Funding (doesn’t) follow females? An empirical study on the role of gender and role congruity in equity crowdfunding

This study seeks to gain a better understanding of equity crowdfunding. The role of gender in equity crowdfunding matters from the investor perspective, given the mutual observability and underlying social mechanisms of collective action that inform investment decisions. We show that gender cues are associated with how subsequent investors respond to past investments. Specifically, female investors seem to attract less follow-up funding relative to their male counterparts but also elicit more female participation. Based on ~68,000 investments covering 6.5 years of activity on Companisto (one of Europe’s leading equity crowdfunding platforms), our results indicate gender bias against and homophily among women. We find that expert badges and profile photos moderate this effect, suggesting that also perceptions of gender role congruity are at play. In addition, results indicate gender differences with respect to investment preferences, financial commitment, and user representation.