You're assuming that the $32m would have been enough to fund the project entirely, but that's not necessarily the case.

Imagine a scenario where Canonical budgeted the project at $50m, deciding that they'd be willing to invest up to $18m of their own money in addition to the Indiegogo cash.

In this case, they would have plenty of skin in the game, and yet they wouldn't be willing to go even further to shore up the weak campaign results.

They would be amortizing the R&D over a small number of phones, and their goals are ambitious for a company with no hardware experience. Even in the circumstance of a fully funded campaign, the project would have real potential to be an endless money pit of delays and frustration.