Indiegogo is a haven where creators connect with their communities and find funding for their ideas. It’s a place where innovators and tastemakers come together to bring new technology into the world.
But as Covid upended all aspects of life last year, our community wondered: Did the pandemic upend crowdfunding as well? Did the pandemic alter how backers were donating to Indiegogo campaigns, and if so, how?
We dug into the data to see how a year of Covid impacted activity on Indiegogo.
Campaigns raised more money
From March 2020 to February 2021, funds raised across the Indiegogo platform increased by 34% compared to the previous 12-month period, and certain categories shone in particular. Campaigns for tabletop games saw donations increase by 200% over the previous year. Notable standouts include Queeng, a playing card deck where the kings and queens are equal, but that still works with all the original principles and can be used in any card game. (Check out our blog feature to read about a typical day in the life of Queeng’s teenaged creator, Maayan Segal.)
Support for green campaigns grew as well, increasing by a whopping 900%. Eco-friendly products like the GoSun Flow solar powered water purifier & pump, the tevaplanter inside-out hydroponic planter, and the One Bottle by The One Movement gained considerable attention from backers who were motivated by global events to fund products that would improve the world at large. (Earth Day is always a big deal at Indiegogo, and we celebrated in 2021 by featuring dozens of green entrepreneurs in a series of Virtual Hangouts. You can check out the recordings of our Earth Day Virtual Hangouts here.)
More people contributed to crowdfunding campaigns
Not only did the amount of funds raised increase, but so did the number of people coming to Indiegogo to find projects to fund. Overall traffic increased by 4%, and the number of backers on the Indiegogo platform increased by 6%. That means that more people visited Indiegogo last year, but they weren’t just casually browsing: The number of people backing campaigns increased substantially as well.
Those backers spread their donations to a wide variety of campaigns, often contributing to the same campaign more than once. Campaigns saw, on average, an 8% increase in the number of contributions. The influx was due in part to Indiegogo’s Virtual Events and Instagram takeovers that happened all year long. Over 2 million people attended events where they got to know campaigners better and learned about what inspired innovators to use crowdfunding to achieve their dreams. In a time when people were forced apart, backers were still able to find connections through crowdfunding.
Crowdfunding brought people together in dark times
Community is, for many backers, the most appealing part of crowdfunding. So it’s no surprise that people came together on Indiegogo in a time when connection was in short supply. And when you consider that many innovators use crowdfunding to make products for the greater good, Indiegogo became an ideal place for backers to not only fund projects they believe in, but to also get to know the makers driving them.
“Over the next year, the world will be opening up again, and we expect to see a shift from home-related products to travel-related products. At the same time, global supply chains are still reeling, which will impact how campaigners design tech products in the face of microchip shortages. And of course, we expect to see a continued growth in green tech campaigns. The pandemic has taught us that we need to work together to overcome the world’s biggest challenges.” Andy Yang, Indiegogo CEO.
Want to explore the most popular campaigns on Indiegogo? Check out last month’s top campaigns.
