This sponsored post is produced in association with MicroVentures.

No one can deny the role of crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter and IndieGogo in the digital entrepreneur renaissance. Imaginative products like the Oculus Rift, Ouya, and Pebble would have never seen the light of day without the millions of dollars pitched in by those who believed in them.

According to a World Bank commissioned study, the global crowdfunding market could balloon up to $96 billion in the next 25 years — roughly 1.8 times the size of the global venture capital industry today.

And in light of incredible crowdfunded venture acquisitions like the $2 billion