Flush it out with a crowd

A plumbing supply company isn't likely front of mind when people think about raising capital through crowd funding.

But that hasn't stopped the executives at Sarasota-based Aqua Mizer from giving the newest way of raising capital a whirl. The firm, which sells a series of patent-pending products that reduce water usage in toilet bowls without impacting performance, set up an indiegogo.com campaign Feb. 11.

Indiegogo is one of several websites for crowd funding, where startups or established entities can raise money. Crowd funding is different from venture capital. The crowd funding theory is to raise small amounts of money from a large group of individual investors who don't receive equity in the business in exchange for their investment. The investors can instead get perks, like early product releases or other exclusives.