The 6 Greatest Kickstarters in History: What Happened to Them?

The first raised more than 20 million dollars. But was it enough to lead its creators to success?

In its almost 10 years, Kickstarter has come to finance huge projects, and although it has also been the subject of some controversy, the largest projects in its history have already become part of the history of the Internet. We know that they could be completed but, are they still alive to this day?

Leer en español: Los 6 Kickstarters más grandes de la historia: ¿Qué fue de ellos?

6. OUYA

When it was announced on Kickstarter that a project would develop a new video game console, the networks were immediately activated, and the project began to gain traction among the public. The OUYA campaign was launched in 2012, and it pioneered a USD 100 console, made with an open source software so anyone could develop their own games.

OUYA managed to raise $ 8,596,474 dollars, 9 times what they had set as a goal to bring the project to reality. The console existed and was sold, for the USD 100 they promised, but it was a commercial disaster. In 2014, just two years after its appearance, Forbes titled an article "The OUYA is basically dead" where they argue that the Android platform in which he ran did nothing more than moving the games of mobile phones to a television screen.

5. Exploding Kittens

Exploding Kittens is a card game that seeks to emulate the concept of Russian roulette, but using cards with cats that explode instead of weapons. The campaign was launched in 2015 and reached its initial goal of $ 10,000 dollars in just eight minutes. From then on he exceeded and exceeded his goal up to 8000 times, reaching to collect the enormous figure of $ 8,782,571 dollars in little more than a month. Exploding Kittens became the project with more donors in the history of Kickstarter, 219,382 people contributed to its execution.

The project was fully funded around February 2015, and by September of the same year, all donors had received a copy of the game, which speaks of a well-executed production by the organizers. Since then, they have been expanding the game with special editions and new features, the most recent ones introduced in July 2018.

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4. BauBax Travel Jacket

Also in 2015, a new coat came to Kickstarter with the promise of combining 15 different features in a single garment. In the promotional video of BauBax, we saw how jackets, blazers, and sweaters included gloves, cup holders, cases for hearing aids, neck pillows and even pens in its design.

BauBax raised $ 9,192,055 dollars and is to date the most successful clothing and accessories campaign in the history of the site. From then on, the business did not stop growing. They distributed the completed jackets to their donors and set to work on a new version, launched this year and which this time includes 25 different functionalities. They had already raised more than $ 3 million in a new Kickstarter. The BauBax 2.0 includes an inflatable footrest pillow, a bottle opener, and a retractable key ring.

3. Kingdom Death: Monster 1.5

The honor of the best-financed board game in Kickstarter's history does not belong to Exploding Kittens, but to the game, Kingdom Death: Monster 1.5, which is actually an expansion to an existing game, launched in 2015.

Kingdom Death: Monster is a huge role-playing game in which a single game can last up to 60 hours, although these can be spread over several days and even changing the players themselves. The game itself costs $ 400, but its price can be much higher if you consider the number of expansions available.

Kingdom Death: Monster 1.5 raised $ 1 million dollars in just its first 19 minutes, and from there came to collect $ 12,393,139 dollars, which by then was a record for Kickstarter. Today the game continues on sale and receives expansions periodically, it has also become a cult game among board games fans.

2. Coolest Cooler

Coolest Cooler is a cooler that, like the BauBax Travel Jacket, becomes an innovative product by adding as many functionalities as possible to complement any outdoor event. In this case, the Coolest Cooler adds to a normal ice chest: a blender, loudspeakers and bottle opener among many other things.

Coolest Cooler raised a total of $ 13,285,226 dollars, but when it came time to manufacture the coolers and send them to their donors, the company, and particularly its owner, Ryan Grepper, found many problems to meet the demand. The project was financed in 2014, and by February 2015 they should already be delivering the finished products, but to this day there are dissatisfied customers.

1. Pebble Watch in all your presentations

Undoubtedly the face of success in Kickstarter, Pebble was launched with the intention of being an affordable smartwatch compatible with all mobile devices. The first Pebble campaign was launched in 2012, and it was a success, raising $ 10,266,845. After its launch, the good reception of the device and a loyal clientele led Pebble to launch a second version of the device in 2015, the Pebble Time, which to this day is the most successful campaign on the website, as it raised $ 20,338. 986 dollars in total.

In 2016 Pebble launched the Kickstarter campaign for the third edition of the device, the Pebble 2, which raised almost $ 13 million dollars, but found many problems in production and distribution. In 2016, Pebble declared itself insolvent and was acquired as a company, almost in its entirety, by another smartwatch company, Fitbit.

LatinAmerican Post | Pedro Bernal

Copy edited by Laura Viviana Guevara Muñoz

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