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Kickstarter was probably the most innovative idea in 2009. After more than 4 years, a simple idea has become a revolution. Millions of people have funded thousands of projects and this is just the beginning. In this list, we feature the ten most successful and innovative tech products on this platform. There have been thousands of projects, but a few of them got more than a $1 million in funding.
#1 - Pebble
Pebble was the first innovator in the smart watches market. They literally invented this market by building several different prototypes and launching the most founded kickstarter campaign ever, pledged by 68,928 people. What it was born from a YCombinator company that couldn’t find “credibility” in investors found gold thanks to common people who saw in a product, a breakthrough innovation.
Goal: $100,000
Pledged: $10,266,845
Funded: 10267%
#2 - Ouya
The OUYA is an affordable console, built on top of Android, which costs only $99. The team behind this console believes developers are running away from the TV and they think OUYA is the console that is going to bring them back to revolutionaise the market. Since the console is based on Android, any app developer can publish their Android app on this platform. The campaign is over, but as they say “you can still get an OUYA” on their website.
Goal: $950,000
Pledged: $8,596,475
Funded: 905%
#3 - FORM 1
3D Printing is one of the trends that we think it’s going to be huge in 2014. More and more people are trying to build cheap and affordable 3D printers, because the future is about producing everything from your home. The Form-1 is a crowdfunded high resolution professional 3D printer. This printer is the result of two years of hard work from a group of researchers at the MIT Media Lab. Their aim is to bring high-resolution at a lower cost to make it affordable for everyone.
Goal: $100,000
Pledged: $2,945,885
Funded: 2946%
#4 - Oculus Rift
The Oculus Rift is what we are waiting for this year. It’s going to change the way people play videogames, even though we are still not pretty sure if people are going to buy it massively. The concept is a breakthrough innovation, but it has got some “physical” issues caused by the experience that seems too real (people faint or feel sick). The Developer Kit is available, but we hope they will start shipping this year and show us how beautiful the future can be.
Goal: $250,000
Pledged: $2,437,430
Funded: 975%
#5 - 3Doodler
If you don’t have a 3D Printer and you still want to build things out of imagination, you can use 3Doodler. This product, which was successfully funded on Kickstarter, is a pen that lets you draw in the air. What you can do is pretty impressive and this is the right time to ship products like this that help creativity.
Goal: $30,000
Pledged: $2,344,135
Funded: 7814%
#6 - EMOTIV INSIGHT
Being an entrepreneur is about making the future happen. The Emotiv Insight is something we would have imagined in a movie, but instead it was on kickstarter. This product is “a sleek, 5 channel, wireless headset that reads your brainwaves and a mobile app that translates those signals into meaningful data everyone can understand”. Thanks to an app available on both Android and iOS you can track your brain activity in a non scientific way.
Goal: $100,000
Pledged: $1,643,117
Funded: 1643%
#7 - Kano
The interesting thing about technologies such as Oculus, Kinect and Raspberry PI is that companies build products on top of them. Kano is a computer and coding kit for all ages. This is an incredibly useful tool for young generations, but even for old. It’s all about learning and discovering the beautiful world of Computer Science.
Goal: $100,000
Pledged: $1,522,160
Funded: 1522%
#8 - Arkyd
The Arkyd is “the first publicly accessible space telescope”. Planetary Resources, with this technology, aims at building and sending a telescope in orbit, funded and used by the crowd. Education and the spread of science is at the core of this project, that’s why the team is planning to work jointly with museums and schools to show the beauty of the universe to everyone.
Goal: $1,000,000
Pledged: $1,505,367
Funded: 151%
#9 - The Buccaneer
As we said before 3D printing is becoming massive and “The Buccaneer” is looking at home consumers. The team wants to make this technology available to everyone and also easy to use. Priced at $347, this 3D printer is one of the cheapest in the market, which makes it a great choice for everyone who wants to start printing stuff out of nothing.
Goal: $100,000
Pledged: $1,438,765
Funded: 1439%
#10 - Omni
The Omni is what we want to see this year. It’s a revolutionary platform that lets you be in the game thanks to the use of the Oculus Rift and other technologies. You can run, turn, shoot and even jump. Virtual reality is growing and the team behind the Omni saw this opportunity as soon as the Oculus Rift launched its campaign. It’s funny to see that a kickstarter campaign built on top of another is equally successful.
