Equity Crowdfunding of an Entrepreneurial Activity

Several countries around the world are introducing specific regulations allowing new ventures to collect equity capital through an open call to the Internet users (equity crowdfunding). So far, the market is still in an embryonic phase but expectations are interesting, also due to the problems faced by start-up companies in funding the early-stage growth. The main challenge is to understand if equity crowdfunding may boost the development and investments of new ventures competing (or cooperating) with professional investors (business angels, funds, banks), with adequate protection for the crowd of funders. In this chapter the features of this new industry are presented, and a research agenda for the future is introduced.