As one of the largest crowdfunding platforms globally, with over 640,000 launched projects, Kickstarter received pledges worth billions of dollars over the last fifteen years. According to data presented by Stocklytics.com, Kickstarter projects have raised over $8.2 billion from July 2012 to September 2024, but only 41% of all projects were successful.
More than Half of All Successful Projects Raised Between $1,000 and $9,999; Only 850 Raised over $1 Million
The perfect combination of accessible funding, community support, and creative potential has turned Kickstarter into a leading platform for crowdfunding, and that hasn`t changed for the past fifteen years. Unlike other crowdfunding companies, Kickstarter focuses mainly on creative projects, from musical albums, video games, and craft ideas to technological innovations, and imposes a time limit for each campaign. That means the project is dropped if it fails to reach its funding goal, and the pledges are returned to the backers. The platform`s reward-based crowdfunding model lets backers receive unique perks for their support, making campaigns even more appealing.
Although high-profile success stories on Kickstarter have drawn a lot of attention and inspired others to launch their campaigns, the truth is that less than half of all projects on the platform were successful. According to Statista and the official company data, the success rate of fully funding a project on Kickstarter was only 41%. Translated into numbers, roughly 266,000 of 641,000 projects had completed funding.
Statistics also show that more than half of successful projects raised less than $10,000, and only 4% of them between $100,000 and $1 million. According to Kickstarter data, there have been only 0.3% or 850 projects with a total funding of over one million dollars over the past fifteen years.
Video Games Top in Total Funding Amount, but Comics Have the Highest Success Rate on Kickstarter
Kickstarter platform`s low barriers to entry make it accessible to a wide range of creators, from small startups to established artists across the markets. However, some projects have a much higher success rate and raise more funds than others.
Statistics show games represent the most funded category, with $2.56 billion pledged by project backers. Design ranked second with $1.75 billion in total funding, followed by tech projects, which have raised $1.59 billion on the platform. All other categories were far below these figures. For instance, film and video projects on Kickstarter raised $587.4 million. Publishing, music, and comics follow with $372 million, $298 million, and $273 million, respectively. Crafts, journalism, and dance were at the back of the list with $30 million, $21 million, and $16 million.
Although far below games, design, and tech projects in terms of the total value of pledges, comics bring the highest number of successful projects. As of October, more than 67% of projects in this category managed to raise their pledged amount of funding. Teather and music follow with 59% and 50% of successful projects, respectively.
