Equity crowdfunding: Success factors in the German context

Abstract

The emergence of equity crowdfunding has provided ventures at early stages of development with an important alternative source of finance over the past decade. However, it is still relatively understudied and many equity crowdfunding campaigns are still unsuccessful. This paper make contributions into research on success factors in equity crowdfunding. Drawing on a sample dataset of 93 campaigns collected from the two biggest equity platforms in Germany, our findings provide evidence that success factors from traditional entrepreneurial finance can be relevant in predicting success in equity crowdfunding context. Our findings also show that numerous campaign characteristics and the use of social media networks can be success drivers in equity crowdfunding. Our findings are supported by rigorous diagnostic tests.