Kickstarter
“Can a creatively-focused all-or-nothing crowdfunding marketplace sustain relevance and global reach as the platform economy matures and alternative funding channels proliferate?”
Founded2009
HQBrooklyn, New York, United States
Latest roundSeries D
IndustryMarketplace / Two-sided
The story
Founded in 2009 as a crowdfunding marketplace for creative projects, Kickstarter pioneered the all-or-nothing funding model. The company's most significant infrastructure pivot came in 2015 when it replaced Amazon Payments with Stripe, enabling global expansion and richer payment tooling including Stripe Connect for platform payouts, Radar for fraud prevention, and Elements for UI. Kickstarter has remained focused on its core creative-community marketplace rather than expanding aggressively into adjacent fintech verticals.
Product timeline
2009
Kickstarter launched in New York City as a crowdfunding platform for creative projects.· pivot
2015
Kickstarter dropped Amazon Payments and migrated to Stripe as its primary payment processor.· banking
The stack
1 layer disclosed in Kickstarter’s embedded-finance stack
Payments / PSP
Accounting gap: none