What Crowd Supply does

Crowd Supply, Inc. is a privately held crowdfunding and e-commerce platform founded in 2012 (incorporated 2013) and headquartered in Portland, Oregon, that specializes exclusively in hardware product campaigns. The platform operates as a marketplace that connects hardware creators — including open-source developers, hobbyists, researchers, and entrepreneurs building dev boards, SDR platforms, FPGA tools, robotics, IoT devices, and consumer electronics — with a global community of technical backers. Core offerings include campaign hosting, payment processing, logistics and international shipping coordination, and compliance management for Incoterms and tariffs. Revenue is generated through marketplace commissions on campaign proceeds and on post-campaign in-stock sales, which continue after a campaign's funding window closes.

The platform is differentiated by a program-hub architecture in which component manufacturers — including AMD (FPGA Playground), PCBWay (Assembly Hub), Nordic Semiconductor (Community Hub), Elecrow (Project Aviary), Altera/Intel (Innovation Lab), NextPCB (Launchpad), and Soldered Electronics (Inkubator) — sponsor dedicated vertical hubs that provide design help, manufacturing services, promotional support, and reduced platform fees to eligible creators. The company also operates the annual Teardown hardware conference in Portland, now in its eleventh year, which serves as its primary in-person community-building and demand-generation channel.

The business operates with a small 1-10 employee team and has raised approximately $1.525M in disclosed funding across three rounds between 2013 and 2017, with investors including SOSV, Portland Seed Fund, MIT Media Lab, Seven Peaks Ventures, and Inspiration Ventures. Capital efficiency and a stable, niche-leader posture are evident from the absence of subsequent disclosed funding events and the consistent team size. Leadership includes Helen Leigh (Director of Business Development), Lou Doctor (Chairman of the Board), and Eric Strom (Director of Operations). Notable campaign successes on the platform include SlimeVR ($7.6M total), MNT Pocket Reform ($632,984), Modos Flow ($529,071), ChipWhisperer-Husky ($524,530), and Openterface Mini-KVM ($521,640, 4,347% funded).

Name

Crowd Supply

Legal name

Crowd Supply, Inc.

Website

https://crowdsupply.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Crowd Supply is a Portland, Oregon-based crowdfunding and e-commerce platform that hosts hardware product campaigns for open-source creators, offering campaign hosting, logistics, and international shipping compliance to a global community of technical backers and maker-focused manufacturers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Hardware Crowdfunding Platform

akta.pro primary industry

Creator Fundraising & Crowdfunding Platforms (Recurring/Project-Based) (MPACAFAJ)

Keywords

• Hardware crowdfunding
• Open-source hardware
• Crowdfunding platform
• Product pre-orders
• Hardware marketplace

Headquarters

HQ city

Portland

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Personnel

Revenue model

1. Crowdfunding platform fees: Crowd Supply charges fees for hosting crowdfunding campaigns and managing logistics including compliance with Incoterms, tariffs, and international shipping. The platform assists creators with non-engineering tasks and manages product fulfillment.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Crowd Supply operates a crowdfunding and e-commerce platform specifically for hardware projects. The platform connects hardware creators with backers, handles payment processing, manages international logistics including shipping coordination and compliance with Incoterms and tariffs, and provides non-engineering assistance such as fulfillment. It also hosts manufacturer-sponsored Project Hubs that supply participating projects with design help, materials, and promotion.

Product overview

Crowd Supply is a crowdfunding and e-commerce platform for hardware projects, functioning as a platform-plus-programs architecture. The core platform connects hardware creators with backers, handling logistics, compliance with Incoterms, and fulfillment. The platform features manufacturer-sponsored program hubs including AMD FPGA Playground (FPGA projects), PCBWay Assembly Hub (PCB assembly), Nordic Community Hub (wireless IoT), Elecrow Project Aviary (PCBA solutions), Altera Innovation Lab (Intel FPGA), NextPCB Launchpad (engineering), and Soldered Electronics Inkubator (production services). Notable products include Signaloid C0-microSD (FPGA SoM in microSD form factor), snickerdoodle (ARM+FPGA Linux computer), Qomu (MCU+eFPGA USB dev kit), Somu (FIDO2 security key), GGtag (e-paper RFID badge), I2CDriver (I2C debugging tool), and PhyWhisperer-USB (USB security testing tool). The platform also hosts the annual Teardown hardware conference.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Teardown: Annual hardware conference for hacking, discovering, and sharing hardware held in Portland, Oregon
• AMD FPGA Playground
• PCBWay Assembly Hub
• Nordic Community Hub

Products and services

• Crowd Supply Platform
• Teardown Conference

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• AMDcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAMD sponsors the FPGA Playground Hub on Crowd Supply, promoting adaptable and intelligent FPGA innovation through education. AMD provides design help, materials, promotion, and other resources to FPGA-related projects. AMD is also a Silver Sponsor of Teardown 2026.
• PCBWaycoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPCBWay Assembly Hub promotes projects built using PCBWay's PCB manufacturing and SMT assembly services. PCBWay provides special pricing, discounted Mouser parts pricing, and reduced Crowd Supply crowdfunding fees for eligible projects.
• Nordic SemiconductorcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNordic Community Hub showcases leading-edge wireless technologies including Bluetooth, Thread, Matter, Zigbee, and other Nordic-powered projects. Nordic provides promotion and support for projects using their wireless technologies.
• ElecrowminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorElecrow Project Aviary hub turns ideas into reality with one-stop PCBA solutions, promoting projects using Elecrow's manufacturing services.
• Altera (Intel)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAltera Innovation Lab accelerates innovative FPGA designs to shape the future, supporting projects using Intel/Altera FPGAs.
• NextPCBminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorNextPCB Launchpad empowers engineers with PCB manufacturing and assembly services for their projects.
• Soldered ElectronicsminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorSoldered Electronics Inkubator provides production services that bring projects to life, supporting creators with manufacturing.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Indiegogo: Indiegogo is a leading generalist crowdfunding platform with strong hardware project volume (including InDemand post-campaign sales). It competes with Crowd Supply for hardware creators and offers similar pre-order and fulfillment features.
• Tindie: Tindie is a marketplace specifically for hardware/electronics products, very similar to Crowd Supply's niche focus. It serves hobbyists, makers, and small-batch hardware creators, making it a direct hardware-specialist competitor.
• Kickstarter: Kickstarter is the largest generalist crowdfunding platform and the most direct competitor to Crowd Supply. Hardware projects are a major category on Kickstarter, and creators evaluate Crowd Supply against Kickstarter's reach, audience, and tooling when choosing where to launch.
• GroupGets: GroupGets is a group-buy platform for hardware and electronics, enabling creators to aggregate demand and achieve manufacturing minimum order quantities. It is closely comparable to Crowd Supply in target audience and hardware-specific fulfillment focus.

Broad incumbents

• Seeed Studio: Seeed Studio is a major open-source hardware manufacturer and Fusion PCB/fabrication service that hosts its own creator program (Wio, Grove, XIAO ecosystems). It overlaps with Crowd Supply's open-source hardware community and competes for creator attention.
• Adafruit: Adafruit is a major open-source hardware retailer and creator of DIY electronics kits. While Adafruit sells its own products rather than hosting third-party creators, it occupies overlapping open-source hardware ecosystem mindshare and represents the type of creator-success benchmark Crowd Supply enables.
• SparkFun Electronics: SparkFun is a leading open-source hardware retailer selling development boards, sensors, and components. Like Adafruit, it is a creator/seller rather than a platform, but it shares Crowd Supply's open-source hardware DNA and represents a comparable open-hardware business archetype.

Emerging players

• Hackster.io: Hackster.io is a hardware developer community and content platform that acquired Tindie, giving it both community and marketplace reach in the open-source hardware space. It competes with Crowd Supply for hardware creator mindshare and project hosting.
• BackerKit: BackerKit provides post-campaign crowdfunding management, surveys, and pre-order fulfillment. While not a launch platform, it competes for the same creator workflow budget and offers alternatives to Crowd Supply's integrated logistics support.

Others

• PCBWay: PCBWay is a PCB manufacturing and assembly service that is both a Crowd Supply Project Hub partner and an adjacent ecosystem player. It provides prototyping services to many of the same creators Crowd Supply hosts, making it an enabling/ecosystem peer rather than a direct competitor.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/crowd_supply
• YouTubeyoutube.com/CrowdSupplyTeardown
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/crowd-supply-inc-
• Instagraminstagram.com/crowdsupply
• Facebookfacebook.com/crowdsupply

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors5 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Crowd Supply