Kickstarter Stars — Startups Which Became Successful With Crowdfunding

The future of crowdfunding gets stronger as it continues to grow. In 2014, it increased more than 90% over the previous year. More and more people are now turning towards crowdfunding to promote their creative ideas as it helps get their business going in the beginning. The entire idea of fundraising is changing through the combination of equity and rewards where everyone is a winner.

The backers of crowdfunding will benefit because they have equity in the company through their investment. This type of funding allows entrepreneurs to convert their supporters and best clients into promoters to help the business progress.

Kickstarter is excited about the future of crowdfunding and 2016 looks to surpass last year’s total. In 2014, more than $500,000,000 was pledged from over three million people around the world on the platform of crowdfunding.

Below is a list of their top ten successes of crowdfunding campaigns.

1. Pebble Smartwatch — This was the Kickstarter’s break through into their crowdfunding venture. In a little over a month, over ten million dollars was raised and then grew to more than twenty million through close to 80,000 backers. These patrons wanted to be first ones to own the Pebble smartwatch which is very affordable. This watch features new software, sends voice memos, plays music, answers messages, is easy to read in the sunlight, and has a long-lasting battery.

2. BauBax’s Travel Jacket — This may be considered the world’s best travel jacket with 15 separate pockets. It comes with a stylus, which is attached to the zipper, a neck pillow, and eye mask. Almost 10 million dollars was raised from over 40,000 sponsors placing this one at the number two spot with Kickstarter.

3. Exploding Kittens — This is a card game where the enchiladas are magic, the black hair is weaponized, and the cats are blown up. Matthew Inman, the founder of The Oatmeal comic website, created this game along with Elan Lee and Shane Small, who are developers of video games. This was number three on Kickstarter’s list of campaigns raising over eight million dollars.

4. Shenmue 3 — The first of Shenmue’s action and adventure video games was released in 1999. Soon after, a sequel was released to great success. Almost fifteen years year later, the creator of this game, Yu Suzuki, turned towards Kickstarter to get the second sequel on the market. Close to 70,000 backers raised over six million dollars towards this venture.

5. Bloodstained — This crowdfunding raised over 5.5 million dollars and was created by Koji Igarashi. This game is full of demons, castles, and magic spells in a Gothic world and rates #5 at Kickstarter.

6. The Everyday Messenger Bag — There have been 20 products launched on Kickstarter by Peak Design in the last five years. They worked with Trey Ratcliff, a photographer, to create this bag for photographers. It’s waterproof and is designed for any professional carrying electronics. The campaign reached almost five million dollars, in a short time, from over 16,000 backers.

7. Zombicide — There were more than 4 million dollars raised by over 20,000 supporters. The maker of the game, CoolMiniOrNot, created Zombicide which has 3D printed miniature zombies that are collectibles

8. Conan — This board game is based on Robert E Howard’s writings and includes Conan the Barbarian, soldiers, monster, and animals. Over three million dollars was raised in this crowdfunding drive.

9. Nebia Shower Head — Most of the shower heads on the market still continue to waste water. People can save over 65% on the usage by using the Nebia shower head. It allows the water to atomize every drop of water and increase the spray area. They raised over three million through Kickstarter’s platform.

10. ZNAPS Charger — This is a magnetic adapter designed to fit mobile devices and cables. It allows the user to sync and charge at the same time. This is Kickstarter’s tenth largest campaign raising over three million dollars.

Here are a few of the Kickstarter campaigns that are running in 2016.

Ouya — They raised over 8.5 million dollars in just 29 days as this game console is gaining popularity in the community of gamers. Ouya rewarded their backers within ten months of the beginning of the campaign.

3D Printer from Formlabs — After this was launched; they raised almost three million dollars. This company was early in the 3D printer movement and was one of the first to be funded by crowdfunding.

3Doodler — This is a printing pen that allows one to draw something in 3D. As a person draws, the 3Doodler releases a heated plastic which rapidly cools and hardens into a form that remains firm. They raised over two million dollars in a little over a month from over 25,000 Kickstarter supporters.

The Dash — These are the first smart headphones, in the world, that are made for use in the ear and they are wireless. Part of its function is for tracking fitness, and the other part is for music. The Dash, in just 50 days, has raised almost 3.5 million dollars and says the device will be delivered later this year.

Pono Music — This is a recent success at Kickstarter and delivery to crowdfunding backers is set for October. The amount of money raised was over six million in less than a month. The Pono Music promises that the listener will hear the high-resolution music just as the artists envisioned.

Monument — This device can store all photos and videos from different cameras and smartphones. Monument organizes everything by the method that was used, time, date, and cameras along with what’s in a photo and faces. This is a relatively new crowdfunding campaign and there’s still time to get in on it.

Mighty — This device is compatible with Androids and iPhones, is equipped with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and can play music for up to 48 hours without being connected to the Internet. Mighty allows a person to take their streaming music along with them without bringing their smartphone. This is another crowdfunding that’s still available.

OSSIC X — These are the first, in the world, that will instantly adjust to a person’s body to bring the most immersive and accurate audio in 3D. Music will be experienced in a way that was not even imaginable before. This funding is still open, and so far they’ve raised over 1.2 million with more than 5000 backers.

Soundboks — This speaker is the ultimate for outdoor parties and sporting games. The engineers designed it to deliver an extreme volume, maximize the battery life, and to be unbreakable. They now have almost 600 thousand dollars from 1200 backers, and it is open for the next two weeks.