Crowdfunding Report for 2014 on CNX Software Blog

Following up on my 2013 Crowdfunding Report, I’ve gone through all 55 Kickstarter and Indiegogo crowdunding projects featured on CNX Software between December 2013 and November 2014 (inclusive) to see how well they fared.

The table below sort projects chronologically as they were published on this very blog.

Date	Project	Crowdfunding Site	Funded? Pledged amount / Goal	Expected Delivery	Actual Delivery	Comments
2. Dec. 2013	Micro Python	Kickstarter	Yes 97,803 GBP / 15,000 GBP	03/2014	04/2014	Available @ https://micropython.org/store/#/store
5. Dec. 2013	Plugaway	Kickstarter	Yes $162,835 AUD / $50,000 AUD	04/2014	–	People upset because of lack of updates. Project might be dead, and backers lost their money
6. Dec. 2013	AIRTAME	Indiegogo	Yes $1,268,332 / $160,000	05/2014	12/2014	People have started received the beta versions, after a massive 8-month delay
7. Dec. 2013	Crystal Board	Kickstarter	No $14,574 / $200,000	04/2014	–	The project appears to be dead
10. Dec. 2013	Smart Power Strip	Kickstarter	Yes $109,012 / $100,00	04/2014	–	People are really upset, because of delays, and especially lack of updates, or incorrect update (e.g. “shipping soon”. Now shipping is schedule now until April 2015
11. Dec. 2013	Iteaduino Lite	Indiegogo	Yes $14,778 / $2,000	01/2014	01/2014	Being an Arduino clone, it just works as expected, based on user’s feedback
11. Dec. 2013	Pivotheat SMART	Indiegogo	Yes $159,613 / $100,000	06/2014	–	Shipping is now expected by January. People are disappointed by delays and lack of updates
13. Dec. 2013	LOGi Board	Kickstarter	Yes $114,126 / $6,900	04/2014	05/2014	You can get the board @ http://www.element14.com/community/docs/DOC-69129
21. Dec. 2013	NavSpark	Indiegogo	Yes $63,735 / $27,000	03/2014	05/2014	Updates still done after shipping. No specific complains from users. NavSpark community setup @ http://www.navspark.com.tw/
17. Jan. 2014	Yacy	Kickstarter	Yes $17,451 / $10,000	04/2014	06/2014
19. Jan. 2014	ICE xPC	Indiegogo	No $10,734 / $300,000	07/2014	–	Flexible campaign, but people have been refunded
11. Feb. 2014	Keepod Unite	Indiegogo	Yes $40,801 / $38,000	04/2014	05/2014	You can now give and/or get Keepod on http://keepod.org/collections/all-keepod-products
13. Feb. 2014	Webee Boss	Indiegogo	Yes $73,373 / $50,000	04/2014	12/2014	8 months delay
14. Feb. 2014	Fin Ring	Indiegogo	Yes $202,547 / $100,000	09/2014	–	Fin is now scheduled for May 2015, or 8 months delay!
19. Mar. 2014	MicroView	Kickstarter	Yes $573,760 / $25,000	09/2014	08/2014	One month early? Too bad the first shipping lacked the bootloader…, and the returns are still being handled
21. Mar. 2014	USB2Go	Kickstarter	No $13,963 / $50,000	10/2014	–	Website sill up: http://www.usb2go.org, not clear if the project is still alive
25. Mar. 2014	Rufus Cuff	Indiegogo	Yes $359,463 / $200,000	04/2015	–	WIP, and updates are frequent
15. Apr. 2014	Digispark Pro	Kickstarter	Yes $103,569 / $10,000	07/2014	09/2014	Shipping has taken place over 4 months (September to December). The board is now available @ http://digistump.com/getpro
22. Apr. 2014	ButtonDuino	Indiegogo	No $1,226 / $4,500	08/2014	–	It can be pre-ordered @ http://buttonduino.site44.com/ with shipping Late January 2015.
23. Apr. 2014	MotherBone PiOne	Kickstarter	No $4,270 / $60,000	08/2014	–	It might be available @ http://aplusmobile.com/MotherBone.html
30. Apr. 2014	Arduissimo	Indiegogo	No 5,031 Euros / 29,600 Euros	11/2014	–	Another indiegogo campaign is in progress: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/arduissimo-reloaded-multicore-cortex-m3-arduino
30. Apr. 2014	Dimple NFC Sticker	Indiegogo	Yes $87,098 / $43,000	08/2014	–	People are losing patience, especially as update are not forthcoming
9. May. 2014	ANTVR	Kickstarter	Yes $260,834 / $200,000	09/2014	12/2014	Three months delay
22. May. 2014	VoCore	Indiegogo	Yes $116,194 / $6,000	09/2014	11/2014	The module can now be purchased on Vocore website: http://vocore.io/store
30. May. 2014	WifiDuino	Indiegogo	No $12,710 / $23,000	10/2014	–	The project has been cancelled
30. May. 2014	AsiaRF AWM002	Indiegogo	Yes $7,386 / $6,000	07/2014	08/2014	Many people complain about the lack of documentation. I also got one module, and It was not clear I needed to provide power with 3 different voltages when I backed the project.
2. Jun. 2014	miniSpartan6+	Kickstarter	Yes $80,897 / $7,500	08/2014	12/2014	Four months delay
5. Jun. 2014	EzeeCube	Indiegogo	Yes $146,666 / $75,000	12/2014	–	Shipping is now expected by February
12. Jun. 2014	Soap Router	Indiegogo	Yes $261,318 / $42,500	02/2015	–	Shipping expected for January 2015 in the latest update. However, they changed the product specs, and some people are upset
13. Jun. 2014	Console OS	Kickstarter	Yes $79,497 / $50,000	12/2014	12/2014	Beta version release
14. Jun. 2014	Papilio DUO	Kickstarter	Yes $62,707 / $30,000	12/2014	–	Delivery scheduled for January
28. Jun. 2014	Amptek Icon	Kickstarter	No $3,626 CAD / $55,000 CAD	10/2014	–	Icon board can be purchased @ http://www.semiconductorstore.com/Amptek/
17. Jul. 2014	MicroNFCBoard	Kickstarter	Yes 20,885 GBP / 20,000 GBP	10/2014	01/2015	Shipping scheduled for 8 Jan 2015
24. Jul. 2014	Immedia Blink	Kickstarter	Yes $1,069,386 / $200,000	05/2015	–
29. Jul. 2014	TouchPico	Indiegogo	Yes $869,827 / $55,000	10/2014	–	Doing FCC/CE certification now
2. Aug. 2014	VolksPC	Indiegogo	No $1,519 / $80,000	10/2014	–	It’s unclear whether the project will go forward independently
11. Aug. 2014	Atomwear	Kickstarter	Yes $13,740 CAD / $12,000 CAD	11/2014	12/2014
13. Aug. 2014	Squink	Kickstarter	Yes $100,380 / $100,00	04/2015	–
20. Aug. 2014	Raspberry Pi Slice	Kickstarter	Yes 227,480 GBP / 90,000 GBP	11/2014	01/2015
20. Aug. 2014	STACK Box	Kickstarter	Yes $87,500 / $65,000	12/2014	12/2014
25. Aug. 2014	RPISoC	Kickstarter	No $14,323 / $20,000	01/2015	–	The project is still going on outside Kickstarter → http://www.embeditelectronics.com/blog/uncategorized/going-forward-with-the-rpisoc/
1. Sep. 2014	xWiFi Wi-Fi Module	Indiegogo	Yes $12,649 / $4,500	11/2014	12/2014	Some people complain it did not work out of the box
15. Sep. 2014	Com1 Android Wear Watch	Indiegogo	No $?? / $ ??	01/2015	–	Project taken down following Google request
16. Sep. 2014	WeIO IoT Board	Indiegogo	Yes $37,437 / $10,000	11/2014	01/2015	Should ship this month Can be pre-ordered @ http://shop.8devices.com/weio with shipping scheduled for February 2015
19. Sep. 2014	MOD DUO	Kickstarter	Yes $82,781 / $65,000	06/2015	–
30. Sep. 2014	MicroDuino JoyPad	Kickstarter	Yes $27,007 / $20,000	11/2014	11/2014	On time, but some people are still waiting for their package.
1. Oct. 2014	MatchStick	Kickstarter	Yes $470,310 / $100,000	02/2015	–	Developers unit have shipped to backers in November 2014. I expect them to keep their schedule promise
7. Oct. 2014	TinyScreen	Kickstarter	Yes $128,813 / $15,000	01/2015	–	Shipping still scheduled for January, or February
9. Oct. 2014	The Egg	Kickstarter	No $18,489 / $500,000	12/2014	–	A new Kickstarter campaign is planned in January 2015
29. Oct. 2014	Zero+ IoT Wi-Fi Board	Indiegogo	No $624 / $25,000	02/2015	–
6. Nov. 2014	Maker Club 3D Printed Robots	Indiegogo	Yes 12,018 GBP / 10,000 GBP	07/2015	–
14. Nov. 2014	Xped DeB	Kickstarter	Yes $29,288 AUD / $18,5474 AUD	04/2015	–
19. Nov. 2014	DWA8 Wi-Fi Module	Indiegogo	No $465 / $5,000	N/A	–	Available on Taobao
20. Nov. 2014	Jolla Tablet	Indiegogo	Yes $1,824,055 / $380,000	05/2015	–
25. Nov. 2014	Imp Computer	Indiegogo	No $12,092 / $100,000	03/2015	–

Hall of Shame

Last year, it was clear FocusWill Coolship project was a disaster, and the project owner clearly did not deliver the goods and kept silent. This year, I could not find project that I’m 100% sure failed with money being lost, but at least Plugaway Wi-Fi smart sockets could be a project where backers lost their money. The sockets were supposed to be delivered in March 2014, but nothing so far, and the last update in November is only about the API, nothing about delivery despite backers complains.

AFAICS, nobody lost money with Com1 Android Wear smartwatch, but they should have known better, as Google asked Indiegogo to take the project down, because only Google partners can develop and manufacture Android Wear devices.

Stats and Projects Delays

Out of the 55 campaigns, 15 project failed to reached their funding targets. Most projects without a successful crowdfunding still carried out, with 4 to 6 projects completely dead. That means 72% of projects got funded via crowdfunding, 90% of projects get manufactured (assuming the ones still under development will succeed). AIRTAME got the most funding with over $1,200,000 raised, but has not been so successful in terms of product delivery with 8 months delay.

Many projects are delayed, but Smart Socket Strip may take the delay crown, with a massive 1-year delay for the project, and backers upset of the constant postponing (or lies) about delivery dates. Fin Ring is also pretty bad, as the September 2014 promised delivery is now expected to occur on May 2015.

Hall of Fame

This year several project managed to deliver working products on time, although sometimes shipping was have taken place over a few months.

IteaDuino Lite Arduino clone was delivered right on schedule just a year ago.
MicroDuino JoyPads were delivered on November 2014 as promised
The first version of Console OS Android operating system for PC was released on December 2014.
STACK Box Home Automation / IoT Gateway were sent in December 2014. There aren’t many feedback for now, as most people are still waiting for delivery, or have just received their device.

Many other projects shipped with just one month delay, and still got good user feedback, and an active community around them, such as Micro Python, LOGi boar, VoCore Wi-Fi module, NavSpark. MicroView was also on schedule, and even slightly ahead of schedule, but unfortunately, Sparkfun shipped several boards without bootloaders, and they are still handling the returns.

That’s all for today. If you’ve had good or bad crowd-funding experiences, feel free to share them in the comments section.

Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.