Why well-funded campaigns fail to deliver and what backers can do to protect themselves.
A year ago, an exciting new product called GigaDrive appeared on crowdfunding platform Indiegogo. It was touted as „the world’s fastest external SSD” by its creators, who sought to raise $15,000 to bring their product to life. It didn’t take long for GigaDrive to reach its funding goal. The campaign launched in March 2021 and, according to Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, raised nearly $44,000 in a matter of weeks. But this was just the start; the campaign ultimately brought in just under $1.7 million. After the campaign finished, however, things took a turn for the worst. Although working prototypes were provided to technology publications (including TechRadar Pro) for review, campaign backers still haven’t received the SSD, now ten months after the estimated shipping date. Updates posted on the campaign page report that the GigaDrive team encountered a variety of difficulties, including an Indiegogo investigation in response to a Forbes article, bank transfer problems and supply chain shortages. All of these issues, the company says, combined to cause the delay. In their latest public update, posted on May 12, the GigaDrive team announced that parts they ordered for their SSDs „will arrive in 5 weeks“ and that „production can begin when the [parts] arrive”. Whether the SDDs will now be successfully manufactured and shipped is not clear, however. In the previous update, posted on February 19, the GigaDrive team estimated production would be complete „in late April/May 2022”. And back in December, they were telling people the drive would ship by the „end of Jan 2022”. Realizing that some backers have been left disappointed and frustrated by the situation, GigaDrive has repeatedly offered refunds. Those wanting their money back were asked to complete a Google form with their information, though the links are no longer live. Many backers have left comments on the campaign page, either demanding a refund or complaining about one they have yet to receive. The GigaDrive team have left responses to some backers saying they have been reimbursed, but others have been left in the dark about the status of their refunds. The comments section also reveals backers are frustrated with Indiegogo, not just GigaDrive, with many complaining about the crowdfunding platform’s lack of response to the floundering campaign. A backer who spoke with TechRadar Pro said Indiegogo confirmed via support messages that it was investigating GigaDrive. Indiegogo also shared the creator’s contact information, which was out of date, with the backer and informed them they could take legal action against the SSD makers. However, the backer told us that Indiegogo did not respond to follow-up questions asking about the status of its investigation and declined to provide further information about what action it would take to help those who supported GigaDrive’s campaign. They were disappointed by this and felt the lack of response did not live up to the promises made in Indiegogo’s Trust and Safety page. TechRadar Pro also reached out to the GigaDrive team via email to ask about the problems they’ve faced and their plans for going forward. However, two of GigaDrive’s email addresses no longer exist, and messages sent to a Gmail address listed on the company’s Facebook page did not receive a response. The GigaDrive team have also ghosted their marketing agency. Artak Mkrtichyan, a PR specialist at The Crowdfunding Formula, told us that his agency has been unable to contact GigaDrive since September last year. „They have outstanding invoices to pay to our company for the work we’ve done on the campaign and we are preparing to take legal actions,” he explained. So, is the campaign an exceedingly elaborate scam, as some backers have claimed? Or are the creators genuinely trying, but so far failing, to produce their SSDs? The short answer is, we just don’t know. GigaDrive is not the only crowdfunding campaign that has left backers disappointed. Sites like r/shittykickstarters and Kickscammed are filled with stories and complaints about problematic campaigns. Space Odyssey – The Video Game is one such project, featuring famous astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. It launched in 2017, promising backers the chance to „shape the game throughout the development process”, and surpassed its funding goal by over $43,000. The project petered out in 2020, however, after running out of funds. This perhaps should have been no surprise, given the creators noted in their FAQs that the funding goal „does not cover the cost to build the game“ and was instead going to be used „to begin building our community”. The penultimate update for the Space Odyssey campaign, posted on April 10 2020, noted that most backers whose rewards included physical goods, like signed merchandise, had received them. But it seems backers whose only reward was the game itself were out of luck.
castAway, „a second screen for your smartphone“, launched in 2019 and enjoyed a wildly successful campaign, smashing its funding goal of $50,000 to raise a total of $457,474. Unfortunately, the product never shipped.
