Kickstarter Announces Plans to Launch in the UK This Fall

Kickstarter is finally moving beyond the USA.

Hugely popular crowd funding service Kickstarter is preparing to launch in the United Kingdom. Four years after it launched in the United States, the site today announced that it will launch in the UK in just a few short months. Speaking via Twitter, the company told followers:

"People in the UK will be able to launch projects on Kickstarter starting this autumn! More info soon!"

KickStarter launched in the US in 2008 under the name Kickstartr and allows users to set up pages to gather funds. Members of the public can then invest money in the ideas they like and help to make the project in question a reality. It's a model that takes the power away from investors and puts it directly into the hands of the consumer.

The company's most recent stats state that the site has 62,912 launched projects. It has successfully funded 25,993 projects out of a total of 59,064. The majority of these (18,002) have raised between $1,000 and $10,000. A further 3,119 raised under $1,000 while another 3,022 raised between $10,000 and $20,000. Just seven projects have surpassed one million dollars in funding. A total of 180 have garnered between $100,000 and $1,000,000 in funding. On the flipside, 7,358 projects received 0% funding, while over 20,000 projects got less than 20% of their required funding.

Kickstarter hasn't elaborated on its plans to expand to the UK, nor has it mentioned plans to expand to additional countries or territories beyond that. However, we expect to hear more soon, considering the launch is scheduled for this autumn. For the moment, Kickstarter remains open to only permanent residents of the United States aged 18 or older, with a US address, US bank account, a US state-issued driver's license, and a major US credit or debit card.

_{Follow @JaneMcEntegart on Twitter.}