In the previous installment of the platform roundup, we highlighted 99Designs’ new German-language site, a list of the top colleges compiled by the crowd, a crowdfunding platform for sports, an e-Learning crowdfunding platform, and EarlyShares’ Small Business Challenge. Today, we feature a few more crowdsourcing and crowdfunding platforms that recently caught our eye.

uStartups

The National Council of Entrepreneurial Tech Transfer (NCET2) announced the beta launch of a crowdfunding platform aimed at university research. Instead of funding ideas or products in the earliest stages of development, uStartups will look to fund projects that researchers have already invested time and resources into. uStartups, essentially, will provide the “maturation” funding for projects that are currently on laboratory shelves because they could not secure more funding from the government, companies, or universities. The platform’s developers are currently looking for ten university projects to feature when uStartups has its hard launch.

HackerRank

HackerRank launched at TechCruch Disrupt. The platform poses coding challenges, puzzles, and competitions for experienced hackers. Some of these will be real-life problems posted by companies looking for potentially quick solutions. Leaderboards encourage competition, and the best coders may get an opportunity to apply for a job at a company if they solve its challenge. Access to the platform is currently on an invite-only basis, though you can submit a solution for HackerRank’s trial competition (a tic-tac-toe simulation).

TruthMarket

Hear someone make a false claim? Instead of betting just your money that the person was wrong, why not crowdfund the bet? This is the premise behind recently launched TruthMarket. Branded as a ‘Marketplace for Truth Telling,’ the platform asks its users to post a claim they heard and ask for donations to set the record straight. When that target amount is reached, people can submit evidence to either support or debunk the claim. TruthMarket’s “jury” of neutral and trained professionals will look at the evidence to determine whether the claim holds up, or if the evidence disproves it. If your claim is not discredited, you get 20 percent of all money raised, while the other donors will share the rest. It’s certainly a novel idea with a noble goal — “to predispose all public dialogue toward truth telling” — but will people actually crowdfund contentious claims? Given the United States’ polarizing presidential campaign, it just might succeed in bringing some clarity to political debate.

GetFunded

Apps Genius recently announced the beta release of GetFunded. Apps Genius is a mobile game company that acquired GetFunded back in April, after the passage of the JOBS Act. It’s gone through several stages already (we wrote about it here), but now it finally looks like it’s getting close to its official launch. Aside from offering traditional crowdfunding, the GetFunded platform also offers consulting services. Entrepreneurs who need help in crafting their pitch video, for example, will be able to turn to GetFunded’s own “business professionals” to get the best results.

Hybrid Funding

White label crowdfunding platform providers welcomed a new addition to their midst with the launch of Hybrid Funding. White label platform providers allow users to set up their own crowdfunding portals in a matter of days. Hybrid Funding offers donation- and equity-based crowdfunding, as well as peer-to-peer lending; it also allows customers to choose from a variety of features to add onto the platform. To learn more about white label crowdfunding platforms, Hybrid Funding, and crowdfunding in general, check out the video on this page.