Kickstarter and IndieGoGo have standardized crowdfunding for a variety of projects. One type of projects, open-source software, has been around for far longer but has often faced gaps between interest in projects and funding. One website aims to fix that problem as a crowdfunding site specializing in open source projects.
Catincan is currently in beta but has a few projects listed as available to support already. It allows you to find projects you might want to support. The site also allows users to suggest a feature request though existing developers are the only ones that can put a feature up for funding to support it.
Projects have a fixed time-frame to find backers and the site expects projects to be largely successful since developers have already delivered on the initial project and have their reputation tied to it. Unlike Kickstarter, developers are enticed to focus on delivering the project feature to backers instead of “gifts” at different tier levels. Backers can fund the project through credit card by the payment processor Balanced Payments and developers can receive their payments through PayPal, bank account deposits, or Bitcoin.
Catincan, however, is not used for brand new projects because they want to ensure the results are open source and have a high likelihood of success. Projects like Drupal, WordPress, Linux distros, Pidgin, Firefox, Openmoko, and plenty of other projects are shown in the homepage graphic.
For more information about the site or to browse available projects, visit www.catincan.com