What Kicktraq does

Kicktraq is a privately held, bootstracked analytics platform that tracks and visualizes funding performance for crowdfunding projects hosted on Kickstarter. Founded in April 2012 by Adam Clark in Columbus, Ohio, and operated as Kicktraq LLC with a core team of two to three people including co-founder Meloney Buehl, the company has aggregated data on 713,159+ Kickstarter projects and attracts over one million unique visitors per month. Its core technology consists of funding progress charts, daily data tracking, category-specific weighted projection/trend algorithms, and an embeddable mini-chart widget, all delivered through a self-serve web platform and distributed via Chrome and Firefox browser extensions that overlay analytics directly on Kickstarter project pages.

The product surface is organized around three user groups: Kickstarter project creators, who use the platform for campaign monitoring and cross-promotion; Kickstarter backers, who use it for project discovery and tracking; and project creators seeking paid advertising, who purchase sponsorship ad placements to reach the platform's highly targeted crowdfunding audience. The Hot List feature ranks trending projects across categories, and KickBlog (blog.kicktraq.com) provides content marketing on crowdfunding best practices. The platform has been featured by Wired Magazine, Hypebot, The Register Guard, and NPR's Planet Money podcast.

Kicktraq operates on a freemium model with sponsorship advertising as its primary revenue stream. The company does not publicly disclose pricing, and the bulk of its product is available free of charge to all users. Sponsorship ads are sold to Kickstarter project creators, with a guarantee that projects which fail to fund receive free ad rotation on relaunch. The company has never raised external funding, has no disclosed revenue, and is operated as a small independent business. Legal entity is Kicktraq LLC, domiciled in Ohio, USA, with Adam Clark retaining founder ownership and Meloney Buehl managing operations.

Name

Kicktraq

Legal name

Kicktraq LLC

Website

https://kicktraq.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Kicktraq is a bootstrapped Columbus, Ohio-based analytics platform that tracks funding performance and provides trend projections for 713,000+ Kickstarter projects, serving creators, backers, and advertisers with a self-serve web app and browser extensions.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Crowdfunding Analytics

akta.pro primary industry

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

Keywords

• Crowdfunding analytics platform
• Project tracking tools
• Funding trend analysis
• Campaign data visualization
• Backing decision support

Headquarters

HQ city

Columbus

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Sponsorship Advertising: Kicktraq offers sponsorship ad spots to Kickstarter project creators. Their audience consists entirely of Kickstarter-active users (backers or project seekers), providing highly targeted advertising. The company offers a sponsorship guarantee where projects that don't fund receive free ad rotation on relaunch.
2. Data Services: Providing analytics data and visualizations to project creators who embed Kicktraq Mini charts on their websites, potentially including premium features.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Kicktraq is a free, self-serve web analytics platform that tracks and analyzes funding progress for Kickstarter crowdfunding projects. It provides funding charts, daily data, predictive projections, trend analysis, a curated Hotlist of trending projects, and embeddable mini-chart widgets, supported by Chrome and Firefox browser extensions that overlay its analytics directly on Kickstarter pages. Revenue is generated primarily through sponsorship advertising sold to Kickstarter project creators.

Product overview

Kicktraq is a crowdfunding analytics platform that tracks and provides predictions for Kickstarter projects. The core offering consists of the Kicktraq Website, which displays funding progress charts, daily data, projections, and trending analysis for over 713,000 Kickstarter projects. The platform includes complementary tools such as Browser Add-Ons for Chrome and Firefox that overlay analytics directly on Kickstarter pages, a Project Browser for category-based discovery, Creator Tools for project owners, the embeddable Kicktraq Mini widget for external sharing, and a Hot List ranking top trending projects. The subsidiary KickBlog provides crowdfunding tips and accepts advertising. The company also offers sponsorship ad placements for project creators with a guarantee for unsuccessful campaigns.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Kicktraq Analytics Platform Core self-serve web platform providing analytics, funding progress charts, daily data, predictive projections, trend analysis, and category browsing for over 713,000 Kickstarter projects, aimed at Kickstarter project creators and backers.
• Kicktraq Browser Extensions Chrome and Firefox browser add-ons that overlay Kicktraq analytics directly on Kickstarter project pages, providing real-time funding data and mini-charts to users browsing Kickstarter.
• Kicktraq Mini Embeddable mini-chart widget that Kickstarter project creators can place on external websites, blogs, and forums to display real-time funding progress, supporting HTML, BBCode, and Reddit markup formats.
• Kicktraq Sponsorship Ads Paid advertising placement service for Kickstarter project creators to promote campaigns to Kicktraq's audience of over one million crowdfunding-active monthly visitors, including a sponsorship guarantee that offers free ad rotation on relaunch for projects that fail to fund.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 1 million unique monthly visitors to Kicktraq data
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Daniel Green (@CamelFarmer) / CamelCamelCamelminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerDaniel Green of CamelCamelCamel.com provided expertise and assistance in developing Kicktraq. Kicktraq credits him with helping get the platform off the ground through shared knowledge and collaboration in the e-commerce/crowdfunding analytics space.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Indiegogo: Major alternative crowdfunding platform operating alongside Kickstarter. Represents both an expansion opportunity for Kicktraq (multi-platform analytics) and a comparable incumbent in the broader crowdfunding ecosystem.
• GoFundMe: Large-scale crowdfunding platform focused on personal causes and community fundraising. Operates in the broader crowdfunding space adjacent to Kickstarter, representing a potential adjacent analytics market for Kicktraq expansion.
• Patreon: Recurring creator monetization platform serving the same indie creator audience as Kickstarter. While focused on subscription rather than one-time crowdfunding, it represents the broader creator economy ecosystem in which Kicktraq's users operate.
• Kickstarter: The underlying crowdfunding platform that Kicktraq exclusively analyzes. Kickstarter has native creator dashboards and backer analytics that overlap with Kicktraq's third-party offering, making it both the primary data source and a potential competitive incumbent.

Direct peers

• BackerKit: Post-campaign management and analytics platform purpose-built for Kickstarter creators. Directly comparable to Kicktraq in serving the same Kickstarter creator and backer audience with analytics, project tracking, and creator enablement tools.
• Kickspy: Alternative Kickstarter analytics and tracking tool providing real-time funding data and projections. Most direct head-to-head competitor to Kicktraq in the dedicated Kickstarter analytics niche.
• CrowdOx: Backer survey management and analytics platform for Kickstarter creators. Overlaps with Kicktraq in serving Kickstarter creators with data-driven tools to optimize campaign outcomes and post-campaign engagement.
• PledgeBox: Pledge management and backer analytics platform for Kickstarter projects. Provides creators with funding insights and post-campaign fulfillment tools, overlapping with Kicktraq's creator-facing analytics and project tracking functionality.
• CrowdCrux: Kickstarter marketing agency and analytics publisher serving creators with campaign data, projections, and promotional services. Comparable to Kicktraq as a data-driven resource within the Kickstarter creator ecosystem.
• PledgeManager: Backer survey and add-on pledge management platform for Kickstarter creators. Operates in the same Kickstarter creator-tools category as Kicktraq, focusing on post-funding campaign analytics and backer engagement.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/kicktraq
• GitHubgithub.com/kicktraq
• Facebookfacebook.com/Kicktraq
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/kicktraq-inc.

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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 Kicktraq