Crowdfunding Statistics: United We Stand, Divided We Fall

During the 1982 Conservative Party Conference in the United Kingdom, Margaret Thatcher famously said, “There is no such thing as society: There are individual men and women, and there are families.” Thankfully, crowdfunding statistics say she was wrong.

Crowdfunding, as a form of collective financing for books, movies, and other projects, has been around since long before the internet. The famous French philosopher Auguste Comte financed his research and publications through crowdfunding in the nineteenth century.

Fast-forward a century and a half: ArtistShare, the world’s first crowdfunding website, was founded in 2001. Following the success of this model, evident from crowdfunding worldwide statistics, new platforms started popping up - Indiegogo (2008), Kickstarter (2009), Gofundme (2010), and so on.

The crowdfunding financing model discussed in this article refers to the practice of raising funds for a project, product, or business through online platforms. This model allows individuals or startups who otherwise would not be able to finance projects themselves or attract investors to gather funds from backers all around the world. Sometimes backers get something in return for donating funds, as is the case in rewards crowdfunding, the dominant model on Kickstarter and Indiegogo.

Check out the following crowdfunding stats to help you better understand the development and growth of this multi-billion dollar market.

General crowdfunding market statistics

1. Global crowdfunding volume reached $34.4 billion in 2015.

(Crowdsourcing)

Crowdfunding growth statistics indicate that the popularity of crowdfunding as a financing method surged in the 2013-2015 period. Crowdsourcing’s Massolution Crowdfunding Industry Report from 2015 shows that the crowdfunding industry grew by 167% in 2014, when it raised a total of $16.2 billion. The following year it doubled in volume, reaching $34.4 billion. Massolution’s crowdfunding statistics show that the $34.4 billion raised in 2015 is 12 times more than the amount gathered in 2012.

2. North America raised $17.2 billion in 2017, almost half of the world’s crowdfunding that year.

(Statista)

The crowdfunding market is currently dominated by American-based platforms, crowdfunding USA sites statistics show. Sites like Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and Fundrazr are some of the strongest contenders and they are all North American. According to data provided by Statista, they made up almost half of the global crowdfunding volume in 2017, amounting to $17.2 billion. Following America are Asian platforms with $10.5 billion and European ones with $6.5 billion.

3. The United Kingdom makes up 68% of the European crowdfunding market.

(P2P Market Data)

Crowdfunding trends and statistics over time show that from 2016 to 2017 crowdfunding and other alternative finance sectors grew by 36%. Responsible for 68% of the total funding volume in 2017, the UK is the main contributor to the European market. However, the UK share in the European crowdfunding economy seems to be shrinking, since it made up 81% in 2015. The next two largest contributors to the European crowdfunding sector are France (9%) and Germany (6%).

4. The UK has the highest rate of crowdfunding investments in Europe: 10.44€ million.

(University of Cambridge)

The UK is not only the top contributor to the total European funding volume, but it also has the most crowdfunding volume per capita in Europe. According to crowdfunding international statistics, the British invest an average of 107.04€ per capita in crowdfunding projects, followed by Estonia with 61.76€ and Latvia with 47.51€.

5. The global crowdfunding market was valued at $10.2 billion in 2018.

(Valuates)

According to the Valuates crowdfunding industry report, the global crowdfunding market was valued at $10.2 billion in 2018. Following shifts in the global economy, China quickly rose as a major player in the market, surpassing the United States in 2018.

6. Estimates for the upcoming growth of the crowdfunding market settle at about $28 billion in 2025. Some estimates are as high as $300 billion, however.

(Valuates, Crowdsourcing)

Predictions concerning the growth of crowdfunding in the coming years seem to differ wildly in various crowdfunding statistics over time, depending on the institution or analysts conducting the research. For example, a report on the crowdfunding market size and predictions published by Valuates gives a conservative estimate that the crowdfunding market value will reach $28.8 billion by 2025, while Forbes published a report based on Massolution data that projects 2025 volume of $300 billion.

The reason for these substantially different predictions in crowdfunding statistics on growth is that different analysts include different activities in total crowdfunding. For example, Massolution includes P2P and marketplace lending in its valuation, though most of the companies conducting such activities don’t think of themselves as doing crowdfunding. Those companies account for more than 70% of the $300 billion projection.

7. Transaction value in the crowdfunding segment is $6.92 million in 2019.

(Statista)

Transaction value refers to the price actually paid for transactions in a certain segment of the economy. In the case of crowdfunding it refers to the donations and pledges made to crowdfunding campaigns. Donation crowdfunding statistics from 2019 show that the total transaction value for this year was $6.92 billion. Statista also predicts that the annual growth rate of this transaction value will be 14.7% and that the total transaction value will reach $11.98 billion in 2023.

8. Analysts predict that global crowdfunding will grow by almost $90 billion over the next five years.

(Technavio)

Crowdfunding trends and statistics spell a bright future for crowdfunding. Analysts from Technavio predict a 17% compound annual growth rate. This translates to incremental growth of $89.72 billion in the next five years.

9. The average amount raised per crowdfunding campaign is $794.

(Statista)

Most stories concerning crowdfunding are either about tremendous successes or catastrophic failures. However, global crowdfunding statistics indicate that what most crowdfunding campaigns invest into their campaigns is much lower than a multimillion figure. According to Statista, the average funding per campaign in the crowdfunding segment is $794.

10. China has the largest national crowdfunding market: $5.57 billion.

(Statista)

More data from Statista helps us paint an even better picture of the rise of China in the crowdfunding sector. These crowdfunding world statistics indicate that China currently boasts the highest transaction value. In 2019, it reached $5.57 billion.

11. An average of 333 new crowdfunding projects are launched each day.

(Crowdfunding Center)

Hundreds of crowdfunding projects are launched each day. Not all of them try to raise large sums of money. The Crowdfunding Center, a provider of real-time crowdfunding data, gathered information on how many crowdfunding projects are initiated daily. According to the group’s statistics about crowdfunding, an average of 333 new projects pop up each day.

12. Film, technology, design, and music are the categories with the most crowdfunding projects.

(Crowdfunding Center)

These segments require major funding and allow easy distribution of products to their backers. Statistics on crowdfunding projects gathered by Crowdfunding Center show that film makes up 13.9% of all crowdfunding campaigns, while technology accounts for 8.9% and music is tied with eesign at 8.3%.

13. The average amount of money raised in projects is $30,339.

(Crowdfunding Center)

Most successful projects raise mid-tier amounts of money, not millions of dollars. When we look at the fundraising average crowdfunding statistics from 2019, the average amount of money raised in projects is $30,339.

14. The global crowdfunding success rate is 50%.

(Fundly)

Surely one of the most important stats is the project success rate. Fundly reports that the average crowdfunding project success rate on a global level is 50% - every second project meets its fundraising goal.

15. The success rate for crowdfunding projects in North America is 22.6%

(Crowdfunding Center)

North American projects are faring significantly worse than the global average. Crowdfunding Center data tells us that the success rate for these projects is only 22.6%. One of the possible reasons for these crowdfunding success statistics  is the sheer number of projects launched in this region. More projects leads to saturation and fewer projects end up getting the necessary funds.

16. Reward- and donation-based crowdfunding contribute $5.5 billion to total crowdfunding transaction volume.

(Fundly)

There are several ways that crowdfunding can be carried out. Crowdfunding categories statistics show us that the various forms of crowdfunding differ in the type of relationship established between the people behind the campaign and those that pledge their funds.

Donation-based crowdfunding is reserved for charities, where there’s no financial return for investors or contributors.

Reward-based crowdfunding is one of the most popular crowdfunding types, especially on Kickstarter and other major platforms. This involves providing rewards to people who pledge money to a campaign. These rewards are usually tiered and depend on the amount of money contributors pledge.

According to Fundly’s charity and reward crowdfunding statistics, reward- and donation-based crowdfunding currently contribute $5.5 billion to total crowdfunding transaction volume.

17. Equity crowdfunding contributes $2.5 billion to total crowdfunding.

(Fundly)

Equity crowdfunding is a fundraising model in which contributors fund small businesses or startups in return for equity. Since this method involves investment into a commercial enterprise, it is subject to financial regulation. Equity crowdfunding statistics show that this crowdfunding model made up $2.5 billion of total transaction volume.

18. Peer-to-peer crowdfunding amounted to $25 billion in 2018.

(Bermag)

Peer-to-peer lending is often mixed with crowdfunding but actually represents a somewhat different financing model. While crowdfunding can involve exchanging “rewards” or providing a stake in the company in return for investment, peer-to-peer lending revolves around investors lending a specific amount of money to a person or business. This money is returned according to a defined schedule. According to statistics on crowdfunding from Crowdfunding Monitor, these loans amount to $25 billion.

19. Crowdfunding has created 270,00 jobs.

(Bermag)

Not only does crowdfunding help aspiring startups, small businesses and individuals but it helps the global economy as well. Statistics for crowdfunding published by Fundly show that crowdfunding has created 270.000 jobs so far. Although it’s unclear which time period exactly this bit of data refers to, in our research we found out that most of these jobs come from equity crowdfunding. Equity crowdfunding leads to the opening of new job positions.

20. A cyber-security breach is the highest perceived risk for equity- and reward-based crowdfunding.

(University of Cambridge)

Cambridge’s Center for Alternative Finance conducted a survey on the highest perceived risks among different crowdfunding and alternative finance subsectors. Their statistics on crowdfunding and small businesses indicate that a cyber-security breach is the highest perceived risk for equity- and rewards-based crowdfunding models. For equity crowdfunding, 40% of survey participants marked “cyber-security breach” as a high or very high risk, and 44% chose the same option for reward-based crowdfunding.

Crowdfunding platform statistics

21.  There were about 2,000 crowdfunding platforms in the world in 2018.

(Bermag)

The crowdfunding sector is ever-expanding. Most crowdfunding platforms are in North America. The number of platforms is increasing globally, however, especially in China. According to crowdfunding platforms worldwide statistics presented in the Crowdfunding Monitor report, in 2018 there were approximately 2,000 platforms for crowdfunding in the world. This is four times more than in 2012, when there were 536 platforms.

22. In 2014, North America had 375 crowdfunding platforms, while Europe had 600.

(Statista)

Statista’s online crowdfunding statistics from 2014 tell us there were 375 crowdfunding platforms in North America. Europe on the other hand had 600 at the time.

23. Kickstarter is by far the most popular platform for crowdfunding, hosting 69.29% of fully funded projects to date.

(Crowdfunding Center)

Kickstarter is the most popular crowdfunding platform. When we look at the percentage of successful projects globally, Kickstarter statistics show that this platform hosts 69.29% of all crowdfunding projects.

24. Kickstarter has had the most completed projects overall: 332,469.

(Crowdfunding Center)

Kickstarter is currently the most popular crowdfunding platform on the globe. In 2009 it was launched as a platform exclusively for reward-based crowdfunding campaigns. According to crowdfunding statistics by website, Kickstarter has had the most fully funded projects since 2014: 332,469. Projects on Kickstarter are also the most popular ones, averaging 123 backers per project.

 25. Kickstarter projects have a 36.6% success rate.

(Hustle)

The success rate for Kickstarter projects is currently at 36.6%. The latest crowdfunding statistics also that projects in the theater and comics categories boast the biggest success rates with 60% and 57% of them getting funded.

26. Fundrazr projects have the best chance of success: 42.4% on average.

(Crowdfunding Center)

Fundrazr is a Canadian crowdfunding platform launched in 2009, the same year as Kickstarter. However, Fundrazr started out as a Facebook app and later transitioned into an independent site. When we look at success rates across different platforms Fundrazr has the best stats. As we saw the global average success rate sits at around 22%. Fundrazr has almost double that rate, boasting a 42.4% success rate according to crowdfunding data from the Crowdfunding Center.

27. Indiegogo projects have raised the most amount of funds, with $48,783 pledged per project on average.

(Crowdfunding Center)

Indiegogo was launched in 2008. It is a site that relies on reward-based crowdfunding where potential backers can choose which projects to support in return for various rewards. Projects on Indiegogo mostly revolve around small business ideas, and inventions. Currently, Indiegogo has the highest amount of money pledged per project on average, amounting to $48,783.

28. Over $4 billion has been pledged to Kickstarter projects.

(Kickstarter)

Kickstarter gathers its own data on the amount of money and projects that go through the platform. According to its stats, more than $4.65 billion has been pledged to Kickstarter projects so far. Additionally, there have been 173,121 successful crowdfunding campaigns on Kickstarter since it launched.

29. 461,628 projects have launched on Kickstarter since July 2019.

(Statista)

While 173,121 projects have been successfully financed on Kickstarter so far, many more are being launched daily. Drawing from crowdfunding facts gathered by Statista, more than 461,000 projects have been launched on Kickstarter since July of this year. In over the span of about four months, the number of projects that was launched is four times greater than the total number of successfully funded projects on the platform.

30. Only 1.3% of projects on Kickstarter have raised over $100,000.

(LaunchBoom)

While multi-million-dollar crowdfunding success stories on Kickstarter and other platforms are inspiring, not every one reaches those heights. Most campaigns don’t even go over $100,000. And when we say most, we mean 98.7% of them. Furthermore, only 0.08% of projects raise over $1 million. It’s important to not overestimate a campaign’s potential. In fact, it’s perfectly fine to settle for smaller fundraising goals, as these crowdfunding success rates have shown.

31. The total number of video game projects submitted to Kickstarter in 2019 is the lowest it’s been since 2013.

(ICO Partners)

Kickstarter is pretty famous for fundraising campaigns in the video game industry. Divinity: Original Sin and its sequel are some of the best role-playing games out there.

Both of these games, among some of the other most successful crowdfunding campaigns, were financed through Kickstarter. The first game gathered $944,282, while the sequel attracted $2,032,434 in pledges. However, the number of video game projects seems to be decreasing on Kickstarter. According to data provided by ICO Partners, the total number of video game projects reached its lowest point this year since the first half of 2013. In the first half of 2019 there were 678 video game campaigns on Kickstarter and they’ve been on a steady decline since the second half of 2015 when there were 1,146 video game campaigns.

32.  The most successful campaign in 2019 on Kickstarter is for the video game “Subverse,” which raised $2,192,000.

(ICO Partners)

The largest campaign on Kickstarter in 2019 so far is for the video game “Subverse.” This adult-themed video game drew in 58,000 backers and raised $2,192,000. Surprisingly, 53% of its backers were first-time backers. Another interesting bit of data is that 8% of backers were from China. This is peculiar because, according to crowdfunding user statistics, Chinese backers usually do not have a very large presence on Kickstarter.

33. Pebble Time had the most successful campaign on Kickstarter ever, raising $20,338,986.

(Kickstarter)

Statistics of crowdfunding platforms show that the most successful campaign on Kickstarter ever is Pebble Time. This campaign was for the production and distribution of smart e-paper watches. It gathered $20,338,986 and had 78,741 backers. Pebble Time was obtained by Fitbit in 2016 and has ceased production since then, but it distributed 2 million watches while it was active.

Crowdfunding project statistics

34. 8.724 million crowdfunding campaigns were launched in 2019 so far.

(Statista)

Crowdfunding is becoming an increasingly popular form of financing and shows no signs of slowing down. According to Statista’s crowdfunding popularity statistics, there were 8.724 million crowdfunding campaigns launched so far in 2019 alone, with a 35% YoY rate. There are several reasons for this. The main one is surely the possibilities this financing model provides to smaller companies or freelancers. These creators, be it for movies, video games or something else entirely, have a chance to gain the needed capital for their product, which would otherwise be unattainable for them through “regular” means.

35. The total number of crowdfunding campaigns per year is expected to top 12 million by 2023.

(Statista)

The future is crowdfunded as well. Statista’s data on crowdfunding evolution and statistics concerning growth say that the number of crowdfunding campaigns will keep increasing in the next few years. The data indicates that the total number of crowdfunding campaigns, across all platforms, will reach 12,064 million by 2023.

36. The average pledge on crowdfunding projects is $101.

(Crowdfunding Center)

Crowdfunding Center gathers information about crowdfunding market size and various crowdfunding projects across all known platforms in real time. The data shows that the average individual pledge is $101.

37. $568 is the average amount raised by an individual fundraiser.

(Fundly)

The data gathered by Fundly showcases how much money on average has been raised by individual fundraisers. According to these statistics, this amount is somewhat modest - around $568 per fundraiser.

38. Individual crowdfunding campaign donations amount to $88.

(Fundly)

According to Fundly crowdfunding statistics, crowdfunding campaign donations amount to $88 on average.

39. The average amount of backers in crowdfunding projects is 303.

(Crowdfunding Center)

The number of backers per project can differ greatly. Smaller, niche projects that require fewer funds can have around 50, while larger projects can have up to 50,000. On average, however, crowdfunding projects have 303 backers, Crowdfunding Center’s online donation statistics indicate.

40. Individuals aged 24-35 participate in crowdfunding projects the most.

(Art of the Kickstart)

When we look at crowdfunding backer demographics, it’s evident that younger people tend to back crowdfunding projects more than their older counterparts. Crowdfunding statistics show that people aged 24-35 are most likely to back projects, forming 35% of the total backer pool. People aged 45+ rarely choose to do so - 45-54 (13%), 55-64 (7%) and 65+ (4%).

41. Men represent 64% of all crowdfunding backers.

(Art of the Kickstart)

Men seem to be much more represented than women among backers on crowdfunding sites. Drawing from crowdfunding donors statistics gathered by Art of the Kickstart in 2016, we can see that almost two-thirds (64%) of all crowdfunding backers are male. When we look at the two biggest crowdfunding platforms, Kickstarter and Indiegogo, the backer pool seems to be even more male-dominated. On Kickstarter, 70% of all backers are men, while Indiegogo has only 25% of female backers.

42. Most crowdfunding campaign backers earn less that $60,000 per year and have a college degree.

(Art of the Kickstart)

When we look at Kickstarter and Indiegogo, the biggest crowdfunding platforms on the market, it seems that the majority of backers are college-educated and make less than $60,000. According to the latest crowdfunding statistics, 40% of Kickstarter backers and 42% of Indiegogo backers have a college education. When we look at income, 54% of Kickstarter backers earn less than $60,000 compared to 70% on Indiegogo.

43. All-or-nothing model campaigns have twice the success rate of keep-it-all campaigns.

(European Financial Data Institute)

There are two dominant models present on crowdfunding platforms. All-or-nothing campaigns mean that the fundraiser gets to keep pledged funds only if they reach their target financing goal. Keep-it-all campaigns, on the other hand mean that they keep all the pledged money, regardless of the amount raised. While the keep-it-all model might seem like a safer bet, the crowdfunding industry statistics tell a different story. Crowdfunding Models research from 2014 shows that all-or-nothing campaigns have twice the success rate of keep-it-all ones.