advertisement
Facebook
X
LinkedIn
WhatsApp
Reddit

Five of the weirdest crowdfunding projects that became very successful

Everyday, thousands of crowdfunding projects are launched on different sites such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo and many of them go on to be successfully funded. While projects such as video games, music players, a redesigned Bible and an eye-testing smartphone adapter are all worthwhile ventures, it seems like backers are just as into supporting the more weird and comical projects.

Here are five of the weirdest projects on Indiegogo and Kickstarter projects we picked up on that not only reached their funding goals, but have smashed them by at least 200%.

The non-tech wrist band that “helps you stick to your goals” by just turning it over

447d646d67219749ae7811954598ef4b_largeHaving trouble remembering to do all the tasks you’ve schedule for the day? Flip Band claims it can help. The makers of the Flip Band claim that this simple, non-tech, colourful wrist band will help you achieve your goals and complete daily tasks by making it “impossible to forget your daily goals” if you just flip it to the other side.

Victor Matheiux, the man behind the Flip Band, says he combined 10 years of design and behaviour change experience to come up with the band after having difficulty sticking to doing his tasks, even though he would set daily reminders on his phone (perhaps a bit of procrastination may be to blame?).

“The act of wearing the band alone already makes it close to impossible to forget your goal, but here’s the cool part… it’s double-sided, and you only get to flip it to its green ‘feel good’ side after you reach your goal for the day.”

Matheiux isn’t the only one who believes in the Flip Band’s effectiveness, more than 1 000 backers have helped the project surpass its goal of $7 500, to reach $24 536 in funding and counting.

The hourglass that will make you stop procrastinating

00225d1107a86d1245c091fc78d741c1_largeSpeaking of being productive, how many times have you told yourself, “I’ll get to that in just a few moments,” and then moments turns into hours, hours into days and days into – never? Yeah, that’s procrastination. But if you had a Esington Glass, you could be better at getting things done on time.

The Estington Glass uses science and soothing sounds to train your brain to destroy procrastination with the simple action of turning over the glass (again the method of turning a product over pops up).

“Each glass is filled with millions of solid steel nanospheres.  These make the glasses unique and give them a wonderful visual effect as the spheres bounce chaotically around the glass. This also produces a wonderful white noise,” reads the campaign page.

“The Esington Glass is simple, beautiful and will last many lifetimes. It’s time to get your life started on the right track and become somebody.”

So far, 1 728 backers have done exactly that, pledging $134 224, smashing the original goal of $5 000.

Edible engineered vegan cheese

Screenshot (364)Most vegan products such as milk are made from soy, but a group of biohackers, as they call themselves, from California have found a way to make Real Vegan Cheese using baking yeast as the main ingredient.

The team used synthetic biology to engineer yeast to be turned into milk-protein factories, capable of producing real milk proteins known as caseins without, um, milk. The proteins are mixed with water, vegan sugar and oil to make a version of milk that’s converted into Real Vegan Cheese using the traditional cheese-making processes. According to the team however, Real Vegan Cheese is not a cheese substitute.

By the end of the funding period in August last year, Real Vegan Cheese had raised more than twice the original $15 000 goal it had set, with backers pledging $37 369 in total funding.

Buy merchandise sporting a cat with a funky moustache to help support a worthy cause

nbrmu4nooynf4893rlx0

Kyle the cat is apparently one of the many feline stars of the internet, with a significant following on services such as Reddit and Instagram. Kyle also happens to have a very cute “moustache” that has made him stand out among the rest.

His owner, a certain “Crazy Cat Lady” as she calls herself, adopted Kyle after he had to be taken away from his previous owners (a married couple) because of animal abuse and witnessing the husband violently murdered his wife.

Now Crazy Cat Lady is teaming with Kyle to raise awareness and funds for various charities including those working with domestic abuse victims.

“The number one priority of this store will be to deliver quality, Kyle-themed products that you can use to decorate your life. The number two priority will be to raise your self-esteem and elevate your soapbox by enabling you to contribute to a charitable cause. And finally, the third priority will be to provide monetary support to the non-profit cause of interest,” she says.

Merchandise such as stickers, mugs, magnets and t-shirts will be manufactured and the money from the net proceeds will be donated to Kyle and Crazy Cat Lady’s chosen charities.

Charitable Ca$h 4 Kyle’s Stache has raised $1 891 of its $1 500 goal and it will probably reach a higher amount as it still has 30 days before funding closes.

The card game where you have to avoid exploding kittens

8a89d0cf374244ed34ce10eb0d3dfe9d_largeAnother popular cat-themed campaign is the Exploding Kittens card game that was recently launched by The Oatmeal’s Matthew Inman. It not only got 100% funded in just 20 minutes. but has already surpassed its goal by 1 000%.

Exploding Kittens is much like Russian Roulette – players have to pick out cards one by one, each card has a different illustration on it, whoever draws a card with an exploding kitten on it, loses the game.

There are a number of “save cards” available that allow you to play on, gain a few powers, attack other players using weaponised back hair or defuse the kitten from exploding.

Funding for Exploding Kitten currently stands at $1.6 million and with 29 days to go, it may be safe to say it’s going to hit the list of Kickstarter record-breakers.

So if you’ve been holding back from launching your own campaign because you think it’s way to strange and “not-conventional”, the projects above should be enough proof that sometimes weird and unconventional are the way to go.

[Main image – Shutterstock]

advertisement

About Author

advertisement

Related News

Subscribe to
our newsletters

[mailpoet_form id=”1″]