From the perspective of someone launching an ICO, it is entirely possible that, despite the high costs, they can make money from an ICO after these initial expenses. Depending on the demand, the price of the coin will likely go up and return a profit. After the costs have been accounted for, ICOs end up with the net profit from the sale of the first tokens.As an investor in a token at an ICO, this may be more uncertain, but there is a high chance that a coin will significantly increase in price, as demand increases. As such, the many coins which were available to buy for pennies may rocket in price over the coming months and years.One great example of this is Ethereum. At its ICO, 1 ETH was priced at just $0.31, meaning that you could buy 100 coins at just $31. This is an investment that would be worth $287,353 today, a phenomenal return on investment.