De la difficulté de mesurer le coût du capital

Abstract

Crowdfunding plays an increasing role for seed financing. Compared to traditional ways of fundraising, it introduces two new stakeholders: the platform and the crowd. Both are involved in the selection and the valuation of entrepreneurial projects. This article examines their role and the ensuing valuation process. We discuss the legitimacy of the crowd to assess a financial valuation. Our analysis underlines two kinds of phenomenon. First, the valuation process becomes less and less financial and more affect-driven. We observe an evolution towards a "definancialization" of valuation. Second, the governance of startups is also evolving compared to the one exerted in traditional context in particular by business angels.