Investigating signals on equity crowdfunding: Human capital, earlier investors, and social capital

Although crowdfunding has emerged as a promising route to fundraising success, little is known about the specifics of equity-based crowdfunding. Using a data set of 1,111 start-ups with investment funding totaling over $4.67 billion, we analyzed the association between a start-up's underlying characteristics and its funding outcome. We found that a start-up's funding outcome is positively associated with its human capital, but negatively associated with earlier investors' business experience. Furthermore, our analyses revealed that investors have higher levels of social capital are a noise signal to later investors. These findings shed light on the critical role of human capital, investors' experience, and social capital as credible signals for start-up investment in equity crowdfunding.