8 biggest crowdfunding campaigns in history

Hundreds of crowdfunding campaigns are launched every day around the world. Some remain unnoticed by the Internet community, while others collect, literally in a matter of days, an amount that significantly exceeds the required budget. In our review, there are eight of the largest and, perhaps, the most successful projects in the history of crowdfunding.

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1. Star Citizen game ($500,000 needed, $88,390,729 raised)

The most funded campaign in the history of crowdfunding belongs to an online multiplayer game called Star Citizen. In 2012, a Kickstarter campaign was launched with the goal of raising $500,000. After the campaign ended, funding continued through the game's website. As of August 2015, the amount has reached a whopping $88 million.

The full beta version of Star Citizen was supposed to be released at the end of 2014, but the date was pushed back to at least 2016. David Swofford, a spokesman for developer Cloud Imperium Games, said the deadline was pushed back because no one had ever attempted to make a game of this magnitude.

Typically, a big game development team receives a large sum of money at one time and spends years building the game. But Star Citizen is a crowdfunded project, so the developers cannot do this: the entire development process must be open, because the investors are the players. The spaceship combat module is now available, the social module will be published soon, and the first-person shooter module will be released in a few weeks.

2. Flow Hive ($70,000 needed, $12,477,036 raised)

Few people would imagine that many people would like to start their own apiary, but the Flow Hive project proved otherwise by raising $12 million on Indiegogo. The newfangled hive is based on specially designed plastic frames that do not need to be taken out of the hive to disturb the bees. The beekeeper can see through the transparent windows whether the combs are filled with honey, and then simply turn the lever to let the honey flow from the hive through special tubes. Flow Hive will be available for purchase in February 2016 and will cost $260-670.

3. BauBax Travel Jacket ($20,000 needed, $9,192,055 raised)

Hiral Sanghavi only needed $20,000 to finance the release of his BauBax jacket. He surpassed that goal, to say the least, raising a whopping $9 million on Kickstarter. With 15 built-in features, the jacket will come in four styles (windbreaker, hoodie, blazer and bomber jacket).

The most unusual features of the jacket include an iPad and charger pocket, a drink pocket that holds a can, gloves built into the sleeves, a passport pocket, a hood with an inflatable neck pillow and an eye mask. The campaign garnered 45,000 supporters who ordered 70,000 jackets priced between $89 and $120. The jackets are expected to start shipping in November 2015.

4. Smartphone running Ubuntu ($32,000,000 needed, $12,814,196 raised)

Some projects do not receive the necessary funding and, as a result, fail. Canonical has launched an Indiegogo campaign to build an Android smartphone that can also run as a full PC running Ubuntu. Since there were few supporters of such a device, Canonical was forced to lower the price of the smartphone during the campaign - from $830 to $695. Still managed to collect just over a third of the required amount, so the project failed, and 12 million dollars were returned to investors.

5. Elio Motors ($21,161,869 raised)

As of July 2015, a month after Elio Motors launched, it has raised over $21 million to build an additional 25 three-wheeler prototypes for testing and validation. In a three-wheeled car, there are only two places - for the driver and the passenger behind him. The concept is equipped with a three-cylinder engine with a capacity of 55 hp. with., which consumes only 2.8 liters of gasoline per 100 kilometers.

6. Pebble Time smart watch ($500,000 needed, $20,338,986 raised)

The Pebble Time smartwatch, a new iteration of the original Pebble Smartwatch, raised about $13.9 million on Kickstarter in February 2015. Since then, the company has released a new version of this watch called Pebble Time Steel in stainless steel and also with a larger battery. The leather version is $250 and the metal version is $300. Pebble says all of their watches are water resistant and the battery lasts up to seven days. Pebble's direct competitor, Apple's smartwatches, are also waterproof, but their battery only lasts 18 hours. Apple Watch prices start at $349, while the base Pebble Watch costs around $99.

7. Coolest Coolest Refrigerator ($50,000 Needed, $13,285,226 Raised)

Startup Coolest Cooler launched on Kickstarter in 2014. In just 52 days, 62,642 people contributed $13,285,226. Now the miracle unit can be ordered online for $485. The buyer for this money will receive a 60-liter portable refrigerator, which is equipped with a variety of functions.

For example, the refrigerator provides an opportunity to prepare cocktails using a blender and charge gadgets through two built-in USB ports. Coolest Cooler also allows you to listen to music (it has two Bluetooth speakers) and is equipped with LED-backlight. At the same time, the “cool” refrigerator is equipped with a lot of useful little things, such as a cutting board and an opener.

8. Ethereum Cryptocurrency ($18,439,086 raised)

In July 2015, eighteen months after the announcement, the Ethereum platform, which had raised over $18 million, finally went live. Ethereum is one of the most ambitious crypto 2.0 projects that aims to create a new universe of programmable contracts. As stated by the developers, their goal is to decentralize everything on the Internet, as well as create a platform that works without even the possibility of downtime, without censorship, fraud or third party interference. “What Bitcoin does for payments, Ethereum can do for anything that can be programmed.”