LatAm shines on Kickstarter in 2014

Brazil, Mexico and Argentina are the top Latin American countries to date in terms of the amount of funding pledged, but some of the smaller countries have also punched above their weight, according to Kickstarter's 2014 report.

In general terms, Kickstarter, a global crowdfunding platform based in the US, saw a total of 3.3mn people globally pledging more than US$500mn towards 22,252 projects in 2014.

Music was the category with the largest number of successfully funded projects, with 4,009, followed by film and video (3,846) and publishing (2,064). The categories of crafts and journalism were added in June.

Nonetheless in dollar terms technology was the out and out winner receiving US$125mn followed by design (US$96.7mn) and games (US$89.1mn).

BRAZIL

Not surprisingly due to its size Brazil saw the most Kickstarter activity in 2014 with US$2.503mn pledged by 14,851 backers.

A community project to paint and decorate a hillside favela in Rio de Janeiro was the most funded project (US$116,655).

Chroma Squad, a tactical turn-based manager game with Japanese-style heroes (US$97,148), came in second place.

A documentary about an Asian American girl who went to Brazil and fell in love with a drug dealer from the favelas (US$77,195 and 2,154 backers) was the project which received the third most funding.

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MEXICO

In Mexico, role playing game Heart Forth, Alicia was the most funded, followed by Run Free, which is a documentary about Micah True, the founder of the Copper Canyon Ultra Marathon.

In terms of popularity, Fast Type, a program that simplifies the keyboard to only six buttons using gesture navigation, won outright.

ARGENTINA

In Argentina, Asylum, a psychological horror game inspired by H.P. Lovecraft and set in a decaying mental institute received the most funding (US$119,426 and 3,169 backers), followed by Fallen, a tactical combat strategy game (US$75,584).

Art project Palimpsest Mural Project is the most popular in terms of searches, though with only US$45 pledged to date.

SMALLER COUNTRIES

Some smaller countries managed to attract significant funding, such as Puerto Rico, which received US$329,900 from 2,155 backers.

The most funded project was BLEduino (US$75,126), an open-source electronics platform with built-in Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE).

Costa Rica received US$115,700 from 895 backers, and Panama received US$73,810 from 350 backers. The most funded project was The Return, a film about Antonio, a 30-year old Costa Rican who returns to his native country after 10 years spent living in New York to face a broken family, a violent country and old friends.

Other small countries of note included the Dominican Republic (US$68,680), Jamaica (US$23,730) and the Bahamas (US$39,150).