Amazon launches shop dedicated to Kickstarter products

Alexandra Gibbs
Updated
Lionel Bonaventure | AFP | Getty Images. Ever wanted to pledge money towards an exciting Kickstarter project, but couldn't get over the risk? Well, the world's most popular online retailer has the answer.

Ever wanted to pledge money towards an exciting Kickstarter project, but couldn't get over the risk? Well, the world's most popular online retailer has the answer.

Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) has teamed up with popular crowdfunding site Kickstarter to showcase a line of products that have been successfully funded on the platform, the e-commerce giant announced Wednesday.

Inside the "Kickstarter Collection," shoppers can peruse through more than 300 Kickstarter products from a variety of categories such as electronics, movies, games, books and home & kitchen; all found on the retailer's "Amazon Launchpad" site.

Kickstarter products have been featured on the site before, but what the collection does now is showcase the innovative products all in one dedicated space. The news comes a year after the e-commerce giant introduced "Amazon Launchpad": a platform that enables startups to market and distribute their products to Amazon's customers worldwide.

When Amazon Launchpad began back in July 2015, the company stated that it was collaborating with over 25 venture capital firms, crowdfunding platforms and startup accelerators to draw in new talent onto the platform. When it debuted, Amazon said it had over 200 items on the Launchpad.

A year later and the company has now brought in over 100 leading VC companies, accelerators and crowdfunding platforms, and supported over 1,000 startups to market their products in the U.S., China, France, Germany and the U.K.

"We created the Amazon Launchpad program a year ago to serve creators, inventors, and startups," Jim Adkins, Amazon's vice president, said in a statement.

"Our goal is to enable them to reach Amazon's hundreds of millions of customers and to overcome one of the biggest challenges any startup faces – bringing their product to market successfully."

Popular products currently found within the collection include some of Kickstarter's most successful projects, including Oculus Rift; "Cards Against Humanity" ; Pebble smartwatches; and the "Veronica Mars" movie, which alone raised over $5.7 million by 91,585 backers.

Since launching back in 2009, more than 109,600 projects have been successfully funded on Kickstarter , with individuals pledging over $2.5 billion towards these products.

Following the announcement, Kickstarter's CEO and co-founder, Yancey Strickler said the firm was thrilled to collaborate with Amazon Launchpad, as it enabled the projects to be "discovered, experienced, and loved" in a whole new way.

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