Information flow and investment decision-making in equity crowdfunding
Résumé
Equity Crowdfunding (ECF) platforms are seen as a serious alternative or complementary source of funding for the entrepreneurial firm. The evolution of European regulation is a demonstration of this. If the ECF platform allows the democratisation of venture capital for both providers and seekers of capital, the question of the capacity of platforms to better manage the strong asymmetry of information in order to improve the decision making of investors remains open. The ECF literature advocates that the strength of platforms is not only to significantly increases information but also diversifies its nature by further legitimising the importance of soft/qualitative information. However, the improvement brought regarding the decision-making process remains an important challenge for ECF platforms which may even weaken the informational advantage of the model. The conclusion lays the foundation for future research to be prioritised.