The 21st century has its fair share of problems, but there are also innovative trends that make it a better period for growth than any other period in history. Innovation is not limited to science. The business world is not far from novelty, with startups taking the lead. The biggest challenge for startups is raising funds. But, this problem is also being catered to by the alternative funding methods. One such method is crowdfunding, which can be defined as the method of raising funds for a venture by raising small amounts of money from a large number of people via the internet.
There are many startups across the world that have made the best out of crowdfunding, with the help of various crowdfunding sources such as Fundly, Kickstarter, bonfire, etc. Though many generated funds through crowdfunding, there are only a select few that put the fund to best use. Here’s a list of the top 5 successful crowdfunding businesses.
1. Popsocket
A product that emerged from a Philosophy Professor sticking buttons on the back of his phone, trying to prevent his earbuds from tangling, turned out to be the best ceiling mobile accessory. In 2010, David Barnett introduced the crowdfunding campaign for a pop socket at kickstart and raised $18,591 for his idea.
2. Allbirds
Another product that made it big through kickstart, by raising $120,000 within 5 days of its campaign launch. The most convenient and comfortable footwear ever, got its initial capital to start production through crowdfunding in 2014, and now is a big player in the footwear business scene.
3. Pebble Smartwatch
The watch that changed the idea of watches forever started with crowdfunding in the year of 2012. Though it took the company ten months to start production after the launch of its campaign, it raised $10 million through crowdfunding. The company was so pleased with the funding method that it used the same method for its second-generation watch, Pebble Time in 2015 and raised $ 20 Million; 400 times the target of $500K.
4. Prison Architect
Crowdfunding is not only limited to mainstream products. It is widely being used to generate funds for video games due to their increasing popularity. The campaign that started independently in 2015 was able to raise $19 million through its campaign. Prison Architect isn’t the only video game making the most out of crowdfunding. There are various others notably Star Citizen raised $300 million by its campaign ongoing for 10 years.
5. EOS
Most of the blockchain operating systems seek crowdfunding for generating finance. But EOS is special because it raised 4 Billion by its crowdfunding campaign. Designed to support commercial decentralized applications, this technology has indeed showcased the true potential of crowdfunding.
We hope you had fun learning about the best crowdfunding campaigns. If you want to see the other side of the picture let us know in the comments and we’ll come up with the list of crowdfunding campaigns that failed miserably and the reason behind their failure.
