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Equity crowdfunding is coming, but not on Kickstarter

Rift headset

Think you can do a better job than wealthy venture capitalists at sussing out potential winners and losers in game development? You'll soon be able to put your money where your mouth is thanks to a new wave of up-and-coming crowdfunding sites that will be offering equity instead of plushies and in-game digital goods.

In the wake of Oculus' $2 billion Facebook deal, The Verge has published a piece that asks what one of the Rift's original $300.00 Kickstarter backers would've gained had they been actual investors instead of donators. The answer is a cool $43,500, or a substantial 145x ROI.

Kickstarter, for now at least, won't be jumping on the equity bandwagon. "We believe the real disruption comes from people supporting things because they like them, rather than finding things that produce a good return on investment," CEO Yancey Strickler told Popular Science.