Crowdfunding Examples: Overview of the 10 Most Successful Crowdfunding Projects
- Discover the 10 most successful crowdfunding projects worldwide and what you can learn from them
- You don’t need a big budget to be successful: creativity is all you need for a good outcome.
- However: a larger budget enables more comprehensive marketing, which in turn can lead to greater success.
- As always in marketing, you must test and analyze the results and adjust as needed. Only then will you know what works and what doesn’t.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
- 1 Crowdfunding Examples: Overview of the 10 Most Successful Crowdfunding Projects
- 1.1 Key Points in Brief
- 1.2 We Help You Raise a Successful Crowdfunding Campaign
- 1.3 1. Sweat Cosmetics
- 1.4 2. LIMBO
- 1.5 We Help You Raise a Successful Crowdfunding Campaign
- 1.6 3. Nomad Energy Drink
- 1.7 4. McRider
- 1.8 5. Hardbacon
- 1.9 6. Pebble Smartwatches
- 1.10 7. The Coolest Cooler
- 1.11 8. Kingdom Death: Monster 1.5
- 1.12 9. The World’s Best Travel Jacket
- 1.13 10. Exploding Kittens
- 1.14 Conclusion and Summary
- 1.15 Free Consultation
- 1.16 More Articles
| Crowdfunding Plattformen – Übersicht | |
| ⭐ Vorgabe: | Crowdfunding Plattformen |
| 🏆 Dauer: | Ca. 3 Monate |
| 💰 Kosten: | Projektspezifisch |
| 📺 Zielsetzung: | Crowdfunding Finanzierung einsammeln |
| ⚡ Technologien und Kenntnisse: | Social Media, Webseite, Video, E-Mail-Newsletter |
Key Points in Brief
- You don’t need a big budget to be successful: creativity is all you need for a good outcome.
- Various companies were not successful with their first campaign or afterward had difficulties delivering a product. But despite all these problems, the second attempt was often very successful. People forgive, and everyone knows mistakes can happen and unforeseen difficulties may arise.
- Use the strengths of your project and show what makes it unique. Success will then follow.
| Crowdfunding Plattformen – Übersicht | |
| ⭐ Vorgabe: | Crowdfunding Plattformen |
| 🏆 Dauer: | Ca. 3 Monate |
| 💰 Kosten: | Projektspezifisch |
| 📺 Zielsetzung: | Crowdfunding Finanzierung einsammeln |
| ⚡ Technologien und Kenntnisse: | Social Media, Webseite, Video, E-Mail-Newsletter |
We Help You Raise a Successful Crowdfunding Campaign
Plattform |
Bewertung |
Besonderheiten |
Weitere Infos |
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Bewertung: 9.8 |
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Bewertung: 8.2 |
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Bewertung: 7.3 |
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One of the best ways to learn everything about crowdfunding is to dive into the topic yourself and see how other companies launched successful campaigns. Here we present useful insider tips from startups that have recently succeeded in crowdfunding.
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1. Sweat Cosmetics
The beauty business is tough and rarely welcomes newcomers. There are only a few examples of equity crowdfunding in the scene. Nevertheless, Sweat Cosmetics from Denver took exactly this step in April 2018, in partnership with its all-female – and former professional athletes – founding team. Sweat Creates focuses on the production and distribution of makeup that can be worn even while exercising. The idea is not only practical and original but also perfectly represented by the founders as former pro athletes. Among them is two-time Olympic soccer gold medalist Lindsay Tarpley.
In April 2018, Sweat managed to raise USD 255,000 from more than 500 investors. The project was run on the Indiegogo First Democracy VC platform via an equity campaign. Investors received preferred shares in return. Co-founder Leslie Osborne said the campaign had originally aimed for only USD 50,000. All additional funds were just extra. It took six months to complete all preparations, meet bureaucratic requirements, and launch the campaign.
Sweat’s Strengths for an Equity Campaign:
- Previous small funding campaign with a goal of USD 30,000 in 2015
- Revenue proof and statistics showing over USD 1 million
- Sweat’s marketing agency, Agency 2.0, already had connections with First Democracy
Marketing was another crucial strength for the team. Due to their athletic careers and achievements, they already had a degree of recognition and good media relationships. When the founders launched their campaign, they had a mailing list of around 20,000 names and 48,000 Instagram followers, gained primarily through Facebook Ads and email marketing.
Like most successful crowdfunding projects, Sweat quickly caught media attention by hitting the USD 50,000 mark in a very short time. Coverage included Money Magazine and USA Today, which reported extensively on the project while it was still live.
As with many product-based equity crowdfunding ventures, Sweat rewarded its investors with perks and extras. For example, backers received USD 100 gift cards, while major investors were invited to an exclusive party in New York.
2. LIMBO
“How much funding can you raise online with a brand-new spinner?”
This marketing slogan was coined by Jersey City, NJ startup Fearless Toys Ltd. in mid-2018 for its first product, the LIMBO. A self-balancing, gyroscope-powered spinning top that can rotate for over four hours. Fearless calls it “FunTeach,” aiming to excite kids and teens about gyroscope technology. And it worked: LIMBO became one of the world’s most successful reward-based crowdfunding campaigns in 2018, raising nearly USD 688,000 on Kickstarter from more than 8,700 backers.
What’s the secret behind this incredible success for a small, seemingly trivial toy? The answer is simple: Fearless made the LIMBO Spinner a Guinness World Record holder. This achievement generated massive global media attention, with features on Mashable, Digital Trends, and Yahoo! News.
Another factor contributing to the project’s success was its broad target audience: anyone looking for a small gift for kids (or adult collectors and nerds) found the LIMBO appealing.
Fearless’s picture-perfect Kickstarter campaign perfectly illustrates how to generate excitement: engaging videos, graphics, photos, and GIFs showcased LIMBO’s construction and performance. Clips showed the spinner on a tomato, a crumpled laptop sleeve, a lit candle, on designer Yoav Amir’s bald head, and even spinning for four hours on a Hong Kong beach.
Fearless offered four different titanium and aluminum models, giving backers 16 pledge tiers—far more than the typical six on Kickstarter. The cheapest tier cost USD 49 and included one LIMBO, a keychain, and a charging cable. For USD 289 backers received all four models. The top tier, USD 299, was a special world-record set with a titanium model and extra batteries for 40 hours of runtime. This exclusive package was Kickstarter-only.
After Kickstarter, Fearless continued on Indiegogo using the In-Demand option, raising over USD 750,000. Delivery was set for December 2018 to capitalize on holiday sales. To reach its goals, Fearless partnered with Breaking Games, indie specialists under renowned game printer Ad Magic.
We Help You Raise a Successful Crowdfunding Campaign
Plattform |
Bewertung |
Besonderheiten |
Weitere Infos |
|---|---|---|---|
| |
Bewertung: 9.8 |
|
|
| |
Bewertung: 8.2 |
|
|
| |
Bewertung: 7.3 |
|
3. Nomad Energy Drink
Sometimes you launch a new product just to see what people outside your family and friends think of the idea. Many companies run crowdfunding campaigns purely for market research. Brooklyn-based Nomad Trading Co. did exactly that on Kickstarter in 2018: they wanted to test if a new, chemical-free energy drink could excite consumers.
The company had previously launched a tea-based drink and is committed to radical sustainability by upcycling coffee plant waste. Co-founders decided to launch Nomad Energy Drink—made from coffee bean remnants—on Kickstarter with minimal marketing. They wanted unbiased feedback on consumer interest.
Marketing was minimal: posts on Facebook and Instagram plus a few emails to an opt-in list of ~800 collected from a “Coming Soon” page. They also enlisted Kickstarter’s help, offering top backers a trip to Costa Rica worth USD 1,800. The campaign raised USD 16,500—far exceeding the EUR 5,000 goal.
Although Kickstarter doesn’t provide demographic analytics, VP Keilson assumed the audience was mostly high-caffeine-consuming men. A successful test would indicate market potential without revealing the company or mission. Kickstarter featured their project in its newsletter, boosting visibility.
Within 16 hours, Nomad hit its USD 5,000 goal; by the end of the first day, they reached USD 10,000—thanks in part to one backer selecting the expensive farm-visit tier, as Keilson recalled with surprise. Hitting the goal so quickly was a relief.
In September 2018, Nomad Trading (not to be confused with travel-gear company Nomad Lane) announced production was on schedule, with delivery to backers expected later that month. They also planned retail distribution on the U.S. East Coast, leveraging existing local relationships.
4. McRider
Kevin Morris’s online business grew out of a personal passion: the Fort Worth, Texas entrepreneur wanted to prevent motorcycle injuries. He combined his safety-training background and web development skills—with clients like American Airlines—to build a successful online venture. Few crowdfunding campaigns are as perfectly aligned as this one: Morris lives his dream of earning money doing what he loves!
As a veteran motorcycle safety instructor, Morris created MCrider.com and a YouTube channel to share safety tips. Seeking sustainable revenue beyond occasional YouTube commissions, he discovered Patreon and opened a shop there.
To maximize support, Morris provided his videos free of charge, making the project unsuitable for Kickstarter. He offered three support tiers—USD 3, 5, and 50—each granting access to field guides and a forum. The USD 5 tier let backers suggest video topics, while USD 50 backers were named in videos, voted on future content, and received extra perks. Today, MCrider has over 2,600 patrons paying an average of USD 4.50 per month.
This model differs from typical crowdfunding, but who wouldn’t love a regular income from doing what they love? Morris’s online business success also fulfilled his passion.
5. Hardbacon
Hardbacon, a finance-training startup from Montreal, began with a small crowdfunding campaign aiming for just USD 7,600 on the lesser-known Ulule platform. The project offered an online investment course unlike anything else.
CEO and co-founder Julien Brault chose Ulule in 2017 after meeting its local office manager. Seeking a new idea leveraging his web development and lead-generation expertise, he launched “Not Another Boring Course About Investment,” marketed as 100% not boring.
What propelled this seemingly unremarkable idea to USD 52,000? A quirky, humorous ad featuring Brault, his cat, and a man on a toilet—underscoring the unconventional strategy.
Hardbacon also used Ulule’s advanced auto-translation to present the project website in English or French based on visitor preference—a feature Kickstarter lacked. Ulule provided guidance on crowdfunding basics. With a low goal and ~800 backers, Brault knew larger platforms wouldn’t feature him.
Ulule supported the startup from the start, highlighting key aspects of Hardbacon’s pitch:
- Influencers were vital to the marketing strategy. The team partnered with micro-influencers—people with sizable but not celebrity followings—to gain free mentions and reach.
- They used the social tool Nouncy to coordinate simultaneous posts: if 150 people in Montreal’s tech scene tweeted about Hardbacon at the same hour, hundreds would learn about the project simultaneously, driving new backers.
This early success launched Hardbacon, which quickly grew into a comprehensive financial training platform—Canada’s answer to Mint.com. A year later, equipped with crowdfunding know-how, Brault launched an equity campaign on Canadian platform GoTroo to fund the Hardbacon app.
In summer 2018, Hardbacon hit its USD 250,000 goal in just 30 days. Why GoTroo? Founded in 2015, it was an emerging platform with a Canadian focus—ideal since Hardbacon served the North American market. Plus, raised funds could be used for general business growth, not a single project.
Equity crowdfunding remains rare, so Hardbacon attracted media attention from half a dozen outlets covering different campaign aspects. Extras like a financial planner and featuring in Apple’s “New Apps We Love” drove further awareness.
During the GoTroo campaign, Hardbacon sold 18% equity at USD 0.90 per share to 360+ investors, with a minimum 110-share commitment. The company was valued at USD 1.5 million at the time.
6. Pebble Smartwatches
Pebble Technology rose to fame on Kickstarter in 2012, raising USD 10 million for its E-Paper Watch for iOS and Android, hitting USD 1 million in 24 hours. In 2015, their “Better than the Apple Watch” campaign broke that record with USD 20.3 million raised against a USD 500,000 goal—the highest ever on Kickstarter, proving their mastery of crowdfunding.
Pebble’s final Kickstarter campaign in 2017 again succeeded with new watch models, raising USD 12.8 million against a USD 1 million target. Months later, Fitbit acquired Pebble for USD 23 million. For more insights, study their products, marketing, and campaign pages—Pebble is arguably the best crowdfunding example.
7. The Coolest Cooler
The second-largest Kickstarter campaign ever is also one of the biggest failures. The inventor of the Coolest Cooler—a cooler with a built-in USB charger, Bluetooth speaker, and more—raised over USD 10 million in 2013.
The bad news? Coolest Cooler ultimately failed to deliver its product due to poor cost planning and fulfillment. As Mashable reported, two years after the campaign ended, only a small fraction of backers had received theirs. At one point, investors were asked for more money to cover shipping, prompting threatened lawsuits.
Despite negative press and the notoriety of being crowdfunding’s biggest flop, the company survived and still exists today.
8. Kingdom Death: Monster 1.5
Board games are another hugely popular crowdfunding category. Kingdom Death’s horror game raised USD 12.4 million on Kickstarter in 2017, hitting USD 1 million in just 19 minutes—a Kickstarter record.
9. The World’s Best Travel Jacket
This campaign belongs to another beloved category: techie clothing. Baubax LLC launched one of Kickstarter’s best campaigns ever for a 15-feature travel jacket—integrated neck pillow, eye mask, blanket, phone pocket, etc.
Nearly 45,000 backers pledged USD 9.2 million, paying about USD 100 for a jacket that would retail much higher. Baubax later launched another successful Indiegogo campaign, raising USD 4.3 million—another stellar example of crowdfunding mastery.
10. Exploding Kittens
Did you know card games are hugely popular on Kickstarter? In 2015, creator Elan Lee’s humorous card game Exploding Kittens raised USD 8.78 million from 219,000 backers—one of Kickstarter’s most famous campaigns.
Conclusion and Summary
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