Crowdfunding site Kickstarter received over 30m visitors in 2011, and almost $100m in pledges

It’s no secret we’re big fans of Kickstarter and all the projects that are becoming a reality thanks to the awesome power of crowd-funding. In fact, we just took a look at 7 of the best tech innovations on Kickstarter in 2011. Now Kickstarter has just announced its 2011 retrospective.

Kickstarter has gone through all of the projects that have been shared on the site in the past year, and picked out some of the most interesting stories. The main trends that we’ve seen on the site this year are DIY manufacturing, Civic Projects, Current Events, and most importantly, Dreaming Big.

The site also gives some fascinating insight into Kickstarter’s statistics for 2011. This year over 27,000 projects have been launched, with over 11,000 successfully completed, for a project success rate of 46%. It’s amazing to see that over $99 million was pledged, although we’re guessing this figure includes projects that weren’t successful.

Kickstarter itself has seen monumental growth in the past year, doubling up on the number of projects submitted, and over three times as much money pledged. While the success rate itself hasn’t changed much, increasing only by 3%, the number of visitors to Kickstarter has also seen a huge jump in the past year. In 2010 Kickstarter saw over 8 million visitors arrive on the site, while in 2011, the number shot up to over 30 million.

We also learn a little bit more about how projects went about getting their funding. Elevation Dock saw over $165,000 pledged in the space of just 24 hours, while the film Mosquita y Maria had just 2 days left to go, and managed to not only earn the remaining $35,000 needed in funding, but exceed it.

Kickstarter has also shared some interesting facts on projects that have received success beyond achieving funding. In January 2011, 5 Kickstarter films made it to Sundance and one project made it into a display in the Museum of Modern Art. The retrospective also looks at Kickstarter’s own success including being named one of Time’s 50 best websites of 2011.

The final part of Kickstarter’s retrospective takes a look at the best videos shared on the site.