In less than five years, Kickstarter has raised over $1 billion in pledges. The crowdfunding site announced the landmark figure today with a special page full of stats about campaigns and pledgers. Kickstarter's growth has been huge, with $500 million raised in the past year alone. Almost exactly two-thirds ($663 million) of the $1 billion total was raised by the US, with the second- and third-most active countries lagging far behind with $54 million (UK) and $44 million (Canada). Although the vast majority of backers come from a select few countries, Kickstarter is nonetheless global: since the site's launch, 5.7 million people from 224 countries have backed projects.

Neil Gaiman is Kickstarter's most influential user

The celebratory site also highlights a few of the more influential and prolific backers. Renowned author Neil Gaiman is named the "most influential" user, having backed and promoted hundreds of projects, while Kickstarter engineer Tieg Zaharia is named "most Kickstarter" after personally backing over 1,000 projects in around four years — over five projects per week on average. It's clear the site has come a long way from its early days. According to Kickstarter, just 40 people pledged a total of $1,084 to seven projects on the site's first day; the site now brings in over $1 million per day.