During recent years, many researchist have tried to analyze the financing gap that arises in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Due to the difficult situation of financing its operations for start-ups, new market solutions have developed, including the idea of collecting capital through crowdfunding. Crowdfunding is a financing method that involves financing a project using small contributions from a large group of individuals / investors. Instead of the traditional way of raising capital from a smaller group of sophisticated investors, the focus would instead be on a large "audience", where each individual contributed to a smaller amount. Crowdfunding is still a new phenomenon, which means that not as much research has been done in comparison with the more established funding alternatives. The problem for this form of funding mostly occurs in the information gap that exists between the potential investors and entrepreneurs. By discovering which factors that contribute to a successful campaign, investors and crowdfunding platforms can gain more knowledge that increases their chances of successfully closing a campaign. / Under det senaste åren har många forskare försökt analysera finansieringsgapet som uppstår i små och medelstora företag (SME). På grund av den försvårade situationen med finansiering av sin verksamhet för start-ups har nya marknadslösningar uppkommit, bland annat idén om insamling av kapital via crowdfunding. Crowdfunding är en finansieringsmetod som innebär finansiering av ett projekt med hjälp av små bidrag från en stor grupp individer/investerare. Istället för att höja kapital från en mindre grupp sofistikerade investerare som det vanligtvis görs, skulle fokus istället ligga på en stor “publik”, där varje individ bidrog till en mindre summa. Crowdfunding är fortfarande väldigt nytt, vilket gör att det inte bedrivits lika mycket forskning i jämförelse med de mer etablerade finansieringsmodellerna. Problemet för denna finansieringsform ligger mestadels i informationsklyftan som råder mellan de potentiella investerare och entreprenörer. Genom att analysera vilka faktorer som bidrar till en framgångsrik kampanj, kan investerare och crowdfunding plattformar få mer kunskap som ökar deras chanser att stänga en kampanj framgångsrikt.

Equity crowdfunding (ECF) is the smallest of four main types of crowdfunding (CF) and has emerged as a new form of investment, where investors receive equity of a company in return for capital. Over the past years, the development of CF has given entrepreneurs the option to seek funding from a new source, instead of relying solely on venture capital (VC) and other sources of funding (Mollick, 2013). However, the implementation of regulations for ECF has not yet developed enough to make such investing equally consistent for everyone.   Equity crowdfunded ventures can potentially attract a large number of investors that can possibly create corporate governance issues between the entrepreneur and investors. Additionally, individual investors might both lack the competence or incentive to extensively research and assess a venture and make an investment. Due to the growth in ECF and the lack of knowledge of it, the purpose of this thesis was to discover the perceptions of Swedish fund managers (FMs) regarding the nature of ECF and their interest in it.   In order to fulfill the purpose of this study, previous studies were carefully examined to gain a thorough understanding of the area of study. Furthermore, the empirical findings were gathered through a course of seven semi-structured interviews of Swedish FMs.   Empirical findings suggested that ECF has remained as a means of providing only seed-stage funding for ventures and that it is a marginal phenomenon in Sweden. ECF was believed to potentially disturb the VC industry if it grew and moved to a later stage. Additionally, ECF was found to be a good option for companies that were unable to receive funding from traditional funding methods. Risks of fraud and other scandals should be prevented for ECF to maintain its popularity. The findings implied that the future of ECF remains uncertain. Based on the perceptions of Swedish FMs, ECF neither would replace nor be a threat to traditional methods.

The equity crowdfunding market has since the financial crisis in 2008 become an important source of alternative financing in Sweden. The equity crowdfunding platforms constitute the market and are responsible for governing the investment relationships. However, the market is not regulated, and in the spring of 2018 the Swedish government proposed regulatory changes for the platforms to impact the problem of information asymmetry. There are different approaches on how to impact the problem, and therefore the thesis sets out to understand how the equity crowdfunding platforms within the Swedish market work to impact information asymmetry.  Empirical data has been collected from five different Swedish equity crowdfunding platforms. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with individuals whose work is connected to governing and impacting information asymmetry. The analysis of the empirical findings identifies five main reasons for the arise of information asymmetry and the platforms work to control and reduce information asymmetry by mitigation strategies, investor communication and effective signaling. The findings indicate that there is a trade-off between controlling information asymmetry and making the financing method accessible within the market. This study contributes to the understanding of how equity crowdfunding platforms work to impact information asymmetry within the Swedish market.

近年來，文化創意產業已經成為全球各國競相發展的軟實力重要產業，特別是在英國引領全球風潮，韓國異軍突起之後，臺灣近十年來也積極將施政重心放在文創產業的發展與提升之上。然而，文創中小微型新創事業基於先天本質上具有需求不確定性高、創作者重創意而忽略經濟性、不易與資金持有者溝通等特性，加上臺灣市場規模較小，新創事業失敗風險較高，且政府的政策、法規，亦未能充分發揮作用，故普遍面臨籌資困境。經本研究從證券化可分散風險、利潤共享、增加宣傳機會、提供穩定長期民間資金之角度出發，參考外國立法例及進行個案比較分析，本研究認為股權型群眾募資較適合臺灣文創中小微型新創事業，建議除了現行相關籌資政策、法規仍應進行調整外，也應鬆綁民間成立股權型群眾募資平臺，並採取風險控管之機制。最後，就長遠來看，兩岸應可考慮就股權型群眾募資進行合作，俾使臺灣業者利用現有之軟實力優勢，能夠結合中國大陸的市場及資金，共同邁向雙贏。 / In recent years, cultural and creative industries have become an important soft power around the world, especially after UK leading the global trend and South Korea’s emerging success. Taiwan is also actively focusing on the development of cultural and creative industries over the past decade. However, the micro, small and medium-size startups in cultural and creative industries are usually characterized with high uncertainty for demands, creators ignoring the economy, and hard to communicate with the capital holders. In addition, given Taiwan’s smaller markets, high risk of startups, and the ineffective government’s policies and regulations, fundraising difficulties are generally confronted. This study aims to focus on the securitization for its benefits: risk arrangement, profit sharing, more promotional opportunities and long-term private fund. By referencing to foreign regulations and conducting comparative analysis of related cases, this study concluded that the equity crowdfunding is the better solution for Taiwan’s cultural and creative startups. As a result, it is recommended that the financing policies and regulations should be modified, and should allow the establishment of private equity crowdfunding platform and adopt risk control mechanisms. Moreover, in the long run, Taiwan and Mainland China should consider seeking cooperation for equity crowdfunding to combine Taiwan’s soft power advantage with the fund and market of Mainland China, jointly moving towards a win-win situation.

This thesis explores the rapidly growing phenomenon of equity crowdfunding from the perspective of professional investors. The aim was to contribute to the relatively thin aca-demic field of equity crowdfunding, shedding light on why it is yet to be recognized as an important instrument for raising capital and provide suggestions for improvement. The data was collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews with Angel Investors that through their experience could identify benefits and constraints with equity crowd-funding not obvious to the crowd. Benefits of using equity crowdfunding platforms were outweighed by the identified constraints such as corporate governance issues, uncertainties concerning laws and regulations, high risk, and lack of intellectual capital. This eventually led to suggestions for improvements that included channelling the crowd investments through a mutual fund, and allowing the crowd to co-invest with Angel Investors to get around the constraints. Conclusively, the Angel Investors were positive towards the underlying ideology of equity crowdfunding of helping more entrepreneurial ventures reaching their full potential by tapping a previously unutilized source of capital, the crowd. However, there is scepticism to how the phenomenon is currently working in practice.

Submitted by Daniela Beretta Marçal (dbmarcal@hotmail.com) on 2018-09-28T19:49:38Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação - Daniela Beretta Marçal - 28Set2018 - 16h10.pdf: 2200904 bytes, checksum: 7a11284bda3be53e808005ec7e9abfc8 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Joana Martorini (joana.martorini@fgv.br) on 2018-09-28T20:06:03Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação - Daniela Beretta Marçal - 28Set2018 - 16h10.pdf: 2200904 bytes, checksum: 7a11284bda3be53e808005ec7e9abfc8 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Suzane Guimarães (suzane.guimaraes@fgv.br) on 2018-10-01T13:35:44Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação - Daniela Beretta Marçal - 28Set2018 - 16h10.pdf: 2200904 bytes, checksum: 7a11284bda3be53e808005ec7e9abfc8 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-10-01T13:35:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação - Daniela Beretta Marçal - 28Set2018 - 16h10.pdf: 2200904 bytes, checksum: 7a11284bda3be53e808005ec7e9abfc8 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-09-04 / O presente trabalho tem por objetivo identificar as possíveis implicações tributárias para o investidor no mercado doméstico de crowdfunding de investimento. Mais especificamente, trata da tributação dos ganhos e rendimentos provenientes do investimento de capital empreendedor em sociedades empresárias de pequeno porte, por parte de pessoa física residente no Brasil, no ambiente de plataforma eletrônica de investimento participativo. O método de investigação adotado é o interpretativo, mas buscou-se em evidências empíricas, elementos indicativos para melhor conexão do conteúdo desenvolvido com a realidade observada. As duas questões centrais para as quais o trabalho busca apresentar resposta são: a) Qual é a tributação incidente sobre o investimento nos valores mobiliários no mercado doméstico de crowdfunding de investimento? b) A tributação do investimento via crowdfunding de investimento é coerente com as medidas de incentivo ao investimento em capital produtivo? As normas jurídicas aplicáveis à prática jurídica-negocial investigada são analisadas, considerando os vetores orientadores da regulação e da tributação nos mercados financeiro e de capitais, bem como a necessidade de mecanismos que contribuam para o desenvolvimento nacional. / The purpose of this dissertation is to identify the possible tax implications for the investor in the domestic market of investment-based crowdfunding. In particular, the taxation of earnings and income from the investment of venture capital in small business enterprises, by a natural person resident in Brazil, in a crowdfund investing platform. The interpretative method is the one adopted in this study, but empirical evidences were also looked in order to give indicative elements for a better connection of the developed content with the observed reality. The two main questions to which the paper aims answer are: a) What is the incident taxation on investment in securities in the domestic market of investment-based crowdfunding? b) Is the taxation on the investment via investment-based crowdfunding consistent with the incentive measures in productive capital? The applicable juridical norms to the researched legalnegotiating practice are analyzed considering the drivers of regulation and taxation in the financial and capital markets, as well as the need for mechanisms that contribute to national development.

Gräsrotsfinansiering har under 2010-talet vuxit till att bli ett betydelsefullt finansierings-alternativ för små och medelstora företag, vilket även möjliggjort för privatpersoner (icke-professionella investerare) att investera i denna typ av bolag genom att teckna aktier i dem. Investeringar i bolag av mindre storlek kan potentiellt ge mycket god avkastning, men är även förenade med stor risk. Dessa investeringar kan fungera som ett komplement till sedvanliga investeringar på vad som i dagligt tal kallas för ”börsen”, men investeringar i småbolag skiljer mot aktiemarknadsbolag. Värdepappersmarknaden är föremål för rigorös reglering, i syfte att värna om ett starkt investerarskydd och upprätthålla förtroendet för marknaden. Mot bakgrund härav, föreligger högt ställda krav på aktiemarknadsbolagens löpande informationsgivning. Alla inträffade händelser och uppkomna förhållanden, vilka kan tänkas ha en påverkande effekt på aktiens pris ska, i regel, så snart som möjligt delges marknaden. På så vis ges alla befintliga och potentiella aktieägare en rättvis tillgång till information om bolaget, för att ha möjlighet att fatta välavvägda investeringsbeslut. Något motsvarande investerarskydd finns inte implementerat för investeringar i onoterade aktiebolag, utan investerare har få rättsliga medel för att tillskansa sig ytterligare information som kompletterar vad som utges under och i samband med bolagsstämman. Möjligheter till detta finns, men är praktiskt komplicerade att genomdriva. Detta ger upphov till frågan om balans råder mellan ett intresse att värna om investerare, å ena sidan, och ett intresse att underlätta företagande, å andra sidan. Gällande rätt är knappast ändamålsenlig, utan ändringar krävs för att råda bot på obalansen. Investerare bör ges utvidgad rätt till informationsgivning från onoterade aktiebolag när gräsrotsfinansiering tillämpats, eller om investerarkretsen annars är spridd. Krav på löpande informationsgivning av samma brådskande karaktär som råder på aktiemarknaden är emellertid inte önskvärt, utan vore alltför betungande för företagen. Därför föreslås istället kvartalsvis regelbunden informationsgivning från onoterade aktiebolag till investerarna, med komplettering av omedelbar informationsgivning av väsentliga händelser och förhållanden. Sådan reglering skulle tillförsäkra investerare en bättre ställning och hålla dem informerade om bolagets förehavanden, samtidigt som efterlevnaden inte vore oproportionerligt betungande för bolaget och dess befattningshavare. / Crowdfunding has, during the 2010s, grown rapidly to become a meaningful alternative financing solution for small and medium-sized businesses, which has also made it possible for individuals (non-professional investors) to invest in these types of companies, by subscribing for shares. Investments in smaller sized businesses are, however, associated with greater risk. Such investments could work as a complement to more traditional investments on the stock market, but investments in small companies differ from publicly traded companies. The securities markets are subject to rigorous regulation, in order to ensure strong investor protection, as well as maintaining a high level of trust in the market. Therefore, extensive demands on the companies are in place regarding their distribution of ad hoc information. All occurring events and circumstances that might have an impact on the shares’ value, shall, subject to some exceptions, immediately be made public to the market. This will ensure that both existing and potential shareholders are given a fair access to information regarding the company, to have the possibility to make sound investment decisions. Any corresponding investor protection scheme is not implemented for investments in non-publicly traded companies. Investors have access to very few legal tools for obtaining other information than what is given during, and in connection to, the shareholders’ meeting. There are however, a handful of such possibilities, but they are practically complicated to use. This raises the question whether there is a balance at all between an interest of protecting investors on the one hand, and an interest of facilitating for entrepreneurs on the other hand. Today’s regulation is hardly appropriate, and changes are needed, in order to solve the imbalance. Investors should be given a wider right to enforce issuing of information from non-publicly traded companies that have raised capital through crowdfunding, or for other reasons have a diverse group of investors. However, similar urgency for such information, as is demanded on the stock market, is hardly necessary, as it would be far too burdensome for the companies. Therefore, quarterly information distribution is suggested, complemented with immediate information for essential occurring events and circumstances. Such regulation, would ensure investors a better position and keep them informed regarding the business’ operation, while the actions required for ensuring compliance would not be disproportionately burdensome for the company or its executives.

Equity crowdfunding, which has primarily been developed by private operators, is considered as an alternative financing form where capital is raised from a group of individuals through digital platforms. In the absence of formal regulations and existing high information asymmetries between businesses and crowd-investors, businesses need to build up legitimacy and trust through social actions. In this way, knowing the main participants and developing good relationships with them, become key factors for crowdfunding success. The purpose of this thesis is to examine equity crowdfunding and its context by identifying and describing stakeholders that interact there. In particular, this thesis aims to describe relationships that are being developed between businesses and their crowd-investors. The data has been collected through interviews with both businesses and investors that have experience in using equity crowdfunding in a Swedish context. The interview data have been analysed by using the stakeholder theory. This has helped us to identify and characterise several stakeholders that exist in the context of equity crowdfunding. Especially, two stakeholder management approaches – arm length- and fairness approach - have been chosen as the analytical tools for this thesis. These categories have primarily been used to analyse relationships that are being developed between businesses and crowd-investors. Our discussion highlights equity crowdfunding as a new and alternative type of capital market, where participants act more cooperatively and have versatile roles. As a financial tool, equity crowdfunding opens up possibilities for closer interaction between businesses and investors. As a consequence of high information asymmetries, developing relationships and creating a transparent environment through active communication, become particularly important for businesses. However, our data has shown us that in reality the collaborative relationship depends on how much businesses allow to be influenced by investors as well as how much the investors request participation.