BEST OF · JULY 2026

Best Local Businesses Kickstarter projects to watch

8 live Local Businesses projects ranked by Lens Score — a 0-100 composite of funding velocity, backer momentum, target completion, and Kickstarter staff-pick signal.

Pulled from 10 live Local Businesses projects (category averages 29% of goal, $84K total pledged across the category). Updated July 2026.

  1. 01

    Reimagining The Skokie Theatre

    $12K raised47% funded52 backers+0.2% 24h
    17
    LENS SCORE
  2. 02

    Belly Rub Reset: Hotel K Pet Sitting

    $33K raised26% funded26 backers+6.5% 24h
    16
    LENS SCORE
  3. 03

    Missoula Beverage Collective

    $6K raised31% funded32 backers0.0% 24h
    13
    LENS SCORE
  4. 04

    Open the Doors to The Velvet Pony - Charleston's newest queer bar

    $9K raised9% funded49 backers+1.1% 24h
    11
    LENS SCORE
  5. 05

    The Enchanted Tome

    $2K raised2% funded9 backers0.0% 24h
    5
    LENS SCORE
  6. 06
    🆕 New

    Mend Mother Studio

    $2K raised44% funded7 backers
    2
    EARLY MOMENTUM
  7. 07
    🆕 New

    VolynGumPlyt: Safe Playgrounds by Ukrainian Veteran

    $0 raised0% funded0 backers
    0
    EARLY MOMENTUM
  8. 08
    🆕 New

    Misato Lab: Crafting the Future of Creative Packaging

    $0 raised0% funded0 backers
    0
    EARLY MOMENTUM

How this list is built

We pull all live Local Businesses projects on Kickstarter (refreshed every 8 hours), then rank them by either Lens Score (for projects with at least 24 hours of data) or Early Momentum (for projects in their first 72 hours). The top 10 land here.

No editorial weighting — the ranking is the math. The list updates automatically every hour, so the projects on this page next week may not be the same ones you see today.

See the full Local Businesses radar

All 10 live Local Businesses projects, sortable and filterable. Free.

All Local Businesses projects →