Kickstarter, PBC is an American public benefit corporation[2] based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity.

[12] The company was based at 58 Kent Street in Greenpoint, Brooklyn until they transitioned to a fully remote workforce after the COVID-19 pandemic.

[15] The app was aimed at users who create and back projects and was the first time Kickstarter had an official mobile presence.

[23] On April 20, 2020, Kickstarter announced that it was likely going to lay off workers due to the coronavirus pandemic causing the number of active projects to be "about 35% below what it was at this time last year with no clear sign of rebound.

[1][25] In December 2021, Kickstarter announced they would be moving their platform to blockchain, with the aim of making the tools required for creating a crowdfunding site available to anyone.

[27] Kickstarter is one of a number of crowdfunding platforms for gathering money from the public, which circumvents traditional avenues of investment.

[30] The Kickstarter platform is open to backers from anywhere in the world and to creators from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

[36] Projects might also fail even after a successful fundraising campaign when creators underestimate the total costs required or technical difficulties to be overcome.

A dock made for the iPhone designed by Casey Hopkins became the first Kickstarter project to exceed one million dollars in pledges.

[46] From 2012 to 2013, Wharton professor Ethan Mollick and Jeanne Pi conducted research into what contributes to a project's success or failure on Kickstarter.

[48] They are: Art, Comics, Dance, Design, Fashion, Film and Video, Food, Games, Music, Photography, Publishing, Technology and Theater.

These include[50][51] The guidelines are designed to reinforce Kickstarter's position that people are backing projects, not placing orders for a product.

[54] The documentary short "Sun Come Up" and documentary short "Incident in New Baghdad" were each nominated for an Academy Award;[55][56] contemporary art projects "EyeWriter" and "Hip-Hop Word Count" were both chosen to exhibit in the Museum of Modern Art in 2011;[57] filmmaker Matt Porterfield was selected to screen his film Putty Hill at the Whitney Biennial In 2012;[58] author Rob Walker's Hypothetical Futures project exhibited at the 13th International Venice Architecture Biennale;[59] musician Amanda Palmer's album Theatre is Evil debuted at No.

[117][118] Shortly after the announcement, three senior staffers released a memo dissenting against the decision, claiming that it is too extreme and that it would be a "misappropriation of unions for use by privileged workers.

In a statement addressed to project creators, the CEO stated that unionisation would turn workplace relations "inherently adversarial" and that it "doesn't reflect who we are as a company."

Additionally, the CEO confirmed that Kickstarter stood by its decision to fire the two employees and would be pursuing legal action to fight their claims.

[125] The statement immediately resulted in criticism and calls for boycotts from creators who had previously used the platform,[126] while writer Neil Gaiman tweeted that he would be unlikely to post support for or links to new Kickstarter campaigns "as long as they are anti-union.

[128] The CEO at the time, Aziz Hasan, said after the vote, "We support and respect this decision, and we are proud of the fair and democratic process that got us here.

[1] On December 8, 2021, Kickstarter announced a plan to develop a decentralized protocol on blockchain platform Celo to build an open source and blockchain-based crowdfunding infrastructure and then move its own website to that system.

[131] The announcement prompted backlash from creators and backers on Twitter, many of whom pledged to abandon Kickstarter if the move went forward.

[132][133] On December 15, a week later, Kickstarter responded to the controversy in a blog post that clarified the company's position but did not indicate a change of plans.