the initiator bears a 4% credit card transaction fee, which means that the initiator can get 91% of the total fundraising amount.

develop

In March 2015, Patreon announced the acquisition of a similar platform, Subbable. With this acquisition, a number of artists such as CGP Grey and Green Brothers joined Patreon. In addition, Amazon Payments, the crowdfunding payment method used by Subbable, was also connected to Patreon.

In May 2017, Patreon announced that there were more than 50,000 active artists on its platform, 1 million members participated in crowdfunding every month, and a user sponsored an artist every 5.5 seconds.

Financing

In August 2013, Patreon received a total of US$2.1 million in angel funding.

In June 2014, Patreon received $15 million in its Series A funding.

In 2016, Patreon just received a round of US$30 million in financing, led by Thrive Capital, followed by Allen and Company, Charles River Ventures and Index Ventures.

In September 2017, Patreon received another $60 million in funding in its Series C round led by Thrive Capital.

Logo

In use from May 2013 to June 2017.

July 2017 to present

References

• 1. How Patreon, an artist crowdfunding platform, helps content creators realize their income: Zhihu [cited on 2017-10-08T16:00:00.000Z]
• 2. Don’t treat crowdfunding as begging - How Patreon allows content creators to “ask for money” elegantly: Baijiahao [cited on 2018-05-18T16:00:00.000Z]