Did you know that your chance of success on Kickstarter, as well as the amount you can expect to raise, varies a lot by what type of business you have?
We analyzed Kickstarter’s own published data on every successful (and unsuccessful) crowdfunding campaign they’ve ever had. On average:
- Only 36% of Kickstarter campaigns are successful in meeting or exceeding their fundraising goals (140,202 out of 393,624 campaigns)
- The average successful Kickstarter campaign raised $22,235.
You Aren’t an Average Kickstarter Success
The problem with looking at averages is that it doesn’t help you figure out what your type of business might be able to do on Kickstarter. Because it turns out those figures are dramatically different!
- A Technology campaign has only a 20% chance of success, but on average raises $93,481 if it’s successful (6,659 successful campaigns so far when we looked at the data)
- A Dance campaign has a 62% chance of success, but on average raises only $5,206 (2,304 successes to date when we did our analysis).
Please note that these exact figures will change over time, but as you can see the results vary tremendously.
We summarized the data in our blog image above, but here are the gory details for each type of business that Kickstarter accepts, from March 2018.
Low Kickstarter Success Rate Businesses
Crafts
- 24% success rate
- $ 5,674 average raise
- 2,166 successful campaigns
Journalism
- 22% success rate
- $10,621 average raise
- 1,047 successful campaigns
Food
- 25% success rate
- $17,430 average raise
- 6,233 successful campaigns
Fashion
- 25% success rate
- $20,462 average raise
- 5,840 successful campaigns
Technology
- 20% success rate
- $93,431 average raise
- 6,659 successful campaigns
Average Kickstarter Success Rate Businesses
Publishing
- 31% success rate
- $9,359 average raise
- 12,598 successful campaigns
Photography
- 31% success rate
- $10,059 average raise
- 3,367 successful campaigns
Film & Video
- 37% success rate
- $13,858 average raise
- 24,405 successful campaigns
Games
- 36% success rate
- $54,071 average raise
- 13,036 successful campaigns
Design
- 35% success rate
- $61,781 average raise
- 10,881 successful campaigns
High Kickstarter Success Rate Businesses
Dance
- 62% success rate
- $ 5,206 average raise
- 2,374 successful campaigns
Theater
- 60% success rate
- $ 5,552 average raise
- 6,563 successful campaigns
Art
- 41% success rate
- $ 6,885 average raise
- 11,865 successful campaigns
Music
- 49% success rate
- $ 7,076 average raise
- 27,112 successful campaigns
Comics
- 55% success rate
- $11,338 average raise
- 6,056 successful campaigns
Kickstarter Success Rates In Perspective
Pretty much all business fundraising takes effort, and has less than a 100% chance of success.
- Angel investors fund well below 5% of the business plans coming across their desks, and venture capitalists fund much less than 1%.
- Federal government SBIR grants average a 15% approval rate and an average $230,000 grant.
- Big banks generally don’t fund young companies, and most small banks want to see at least a year of revenue before lending you money, unless you have lots of personal assets to use as collateral.
In light of the other alternatives, the 36% average Kickstarter success rate doesn’t look so bad!