Professor Eleftherios (El) Thalassinos
The University of Piraeus, 18532 Piraeus, GREECE, and University of Malta,
2080 Msida, MALTA
Email: [email protected]
DOI: 10.23918/ICABEP2022p3
Abstract
The term crowdfunding derives from the crossing of the English words “crowd” and “funding”, indicating the practice of “finding funds through the crowd”, which is a modality of microfinance from below that makes use of the help of benefactors who choose to invest freely, inspired by the project and the proposed idea. Through research conducted on Scopus and Web of Science, articles have been selected that deal with the phenomenon of crowdfunding. Both three types of crowdfunding have been identified, hedonism, altruism, and for-profit and the subjects involved project promoters seeking funding for their projects, supporters willing to support a specific project, and matchmaking crowdfunding platforms acting as intermediaries. Through crowdfunding, investors can fund a group of people who use their joint money to support the efforts of individuals and organizations. It is a bottom-up microfinance practice that mobilizes people and resources. According to the Framework for European Crowdfunding, “the rise of crowdfunding in the last ten years derives from the proliferation and emergence of web applications and mobile services, conditions that allow entrepreneurs, businesses, and creatives of all kinds to be able to dialogue with the crowd to get ideas, raise money, and solicit input on the product or service they intend to propose”. Equity crowdfunding allows the investor to become a shareholder in companies while in debt crowdfunding the profit is limited to a predetermined interest rate and does not depend on the profit of the company to which the funds are lent.
Keywords: Crowdfunding, equity, debt
ICABEP2022
4th International Conference on Accounting, Business, Economics and Politics
Organized by
Tishk International University, College of Administration and Economics, Salahaddin University-Erbil, and
University of Szczecin, Poland.
