Entreprenörskap är förknippat med personliga och finansiella risker. Tidigare forskning har visat att entreprenörer är riskbenägna vilket, enligt kognitiva processer, förklaras av att det har ett positivt synsätt på risker. Entreprenörer kan uppleva problem med att finna externt kapital, något som benämns som det finansiella gapet. Crowdfunding är en finansieringsform som kan minska det finansiella gapet för företag som befinner sig i uppstartsfasen. I uppsatsen studeras sambandet mellan andelsbaserad crowdfunding och entreprenörskapsrisk. Entreprenörskapsrisk har i den här studien delats upp i finansiell risk och personlig risk. Studien använder ett kvalitativt tillvägagångssätt för att utveckla det teoretiska ramverk som finns för crowdfunding och entreprenörskapsrisk. Extensiva intervjuer genomfördes med sex entreprenörer som har använt sig av andelsbaserad crowdfunding vid ett, eller flera, tillfällen under uppstartsperioden och har startat upp i Sverige. Studiens resultat visar att andelsbaserad crowdfunding minskar den finansiella risken hos entreprenörer men att den personliga risken består. Dock går det att argumentera för utifrån studiens resultat att aspekten “rädsla för att misslyckas” som är en del av den personliga risken minskas indirekt i och med att den finansiella risken minskar.

Small businesses account for most of all Swedish companies on the market. Difficulties for small businesses to seek capital come from the financial crisis 2008. The global crisis resulted in banks not granting loans to small business as often as before, mainly due to the banks asserting small business as high risks. Small businesses sought therefore alternative financing. The purpose of this study is to obtain a deeper understanding of what the opportunities and limitations that the small companies experience with the usage of crowdfunding as a form of financing and why they choose it over traditional financing options such as bank loans. A case study has been implemented in this paper to study small businesses seeking crowdfunding on the Swedish platform Fundedbyme. The research questions have been studied through a qualitative research with semi-structured interviews. Essential theories that were chosen to analyze this subject was information asymmetry, signaling theory, pecking order theory and previous research. In conclusion the study shows that bank loan was considered as an attractive financing alternative for small businesses because they could get larger sums of capital. Further conclusions were that small businesses chose crowdfunding because they received capital and representatives. However, crowdfunding was regarded as restrictive with unclear legislations and regulations in the crowdfunding market. A combination of crowdfunding and traditional financing form was preferred by most of the companies that was interviewed. / Småföretagen står för majoriteten av alla svenska bolag som finns på marknaden. En förändring på småföretagens finansieringsalternativ har framkommit efter finanskrisen 2008. Den globala krisen gjorde så att banker inte var lika villiga att låna ut till småföretag eftersom de ansågs vara en hög risk. Detta resulterade till att småföretag sökte kapital genom andra finansieringsalternativ som crowdfunding. Syftet med studien är att erhålla en djupgående uppfattning kring möjligheter och begränsningar som småföretagen upplever i samband med crowdfunding som finansieringsform samt vilka skillnader som upplevs av småföretagen mellan crowdfunding respektive banklån som finansieringsalternativ. En fallstudie har framförts i denna uppsats där skribenterna har valt att studera småföretag som söker crowdfunding på den svenska plattformen Fundedbyme. Forskningsfrågorna har besvarats med hjälp av en kvalitativ forskningsansats genom semistrukturerade intervjuer. Studien valde väsentliga teorier för att analysera ämnet. Teorier som valdes var Informationsasymmetri, Signaleringsteori, Pecking order teorin samt tidigare forskning inom ämnet crowdfunding. Studiens slutsatser påvisade att småföretagen ansåg att banklån var ett attraktivt finansieringsalternativ eftersom företagen kunde få in större kapital. Ytterligare slutsatser tyder på att crowdfunding blev vald som finansieringsalternativ för att småföretagen fick både kapital och representanter i företaget. Småföretagen ansåg dock att crowdfunding besitter oklara lagstiftningar och regleringar. Majoritet av småföretagen föredrar en kombination av både crowdfunding och traditionella finansieringsformer.

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.