Insight Into Academia · Jun 2025
A 2025 article highlighted Experiment as a platform for directly funding scientific discovery and quoted Cindy Wu on why early-stage or high-risk research struggles to get traditional funding.
crowdfunding platform for science
Company research
Public company, workplace, funding, and market signals
Overview
Experiment is a science-focused crowdfunding and grant platform that helps researchers, labs, and science funders raise money for hypothesis-driven projects, share progress publicly through lab notes, and archive funded work with open-access outputs.
Primary product
Crowdfunding and grant platform for scientific research
Founded
2012
Headquarters
San Francisco, California, United States
Team size
1-10
Work style
Onsite
Industry
Internet Marketplace Platforms
Sub-industry
Science crowdfunding / research funding
Offices
New York City, New York, United States
Business model
crowdfunding marketplace
grant-program platform
platform fee / take-rate
all-or-nothing fundraising
Funding
Stage
Series A
Total raised
$5.1M
Latest round
Series A · Mar 2016
Latest amount
$1.4M
People & investors
Work & culture
Small, mission-driven team with an emphasis on science, technology, and social change; the company describes itself as curious, open-science oriented, and hands-on, with early/frequent releases and occasional field-adventure style work.
Work style
Onsite
Compensation
No public salary bands or detailed compensation data were found on the company pages reviewed.
Product & market
Pricing
8% platform fee plus 3-5% payment-processing fees; all-or-nothing fundraising
Differentiators
- —purpose-built for hypothesis-driven scientific research
- —internal vetting for clarity, scientific accuracy, and feasibility
- —all-or-nothing funding model
- —public lab notes and project updates
- —free DOI archival for funded projects
- —supports both crowdfunding and grant programs
Technology
Ruby on Rails
React
PostgreSQL
Heroku
TDD
pair programming
Customers
scientists
researchers
independent investigators
university labs
foundations and grant partners
Competitors
Kickstarter
Indiegogo
Consano
Benefunder
Petridish
Back Your Science
GoFundMe
Wishberry
Einsteinium
REACT Community
Scale & contact
Estimated revenue
≈$5.8M estimated ARR (2024, GetLatka)
Estimated monthly visits
546.7K
Traffic estimate as of May 2026
Latest news
Experiment · Jun 2025
Experiment listed a grant program focused on high-risk AI safety projects, with $300,000 in program funding.
Experiment · Feb 2025
Experiment and Homeworld Collective launched a climate-biotech grant program for early-stage greenhouse gas removal projects, with grant amounts in the $50k-$150k range.
Experiment · Jan 2025
Experiment partnered with the Wildlife Disease Association on a wildlife health challenge grant, with coaching from Experiment staff and bonus awards tied to donor counts.
Nature Index
Nature Index described Experiment as the largest dedicated science-crowdfunding platform and cited research showing it had funded hundreds of projects and millions of dollars in scientific work.
Jobs and careers at Experiment
0 jobs at Experiment
No open positions
Check back later for new openings