Investor behavior in equity crowdfunding

Abstract

Using a hand collected data-set, this paper analyzes the investment behavior of over 15,100 investors and over 42,200 investments on one of Germany’s largest equity crowdfunding portals. It shows that paramount contributions come from one subpopulation. Contributions of EUR 5000 and larger from the first 59 campaigns account for 50.6% of the raised capital while they make up a mere 3.2% of all investments. When these investments are linked to investor profiles, these individuals are found to invest less frequently, suggesting different investment behaviors among crowd-investors. This significantly advances the understanding of equity crowdfunding by showing that the crowd is not a homogenous community. Furthermore, it is found that for investors who make these investment sizes, men are not statistically more likely to be a part of this group. These findings provide numerous revelations for policy-makers, equity crowdfunding platforms, as well as entrepreneurs.