Distribution of unsuccessfully funded projects on Kickstarter 2025

Kickstarter, the popular crowdfunding platform, has seen a significant number of projects fall short of their funding goals. As of January 2025, 376,698 projects failed to reach their targets, with the majority (246,351) achieving only 1-20 percent of their funding objectives. This failure rate underscores the challenges creators face in securing financial backing for their ideas, despite Kickstarter's global reach and billions in pledged funds.

Crowdfunding's growing impact

Since its launch in 2009, Kickstarter has become a major player in the crowdfunding industry. The number of projects hosted on the platform exceeded 651,000 projects, with pledges surpassing 8.5 billion U.S. dollars. Notably, the most successful project to date, "Surpise! Four Secret Novels by Brandon Sanderson", raised an impressive 41 million U.S. dollars in 2022. These figures highlight the platform's potential for creators to secure substantial funding for their projects.

Success rates vary by category

While many projects struggle to meet their funding goals, success rates differ significantly across categories. As of January 2025, comics boasted the highest success rate at 67.65 percent, followed by dance at 61.11 percent and theater at 59.72 percent. These statistics suggest that certain creative fields may resonate more strongly with Kickstarter's backer community, potentially offering better odds for project success in these areas.