Gender disparity in the participation to equity crowdfunding campaigns

Abstract

Despite the advent of equity crowdfunding increased democratization and access to capital resources and contributed to the financing of sustainable projects, there is puzzling evidence that women are less likely to invest in equity offers on the Internet. In this work, we point out the determinants that favor (or curb) women's participation in equity crowdfunding campaigns. Through different alternative models, we find that female investors are more likely to finance projects proposed by female entrepreneurs. They pay attention to focuses on sustainability but only on the decision related to invest or not, and this has no impact on the total funding. Few women contribute to finance the project when the minimum investment chip is larger and they are relatively less represented in follow-on campaigns. Our work reinforces the evidence of the important gap in women's investments in equity crowdfunding and identifies the determinants associated with a larger participation.