You may not have heard the name Kickstarter in a while, but the New York–based startup used to be everywhere. The company introduced crowdfunding to the masses, where projects could turn to the public to raise capital for their ideas, helping create Peloton, Cards Against Humanity, and the Emmy Award–winning TV show Fleabag.
After a red-hot start, Kickstarter began to falter, with a failed attempt to squelch a unionization drive puncturing the idea that Kickstarter could be a different kind of startup—one that prioritized its do-gooder mission over venture-style growth.
In late 2021, Kickstarter’s cultural cachet sunk even lower when the company announced it would be moving its entire platform over to a little-known blockchain called Celo, with its community decrying the apparent pivot to crypto. Kickstarter quickly backtracked on the plans, but it has yet to recover from the reputational hit.
As Jessica Mathews and I detail in our new feature, the public announcement was just the tip of the iceberg. We uncovered that members of Kickstarter’s board reached out to Chris Dixon, an early angel investor who now leads the crypto arm of the venture giant Andreessen Horowitz, to lead a secret $100 million investment that valued the company at around $4 billion. The deal came with a promise of attempting to transform Kickstarter into a Web3 company.
What emerged from our reporting is a cautionary tale about a startup trying to reclaim its magic formula with a massive injection of venture capital, and the inevitable fallout that ensued. You can read the full story here. |
