Last week, we introduced our COVID-19 Crowdfunding Insights series. BackerKit is in a unique position where we have strong connections to prolific crowdfunding creators, backers, partners, influencers, and data insights that no one else has in this space.
We’ve just begun reporting how Coronavirus is affecting crowdfunding and why crowdfunding creators should still be launching new projects (backers are still backing!), and will continue to share our new findings directly to the community as they develop.
Overall, we’ve seen even in this time of a pandemic, backers are still showing up to back projects, even travel-related ones. The large spike in the chart below is largely due to the tabletop game Frosthaven (sequel to Gloomhaven). Their successful campaign launch has raised $7,699,819 from 53,069 backers to date, with 15 days still to go—which was one of the best launches of any projects in the last 5 years. It is proof that great projects can still have great results, even in the middle of all the madness. Pledges are down a small amount per a ‘normal’ year, but big projects still move the needle. When we see big projects come out of hibernation, we expect these pledge volume to pick up again.
Delta of pledges between April 1-12. Large spike on the left is due to Frosthaven and projects launching on April 1, with heavy backer pledging, which is typical on the day a project launches.
Delta of pledges between April 6-12. Still a steady stream of pledges coming through this week.
Some highlights of projects that launched this past week and are currently trending (April 6-12):
The Tabletop Games category is still going strong with Ankh: Gods of Egypt by CMON raising $1,181,806 from 13,856 backers so far, Dice by Wyrmwood: Resin, Handcrafted Gemstone, Glass & Wood at $681,122 from 5,809 backers, and Tales From the Loop – The Board Game by Fria Ligan at $178,951 from 2,121 backers. And all projects have about 20 days left in their campaign.
Design:
The Design category has been pretty steady over the past month. A few Design creators have told us that they are hesitant to launch right now because their projects are travel-related. However, travel projects like The NOMATIC Navigator Series just launched at the beginning of this week and 1,297 backers have already showed up, pledging $306,294 and counting. They are trending to $650,000 with 22 days left. Other travel-related projects like Satu Adventure Pants by Outdoor Vitals and Sunda 2.0: The first 2-person ground-to-air tent, reimagined by Kammok are also doing pretty well, already far surpassing their goals.
Technology:
The Technology category has also seen some consistency in pledges, with Hyperx2 – High Capacity Super Fast Portable SSD Drive leading the way this week raising $171,651 from 604 backers, CODY BLOCK: introducing coding one block at a time by QUBS at $64,485 from 359 backers, and District 2.0 by District Magazine at $13,461 from 251 backers so far.
Publishing:
The Publishing category is not the usual top grossing categories like Tabletop Games, Design, or technology, but we saw an uptick in this category, with Thorneycroft to SA80: British Bullpup Firearms, 1901–2020 by Headstamp Publishing already surpassing their goal by 1472%, raising $367,886 so far, and with 23 days to go. Fellow serial crowdfunding creators BOTANICA: A Tarot Deck about the Language of Flowers by Beehive Books and Cognitive Drawing by Jason Brubaker are also making a splash with a month to go.
It is our mission to always share useful information and make tools that help creators and backers. We’d love to hear your feedback and/or receive any tips on patterns you see happening within crowdfunding. Please reach out at [email protected]. Take care of yourself and each other.
Keep updated on how projects are doing on BackerTracker
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