Success Factors in Reward based and Equity based Crowdfunding in Finland

Success Rate of Launched Projects 

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Master’s Thesis 
48 
low success rates. Thus, it would seem the amount of initiated projects does not indi-
cate likelihood of success. 
Figure 6: Number of successful and unsuccessful funding initiatives over the history 
of Kickstarter
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As for unsuccessful projects, an interesting pattern is clear. As seen from Figure 7, the 
vast majority of unsuccessful projects fail by large margins. On average, 84% of all 
unsuccessful projects raise 20% or less of their target. Only about 2% of all unsuc-
cessful projects reach over 60% of their funding goal. This is consistent with earlier 
research indicating that unsuccessful crowdfunding projects fall short of their target 
by large amounts (Mollick, 2014). 
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Number of Successful and Unsuccessful Projects
Unsuccessfully Funded 
Projects 
Successfully Funded 
Projects 

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Master’s Thesis 
49 
Figure 7: Percentage of funding target raised by unsuccessful projects over the history 
of Kickstarter
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There are no significant differences between categories in regards to how far from the 
funding target projects fall. Unsuccessful Comics and Design projects seem to reach 
slightly closer to their targets than others. However, when looking at amounts raised 
by successful projects and success rates of projects, there is no observable correlation. 
These findings are significant and interesting. They give plentiful information regard-
ing the amounts raised through crowdfunding and success rates of Kickstarter pro-
jects. However, they fail to provide insight into why successes and failures occur. 
This is why the author continues the research by studying success factors in more de-
tail and depth. In order to obtain a better understanding as to which factors affect 
crowdfunding success, five interviews were carried out and analyzed. 
 
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