Superteam Demo Day: Fundl (Josip Volarević)

A veteran Solana developer who has helped over 200 founders raise more than $6 million is launching a revolutionary crowdfunding platform that flips the traditional Kickstarter model on its head—by letting early backers share in a project's financial success.

Summary

Josip Volarević, a developer and founder building on Solana since 2021, unveiled Fundl at Breakpoint 2025's Superteam Demo Day, presenting a solution to one of crowdfunding's longest-standing problems: the asymmetric risk faced by early backers. While platforms like Kickstarter have facilitated $9 billion in pledges across 300,000 successful projects over 15 years, they suffer from significant user retention issues, with 90% of backers abandoning the platform after supporting just two projects.

The core innovation behind Fundl is straightforward yet powerful: when you back a project early, you don't just receive a product—you also stand to profit if that project goes on to achieve commercial success. Volarević described it as "Kickstarter with Point Tokenomics," referencing the points systems that have become popular in Web3 for rewarding early participants.

The platform has already demonstrated early traction, with its first project—an animated comic by an Emmy Award winner—raising $8,000 in under one hour. A second project, a crypto-themed poker set featuring Bitcoin-orange and Solana-blue chips, is currently live on the platform.

Key Points:

The Problem with Traditional Crowdfunding

Traditional crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter have achieved remarkable scale, but they come with significant structural problems that hurt both creators and backers. According to Volarević, 90% of users stop using Kickstarter after backing just two projects, suggesting a fundamental breakdown in the value proposition for supporters.

The reasons for this high churn rate are numerous: creators sometimes fail to deliver on promises, projects get abandoned, and in the worst cases, outright fraud occurs. This has transformed Kickstarter from a community-driven funding mechanism into essentially a pre-sell platform where creators must already have developed their product and then spend significant sums—around $20,000 on advertising—to successfully raise funds. The early-stage, high-risk innovation funding that crowdfunding was supposed to enable has largely disappeared.

How Fundl's Profit-Sharing Model Works

Fundl addresses these pain points by introducing a profit-sharing mechanism that aligns incentives between creators and backers. When a creator—such as a video game developer—launches on Fundl, they might raise an initial $50,000 from their first 200 believers to develop a prototype. These early backers aren't just customers; they're stakeholders in the project's success.

Once the prototype is complete and the creator moves to larger platforms like Steam or Kickstarter for a broader pre-sell campaign raising hundreds of thousands of dollars, the original Fundl backers participate in the upside. This transforms crowdfunding from a one-way transaction into a genuine investment-like relationship where early support is financially rewarded, not just acknowledged.

Early Traction and Live Projects

Despite being newly launched, Fundl has already demonstrated product-market fit with compelling early results. The platform's inaugural project—an animated comic created by an Emmy Award-winning creator—raised $8,000 in less than 60 minutes, showing strong demand for this new funding model.

Currently, Fundl is running its second campaign: a crypto-themed poker set that reflects the culture of the Web3 community. The set features orange chips representing Bitcoin and blue chips styled after Solana's brand colors, creating a physical product that resonates with the crypto audience. The platform is accessible at fundal.fund, where users can participate in live campaigns and potentially profit from future sales success.

Facts + Figures

• Josip Volarević has been building on Solana since 2021 and has helped over 200 founders raise more than $6 million through VCs, hackathons, and brand partnerships

• Kickstarter has successfully launched 300,000 projects with over $9 billion in total pledges across its 15-year history

• 90% of Kickstarter users quit the platform after backing just two projects, indicating severe retention problems

• Creators typically need to spend around $20,000 on advertising to run a successful Kickstarter campaign

• Fundl's first project—an animated comic by an Emmy Award winner—raised $8,000 in under one hour

• The platform is currently live at fundal.fund with its second project available for backing

• Fundl's model allows projects to raise initial R&D funding (example: $50,000) from early believers who then share profits when larger raises (example: $500,000) occur on traditional platforms

Top quotes

• "I became good at fundraising as I love people asking money. And I want to build a platform where other founders can also raise capital."

• "15 years of Kickstarter effort equal to 9 for outgoing launches."

• "90% of users quit from using Kickstarter after backing just two projects."

• "Kickstarter turned more into a pre-sell mechanism, where creators have to put in all the effort, create a project, and then spend $20,000 on advertising to raise successfully."

• "We matched downsides of backing projects early by matching with the tangible upside."

• "It's kind of like Kickstarter, but in a silly way, it's a Kickstarter with Point Tokenomics. If you back the project early, you profit."

• "People that backed your early on Fundal help you fund the research and development, share the profits."

Questions Answered

What is Fundl and how does it differ from Kickstarter?

Fundl is a Web3 crowdfunding platform built on Solana that allows early project backers to share in the profits when a project achieves commercial success. Unlike Kickstarter, where backers simply receive the product they funded in exchange for their pledge, Fundl creates an investment-like dynamic where supporting projects early translates into potential financial returns. The platform essentially adds "point tokenomics" to the crowdfunding model, rewarding early believers not just with products but with a stake in the project's future success.

Why do so many people stop using Kickstarter after only a couple of projects?

According to the data presented, 90% of Kickstarter users abandon the platform after backing just two projects. This high churn rate stems from the significant downsides of supporting early-stage projects: creators frequently fail to deliver promised products, some projects are abandoned entirely, and in worst cases, creators may disappear with the funds. Since traditional crowdfunding offers no upside beyond receiving the product, backers take on substantial risk with limited reward potential, leading to quick disillusionment with the model.

How does the profit-sharing mechanism on Fundl actually work?

The profit-sharing works across multiple funding stages. A creator first raises initial capital on Fundl—for example, $50,000 from 200 early backers—to develop a prototype or proof of concept. Once that milestone is achieved, the creator can then run a larger campaign on platforms like Steam or Kickstarter, potentially raising $500,000 or more in pre-sales. When this larger raise succeeds, the original Fundl backers who funded the research and development phase share in the profits generated from the expanded commercial success.

What projects are currently live on Fundl?

Fundl has launched two projects so far. The first was an animated comic created by an Emmy Award-winning artist, which successfully raised $8,000 in under one hour—demonstrating strong early product-market fit. The second currently active project is a crypto-themed poker set designed for the Web3 community, featuring orange chips styled after Bitcoin and blue chips representing Solana. Users can participate in this campaign at fundal.fund.

Who created Fundl and what's their background?

Fundl was created by Josip Volarević, a developer and founder who has been building in the Solana ecosystem since 2021. His experience is substantial: he has helped over 200 founders raise more than $6 million in capital through various channels including venture capital investments, hackathon prizes, and brand partnerships. This extensive experience in the fundraising space led him to identify the opportunity to create a platform that makes fundraising more accessible and rewarding for both creators and backers.