Crowdfunding platform Kickstarter has released its 2014 breakdown, which shows a total of US$529 million was pledged by 3.3-million backers.
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Some 22 253 projects were successfully funded by Kickstarter in 2014, up from last year’s total of 19 911. There was also an increase in the number of backers, with 3.3 million people backing projects, compared with 2013’s 3-million. The report further shows that in 2014 a majority of the backers were first time backers — about 2 202 171 people.
The most funded ideas were in the technology space, attracting a total of US$125-million in pledges. Oddly though, technology cannot lay claim to having the most projects funded. In 2014, only 1 124 tech projects were funded. By comparison, music (4 009), film & video (3 846), and publishing (2 064) were far more successful.
Read more: The numbers behind the humble Potato Salad Kickstarter campaign
The majority of pledges on Kickstarter still come from the US, with US$335.5-million of the US$529-million pledged total coming from some 2.2-million American wallets. The UK was second on the list, with US$39.06 million from more than 260 000 backers, followed by Canada with US$27.65 million from over 170 000 backers, and Australia with US$19.83-million from just under 99 000 backers.
In the list of the most back projects of 2014 were LeVar Burton’s Reading Rainbow reboot (backed by almost 106 000 crowdfunders), followed by a ridiculously tricked out beer cooler (~63,000 backers). On the tech side, a smartphone controlled paper airplane project (~21,000) and the Sense sleep tracker (~19,000) also pulled in a relatively high number of backers vs other projects launched on the platform.
Wednesday afternoons were the most popular days for people to pledge to projects in 2014, with August being the most popular month with 2 311 projects reaching their target. January was the worst performing month, with only 1 242 projects reaching their target.
