User's Perceptions of Motivations and Risks in Crowdfunding with Financial Returns

Abstract

Using a unique database of survey respondents on crowdinvesting, we explore users’ perceptions of motivations and risks of crowdfunding with financial returns (equity crowdfunding and p2p lending). Specifically, our sample consists of respondents on a crowdinvesting survey from Germany, Spain and Poland, and we analyze the relative importance of a set of risks and motivations when using crowdinvesting. Our results show that the main profile of a crowdfunding investor is a young male with high education. We also find that respondents seem to be motivated more by higher returns in p2p lending and by interest and excitement in equity crowdfunding. Last, we also find interesting inter-country analyses regarding the willingness to invest and how this is affected by different risks that respondents face.