Crowdfunding allows inventors to raise funding for all sorts of crazy schemes by getting fans to donate small sums of money online via sites like Kickstarter and IndieGogo. It's a booming industry worth an estimated $34 billion (£24bn) last year. Let's take a look at some of the most successful campaigns of all time, from virtual reality headsets to bluetooth-enabled cooler boxes.

One of the most eye-catching crowdfunding campaigns was for the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset. Yes, you might look a bit of an idiot to bystanders, but it's still an exciting piece of kit. It will make gaming and movies so much more immersive – and while we don't yet know the price tag, it's expected to be far cheaper than most other headsets.

Almost 10,000 people pumped money into the Oculus campaign in 2012, raising $2.4 million (£1.6m) in the process. Just two years later, the company, Oculus VR, was bought by Facebook for a whopping $2 billion (£1.4bn). After various prototypes, the public will finally be able to get their hands on the finished product (and 30 games to go with it) from March 2016.

When Director Rob Thomas (pictured) was told his Veronica Mars TV show was about to be canceled, he turned to the show's many fans to keep things going. "[CW channel] came to us when we were writing our last few episodes of season three and asked if we wanted to wrap it up in a nice bow," he told the Guardian. "And I made the decision not to do that. Because I wanted to go down swinging.”

In 2012 he set up the Veronica Mars Movie Project, hoping to raise $2 million (£1.4m) to put together a full-length film. Just 30 days later he had smashed his target, raising $5.7 million (£4m) from almost 92,000 backers. The resultant movie hit the big screens in 2014, becoming the first major film ever to be successfully campaigned by fans through crowdfunding.

A similar story was the revival of cult TV comedy show Mystery Science Theater 3000, or MST3K. The original show completed its run back in the late 90s. Realizing the show remained popular with fans many years later, creator Joel Hodgson (pictured) set up a crowdfunding campaign in 2015 with a target of $2million (£1.2m) in order to create three new episodes.

As with Veronica Mars, fans helped almost triple that target, ending on $5.76 million (£4m). That's going to be enough to produce a full 14-episode season. Interestingly, Hodgson provided an insight into how lucrative crowdfunding can be for the fundraising sites. Explaining why it was going to cost $2 million (£1.2m) for just three episodes, he claimed “we have to pay about 8% – that's $160,000 – in campaign fees to Kickstarter and the credit card processor”.

Such was the popularity of Sondors' electric bike campaign that it smashed its target 67 times over (6,782%). So why did it receive so much public support? Largely due to the fact it combined a quality product at a cheaper price than many of its rivals.

In total, $6.05 million (£4.17m) was raised. The bikes are currently available to the public on pre-order, with prices starting from $499 (£344).

When Yu Suzuki (pictured), the man behind classic gaming titles like Outrun and Virtua Fighter, announced he was crowdfunding support to build the latest instalment in the Shenmui gaming franchise, the public's response was incredible. Within 100 minutes of launching, it had attracted $1 million (£690,000) in funding, and would finish on $6.33 million (£4.37m) from almost 70,000 backers.

While that is an impressive sum, it still falls well short of the reported $70 million (£48m) spent on the original titles. As Suzuki told gaming site Eurogamer, he is also being backed by Sony and Shibuya Productions, and also announced plans to give fans the option of funding the game via PayPal.

Proof that crowdfunding can sometimes be more whimsical, Exploding Kittens' creators described it as “a card game for people who are into kittens and explosions and laser beams and sometimes goats.”

Co-creator Elan Lee (pictured, right) launched the campaign on Kickstarter with a target of $10,000 (£6,900). Clearly he underestimated how popular the concept of combustible felines would prove, passing that mark in just seven minutes. The campaign ended with 219,000 backers raising almost $8.8 million (£6.07m).

And now to something far more practical. BauBax described its multipurpose top as “the jacket you've always needed but never existed”. And it would seem people agreed, with the campaign raising an incredible $9.2 million (£6.35m) on Kickstarter.

Backers were given a heavily discounted garment, which includes a host of built-in features such as an inflatable neck pillow, gloves, and earphone holders.

Beekeeping and honey might seem like a niche area, but the father and son duo behind Flow Hive managed to generate huge public support for their beehive box. While honey is traditionally harvested by sedating the bees and dismantling the hive, co-inventor Cedar Anderson (pictured) explains his system is far less intrusive. “It's been a dream for me for many long years, to create a system that allows you to harvest the honey directly from the hive without opening it.”

According to Crowdfunding Insider, the Flow Hive attracted an average of $54,000 (£37,000) every hour, and has raised just under $12.5 million (£8.6m), making it the largest successful campaign ever on the IndieGogo site.

Ryan Grepper (pictured right) managed to attract more than 62,000 backers for his Coolest Cooler invention, raising $13.3 million (£9.2m) in the process.

Aside from keeping things cool, the box is also a blender, Bluetooth speaker, light source and USB charger.

Pebble Technology is a crowdfunding stalwart. Back in 2012, it managed to raise an impressive $10.3 million (£7.1m) for its first generation smartwatch. But it smashed that target when launching the follow-up.

Called the Pebble Time, it was backed by 78,471 people, who pledged an incredible $20.4 million (£14.1m). According to reports, Pebble has managed to shift more than a million devices to date. Why is it so popular? It has a 7-day battery life for starters, and it's also competitively priced at $188 (£133).

To date the most successful crowdfunding project is the space simulator Star Citizen, an incredibly ambitious game that could even be compatible with the Oculus Rift mentioned earlier. It was launched on Kickstarter in 2012, raising a relatively modest $2.1 million (£1.5m). But that was very much the start of this remarkable story.

Creator Chris Roberts decided to continue crowdfunding on Star Citizen’s own website. By mid-2015 they had reached $85 million (£58.6m), and at year end they announced they had passed their $100 million (£69m) target. Today the total stands at just over $110 million (£78m).