Networks and Relational values in Equity crowdfunding

Statement of the problem: The introduction of crowdfunding platforms has dramatically changed the modalities of financing ventures (Petruzzelli et al., 2019). One of the most interested forms of crowdfunding for startups is the equity based one where “contributors, usually professional and accredited investors, such as business angels and VCs, finance the project in exchange for a share of equity securities” (Petruzzelli et al, 2019). Recently, there has been a growing interest among scholars, academics, practitioners and policymakers (Cumming et al., 2019). The researches has focused on exploring the determinants of successful crowdfunding campaigns (Ahlers et al., 2015; Hu et al., 2015; Mollick, 2014; Mendes-Da-Silva et al., 2016); the modalities how the crowdfunding initiatives are presented on the platforms (Koch and Siering, 2015; Frydrych et al., 2014; Mitra and Gilbert, 2014); the relation between gender, age of the ventures, ethnicity, and geography with equity crowdfunding (Cumming et al, 2019; Greenberg and Mollick, 2017; Ahlers et al., 2015); the role of crowdfunding as a creative source of capital for sustainability (Petruzzelli et al 2019; Bento et al, 2019). Although, the literature on crowdfunding have flourished in recent years, there are very few studies focusing on investigating the role and composition of the network of the equity crowdfunding process.