eThesis - School of Business electronic theses

Objectives of this Study

Alternative financing models have risen into the public's eye in the past years in order to give companies new possibilities in the field of securing crucial start-up capital. This thesis examines the performance of equity crowdfunding companies. The most common financial indicators are used to examine the performance of the ventures, and in order to give a benchmark for the performance of the companies, the returns are compared to the OMX Helsinki index. The indicators measured will give a holistic picture of the financial soundness and performance of the companies in the sample.

Academic background and methodology

Equity crowdfunding in its entirety is a new concept, which yields a limited amount of academic research. This is especially true for the performance of the companies. This thesis draws on and builds its foundation on the research of previous authors, but contributes to the newness by examining the financial performance of the new companies. Utilizing the services of an outside credit bureau, Asiakastieto, empirical data was collected on companies listed by different crowdfunding platforms. The credit bureau enables researchers and companies to look at the financial performance of companies operating in Finland - the country whose companies are at the focus of this study.

Findings and conclusions

The primary findings of this study show that the financial performance and stability of the companies in the sample are dismal when compared to the OMX Helsinki index. Due to the infancy of the companies, this can be expected. The metrics used to measure the performance of the companies are common metrics in the field of finance and, thus, are great in providing a holistic picture of the soundness of equity crowdfunding, up to a point.