Kickstarter Passed Half a Billion Dollars in Pledges in 2014

Kickstarter had its biggest year yet in 2014. The crowdfunding website saw more than 3.3 million people pledge $529 million to various projects over the course of the year, up from 3 million people pledging $480 million in 2013.

Like past years, 2014 brought a slew of highly memorable crowdfunding projects. The Coolest Cooler, a high-tech icebox that plays music in addition to storing drinks, earned $13.2 million in pledges last summer and became the most-funded project in Kickstarter history. In July, Levar Burton’s campaign to resurrect Reading Rainbow generated more than $5 million in pledges and became the first Kickstarter project to gain 100,000 backers.

Other highly successful projects included Neil Young’s high-fidelity digital music player Pono ($6.2 million in pledges), the Micro 3D printer ($3.4 million) and a pair of wireless earbuds that can store music and track your vital signs ($3.4 million).

Since Kickstarter only doles out money if projects reach their initial funding goals, that full $529 million wasn’t paid out to project starters. However, more than 22,000 projects were successfully funded in 2014, the most ever in a single year. Music was the most popular category for campaigns, with about 4,000 projects being successfully funded. However, technology attracted the most pledged dollars, as backers offered up $125 million to fund various gadgets. Here’s a breakdown of how many pledged dollars each category attracted:

This year Kickstarter also shed some light on when projects are most likely to be funded. Wednesdays are the most popular day for pledging money to projects, while Sundays are the least popular. During a single given day, the most pledges occur around 1 PM, indicating that people may be browsing Kickstarter during work more often than they do at home.

Check out more stats at Kickstarter’s “Year in Review” presentation.