Kickstarter reports nearly $320 million pledged

Kickstarter, the crowdfunding service, had an incredible year in 2012.

Over 2.2 million people pledged nearly $320 million to projects across the service last year, the company reported. All told, 18,109 projects were successfully funded. To put that into perspective, $99.3 million was pledged via the site in 2011.

Kickstarter also shed some light on last year's power backers Nearly 571,000 people backed two more projects, but 50,000 backed 10 or more. And about 450 people backed 100 or more projects.

Kickstarter works by letting anyone propose a project on the site, setting a monetary goal. If the goal is met, the project gets funded. Everything from independent films to garden projects has been funding from Kickstarter campaigns.

The crowdfunding startup has become an online juggernaut, giving entrepreneurs, artists, and others the chance their pitch their projects to the masses. In many cases, pledges for projects are quite small. But as more people see potential in a project, the money can quickly pile up.

Ouya, an Android-based game console that caught the attention of tens of thousands of Kickstarter users last year, raised $8.5 million. The folks behind it had hoped to raise only $950,000.

So, where has the money gone? According to Kickstarter, music topped the list with 5,067 total projects funded. At the same time, Kickstarter's games section attracted the most funding with $83 million in pledges.

A total of 17 projects raised over $1 million.

Kickstarter has created an interactive "Best Of" page looking back at 2012. Click here to check it out.

This article originally appeared on CNET under the headline "Kickstarter has monster year with nearly $320 million pledged."