Equity Crowdfunding: New Evidence from US and UK Markets

This paper offers insights into 3,576 initial equity crowdfunding offerings in the UK and US markets from 2012 to 2019. We investigate the factors influencing three outcomes: the success of the offering, the fundraising target, and matching between entrepreneurial ventures and crowdfunding platforms. In all markets, higher equity retention by original entrepreneurs positively affects the chances of success of the offerings and amount of capital raised. However, there are differences across platforms. Patents do not have a significant impact in entrepreneur-led platforms, while they matter in the UK investor-led platform SyndicateRoom. By separately observing the capital demand set by entrepreneurs and the capital supply by investors, we find that entrepreneurs in financial centers set higher targets in UK markets. There is no difference in the amount of capital raised by female and male entrepreneurs, conditional on female founders setting lower targets in UK markets.