Total amount of funding pledged on Kickstarter 2012-2025

Kickstarter has become a powerhouse in the crowdfunding world, with pledges surpassing 8.75 billion U.S. dollars by May 2025. This milestone reflects the platform's growing influence in project funding since its inception in 2009. The platform's most successful campaign to date, "Surprise! Four Secret Novels by Brandon Sanderson," raised an astounding 41 million U.S. dollars in 2022, showcasing the potential for creators to secure substantial backing.

Project success and challenges

While Kickstarter has facilitated numerous successful campaigns, not all projects achieve their funding goals. As of January 2025, the platform had hosted over 651,000 projects, with a success rate of 41.98 percent. This means that more than four out of ten projects reached their funding targets. However, a significant number of campaigns fall short, with 376,698 projects failing to meet their goals. The majority of these unsuccessful projects achieved only 1-20 percent of their funding objectives, highlighting the challenges creators face in securing financial support.

Category performance and backer engagement

Success rates on Kickstarter vary significantly across project categories. As of January 2025, comics led with a 67.65 percent success rate, followed by dance at 61.11 percent and theater at 59.72 percent. These figures suggest that certain creative fields resonate more strongly with Kickstarter's backer community. The platform's growth is further evidenced by the increasing number of backers, with over 23.8 million people pledging support to projects by January 2025. Notably, more than eight million individuals have backed multiple projects, demonstrating a high level of repeat engagement on the platform.