James Beshara Introduces a New Way to Raise Funds

The term “crowdsourcing” has become very popular in recent years with individuals and companies generating and collecting ideas that the general public have come up with. James Beshara, an entrepreneur with a flair for innovation, took the idea to a whole new level with his company Tilt (formerly known as CrowdTilt).

Beshara graduated from Wake Forest University in North Carolina in 2008 with a degree in Economics. He later went on to work in South Africa as a microloans collection officer. It was during this time that he came up with the idea to use social collateral to fund loans to micro-insurance organizations in South Africa. He founded Tilt’s predecessor, a company named Dvelo.org which provided group-funded loans and raise money for non-profit organizations. Dvelo became very popular among its users and soon people started using the site to raise funds for non-charity related projects. Beshara went with the flow and shifted the company’s business model to accommodate fund raising activities for a wide variety of events, as well as for non-profit organizations and businesses.

In 2011, he invited Khaled Hussein to the team and rebranded Dvelo into what is now known as Tilt. They joined Y Combinator’s Winter Session in 2012, and the rest, as they say, is history. The success of Tilt has brought the spotlight upon Beshara. He has earned recognition from many business, media, and technology institutions , the most recent being having his name included in the Forbes’ 2015 list of 30 Under 30 in Consumer Technology.

Tilt is now expanding its reach. The company now has offices in both the United States and Canada and is planning to expand globally. The success of the company can be attributed not only to the solid idea presented by Beshara, but by the enthusiasm its users have for helping other people with their causes and projects.