Attention across borders: Investor attention as a driver of cross‐border equity crowdfunding investments

Abstract

Research Summary: Digital equity crowdfunding platforms have brought an unprecedented number of international investment opportunities to investors' reach. Although most equity crowdfunding investments are still made domestically, cross-border investments often have a decisive role in a campaign's success. We therefore ask what drives cross-border investments and theorize how international investors ’ attention directs their investment choices. We leverage unique data and several complementary approaches to examine this question. Our contribution to the equity crowdfunding literature is twofold: (a) we theorize and empirically show how international investor attention affects cross-border equity crowdfunding investments, and (b) we conduct the first empirical study of the drivers of cross-border investments in equity crowdfunding. These findings also have implications for new venture internation-alization research and the broader literature on investor attention. Managerial Summary: Although most equity crowdfunding investments are still made domestically, cross-border investing is growing, and cross-border investments are often critical for campaign success. We show that to attract cross-border investments, it is important for platforms and fundraising companies to capture foreign investors'