The contribution patterns of equity-crowdfunding investors: Gender, Risk aversion and Observational learning

Ali Mohammadi () and Kourosh Shafi ()
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Kourosh Shafi: Department of Management, Economics, and Industrial Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Postal: Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, , 20133 Milan, , Italy.

No 419, Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation from Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies

Abstract: The scholars and popular news has argued that new form of investment through online platform known as equity Crowfunding increases the gender equality in financial market for both entrepreneurs and investors. In this paper we investigate whether there are gender-differences in the behavior of investors in firms seeking equity financing in comparison with other settings (e.g. stock market, pension saving). Using data from Swedish equity crowdfunding platform– Fundedbyme, we find that only 20% of investors are female. We also find female investors are less likely to invest in the equity of younger firms, high-technology firms, and those firms with higher percentage of equity offerings. This pattern seems consistent with more risk-aversion of female investors compared to male ones. Furthermore, women are more likely to invest in projects in which proportion of male investors is higher. Overall our result shows that there are not major in pattern of investment between equity crowdfunding and other traditional investment settings.

Keywords: Equity crowdfunding; Gender; Herding; Observational learning; Risk-aversion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G02 G11 G20 M13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 32 pages
Date: 2015-08-21
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-ent and nep-ger
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