As a backer you have entered into a contract directly with the project creator, and if the project creator does not fulfil their part of the agreement, then the backer is in a position to take whatever legal action is required to get their money back.
It used to be that a startup could only get in the door at a big IT shop with significant connections (like a venture backer who golfs with CIOs every week) or by piggy-backing on a partnership with some other, much larger firm.