Amateur vs. professional investors’ decision making in equity crowdfunding in Mexico

Abstract

Amateur and professional investors co-invest in nascent companies via the largest equity crowdfunding platform in Mexico, PlayBusiness. However, little is known about investment criteria that drive backers to invest in a venture, and whether the two groups of investors exhibit differences in decision-making. Based on past research on the investment behavior of investors, the study explores the extent to which three major factors impact their investment decisions. Data from 238 investors show that CERTIFICATION plays a significant role. However, MANAGEMENT TEAM and BUSINESS POTENTIAL are not quite relevant for decision-making. Within the factor CERTIFICATION, we found investors assign different importance to criteria, suggesting amateur and professional investors evaluate investment opportunities differently. Outside CERTIFICATION, amateur investors praise the importance of team-related aspects, whereas professional investors assign a higher weight to financial aspects of the project, suggesting differences in information processing and decision-making between types of investors.