Crowdfunding: A New Innovative Model of Providing Funding to Projects and Businesses

23 Pages Posted: 14 Feb 2014

See all articles by Yannis Pierrakis

Yannis Pierrakis

Kingston Business School, Kingston University; Universitat Internacional de Catalunya

Liam Collins

NESTA

Date Written: May 05, 2013

Abstract

This report examines an innovative new model of providing funding to projects and businesses, the Crowdfunding model. This new form of financing that allows people or businesses to seek small amounts in the form of donation, loan or investment from large numbers of people rather than large amounts from a few, has emerged in the US and numerous European countries in recent years. In 2011 alone, $1.5 billion was raised through crowdfunding for projects and businesses in need of funds. Not only does the model provide finance but also access to a large number of people who can test and market an idea. Crowdfunding takes a number of different forms, the most successful of which has been the reward-based model where participants receive non-financial rewards in exchange for donating to a project. The model effectively harnesses not only the contributors’ desire for the reward but also the intrinsic or social motivations to back a project. Other forms of the model are, however, also growing rapidly. The most recent of these are: i) equity crowdfunding, where individuals receive small stakes in a privately owned young business in return for investment and ii), peer to peer lending to businesses, where individuals lend small amount to businesses in return for a competitive yield.

Keywords: Crowdfunding, innovation finance, equity, peer to peer lending

Suggested Citation

Pierrakis, Yannis and Collins, Liam, Crowdfunding: A New Innovative Model of Providing Funding to Projects and Businesses (May 05, 2013). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2395226 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2395226

Yannis Pierrakis (Contact Author)

Kingston Business School, Kingston University ( email )

Kingston Hill
Kingston upon Thames
Surrey KT2 7LB
United Kingdom

HOME PAGE: http://https://www.kingston.ac.uk/staff/profile/dr-yannis-pierrakis-230/

Universitat Internacional de Catalunya ( email )

Immaculada, 22
Barcelona, 08017
Spain

Liam Collins

NESTA ( email )

1 Plough Place
London, EC4 1DE
United Kingdom

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