Speaking at the GigaOm conference in San Francisco this week, Kickstarter CEO declared they do not foresee issuing shares in the near term. Quoted in AllThingsD, Perry Chen stated,
“We don’t ever want to sell this company, we don’t ever want to IPO. We want to build this institution for generations,”
Kickstarter has secured funding from a group of investors, most notably Union Square Ventures. Chen appeared altruistic in his approach. Recently on the Kickstarter blog he, as well as Yancy Strickler and Charles Adler announced they were not a “Store”.
Kickstarter has become the poster child for Crowdfunding sites. Their trail blazing success has helped spawn a coterie of platforms which strive to emulate their simplicity and goals. Beyond their initial success, which includes their recently launched UK version, they continue to evolve their platform and offerings.
While no Initial Public Offering is in the works yet, it is hard to imagine their investors not being interested in gaining from their initial investment at some point in the not too distant future.