Crowdfunding platform Kickstarter has passed $1 billion in pledges nearly four years after it made its debut on April 28, 2009. More than half of the $1 billion was pledged in the last 12 months alone, a testimony to the rising popularity of crowdfunding. In total, 5.7 million people from 224 countries and territories contributed to the $1 billion amount. The US comes in tops, chalking up $663 million worth of pledges in total, while the UK follows with $54 million. In the meantime, about 1.7 million people have backed more than one project on Kickstarter, while 15,932 people have backed more than 50 projects — in total, $619 million has been pledged by returning backers.
