Kickstarter hits $1B in pledges

Funding on Kickstarter is skyrocketing. More than half its $ 1B was pledged in the last 12 months alone.

• Kickstarter says it surpassed $ 1 billion in pledges on Monday


• The money helped bankroll 57,000 creative projects


• The crowdfunding site launched in 2009

(CNN) — The crowdfunding model, in which entrepreneurs seek online pledges to finance their pet projects, appears to be alive and well.

Kickstarter, the platform that has helped launch the Pebble smartwatch, the Oculus Rift gaming headset and the upcoming “Veronica Mars” movie, said it surpassed $ 1 billion in pledges on Monday. Although Kickstarter has been around for almost five years, it said more than half of the money was pledged in the past 12 months.

“$ 1 billion means that people care about new ideas,” said the company in a special page announcing the milestone. The money helped bankroll 57,000 creative projects, from films and comic books to tech gadgets and video games.

Braff raises over a million for new film

CNN Trends: “Veronica Mars” film to come

Pledges came from 5.7 million people in 224 countries, most commonly the United States ($ 663 million), the UK ($ 54 million) and Canada ($ 45 million).

That’s a far cry from Kickstarter’s first day — April 28, 2009 — when a grand total of 40 people pledged $ 1,084 to seven projects.

Incoming Search Terms:
Kickstarter hits $1B in pledges
hits, Kickstarter, pledges