May is over and I wanted to review some of the month’s most successful and quickly funded crowdfunding projects. These are Kickstarter campaigns that were fully funded in under a week, sometimes in hours or days! We have a wide range of campaigns here, from Taga 2.0 which has raised over $1.3 million to “I Wonder” which has raised just over $25,000.
There’s also a broad range of categories included in this list, including: product design, gadgets, sound, technology, tabletop games, and art books. Keep on reading to learn more about what makes each of these projects interesting! There are a lot of great projects here, but my favorites are number 4 and 7!
1. Taga 2.0 – The Ultimate, Most Affordable Family Bike
Creators: Taga USA Inc.
Amount Funded: $1.3M+
Number of Backers: 1.3K
Average Pledge per Backer: $1,002
Duration: May 18 – July 17 (60 days)
Taga 2.0 is the family bike that every family wants. It has the safety, versatility, and quality that customers ask for, at a price that more families can afford. The Taga 2.0 is built with three wheels for great stability and can fit up to two children from 6 months to 8 years old. The child seat(s), positioned in front of the driver, can be changed to face forwards, backwards, or you can have two kids facing each other. The Taga 2.0 also comes with a range of fun accessories, can be used as a pet carrier, and easily disassembles to fit in your trunk!
For a limited time, backers can get the Taga 2.0 Family Bike for $649 on Kickstarter. This campaign has managed to raise over $1 million on Kickstarter in less than five days. Pretty impressive.
2. Knocki: Make Any Surface Smart
Creators: Knocki
Amount Funded: $463K+
Number of Backers: 3.6K+
Average Pledge per Backer: $118
Duration: May 17 – July 2 (46 days)
Knocki is a really cool product that I think sets itself apart from other smart home devices that are being crowdfunded these days. Using this device, you can make just about any surface Smart. Using custom programmed taps, Knocki makes it easy to control everything around you, saving you valuable time and allowing your environment to work seamlessly. Forget all of your different remotes, apps, and confusing interfaces. You can program Knocki to turn your lights on and off, call your phone if you lose it, notify you when someone knocks on the door – the possibilities are endless.
This campaign has had a great first week on Kickstarter. They surpassed their relatively small $35,000 goal and have raised almost half a million dollars with over a month to go! Currently, you can purchase Knocki for as little as $79 on Kickstarter!
3. Nura: Headphones that learn and adapt to your unique hearing
Creators: Nura
Amount Funded: $488K+
Number of Backers: 2.1K+
Average Pledge per Backer: $218
Duration: May 15 – July 14 (60 days)
Nura is a new type of headphones that adapt to your unique hearing profile to make sure that you hear songs just as the artist intended you to. These days we have some great music at our fingertips, but a lot is lost when we use generic headphones that are not customized to our hearing style.
Not only do Nura headphones customize to your hearing in less than a minute, they also have earbuds built in that helps you get the best sound without allowing sound to escape in or out. A few backers can still get a pair of Nura headphones for as little as $199!
4. 101Hero : The World’s First US$49 3D Printer
Creators: 101Hero
Amount Funded: $117K+
Number of Backers: 975+
Average Pledge per Backer: $108
Duration: May 17 – July 16 (30 days)
101Hero is the most affordable 3D printer out there and is designed to be simple enough for both adult and child use. This would make the perfect at home or in school 3D printer, since it allows users to download from a wide variety of available files and print with the press of a button!
The 101Hero comes in two versions: the customer version (supported by an SD card) which is available to a limited number of backers for $74, or the designer version (which supports a USB connection or SD card) which is available for $79.
5. LOAD the Board Game
Creators: Load Board Game
Amount Funded: $223+
Number of Backers: 1.8K+
Average Pledge per Backer: $116
Duration: May 19 – June 8 (20 days)
Load is a 2 – 6 player, PvP miniatures board game where the armies of Chaos and Atlantis battle it out to decide the fate of the world. In the first five days they have managed to smash their $30,000 goal and raise almost $200,000 more!
Their page explains, “Players must leverage the unique abilities of their Heroes as they push three lanes simultaneously toward the opposing faction’s base. By destroying key enemy objectives, towers and spawn points, they will force the opposing team to abandon the battle in full retreat.” If this sounds like a game you would be interested in, and you like really cool looking miniatures, you can currently get the core game on Kickstarter for $99.
6. simpli press coffee – Clean. Smooth. No Mess!
Creators: simpli press coffee
Amount Funded: $70K+
Number of Backers: 754+
Average Pledge per Backer: $86
Duration: May 18 – June 19 (32 days)
This campaign is a great example of what a good product design campaign looks like. It’s innovative – the creators are looking to provide an experience that is a lot like using a French press, but even better. With simpli press you can make coffee in 2 – 3 minutes using any grind size!
The press is also environmentally friendly, dishwasher safe, and easy to clean. With simpli press coffee drinkers get a better tasting, full bodied brew. The creators share in their video that after three prototypes, they are ready for mass production. All they need are the Kickstarter funds. You can get your own simpli press for as little as $69 on Kickstarter now.
7. “I Wonder”, a book about the magic of being human.
Creators: Kina Crow
Amount Funded: $27K+
Number of Backers: 138+
Average Pledge per Backer: $189
Duration: May 19 – July 4 (47 days)
This is one of the smaller projects on this list, but I think its an important one since it touches on what it means to be human! In less than a week, Kina Crow has raised more than $7K over her $20,000 goal with over a month left. I was drawn to this cute art book and loved it a little more when I watched the creator’s quirky and sincere video. The ceramic figures she makes that are featured in this book are a little creepy (to me) but adorable too, and you can even get some of them as backers. The book itself is 62 full color pages, available for as little as $55 on Kickstarter.
Conclusion
If you are launching a crowdfunding campaign or are just a fan of them, I hope this post shows you that success comes in all forms. For some the success is fast and creators can raise hundreds of thousands, if not millions. For others it takes a while or and the amounts that they raise might be smaller. Still, all of these projects are cool and meaningful in their own unique way.
If you’re planning on launching a campaign of your own, the projects on this list would make good examples to strive for. One of the best ways to do well on Kickstarter the first time around is to learn what other creators (usually in your category) have done well and where they could have improved. Apply those lessons to your campaign and you should be off to a great start!
Which project is your favorite?
