Saïd announced in a recent press release that Associate Professor of Business Economics Nir Vulkan has been granted funding from the Kauffman Foundation so that he may study equity crowdfunding, a process where a broad group of investors will put their money behind a startup in return for equity. This industry is worth over £50 million in the UK alone, although very little research has been done into the market dynamics, success of campaigns to attract money and risks associated with the investment.
Vulkan teamed up with Thomas Åstebro of HEC Paris for the project, which they plan will take 18 months to complete. The focus of the project will be exploring criteria for the success of crowdfunders and how investors make decisions on which projects they will back. “We will be able to understand what generates success and what leads to failure, and this will have important implications for companies looking for investment of money and community expertise. More broadly our findings will be of great importance for regulators and governments both in the UK and internationally looking at the benefits and risks associated with the crowdfunding sector,” Vulkan said in a press release.
The pair will be conducting their study on Seedrs, one of Europe’s largest equity crowdfunding companies as well as the creation of Oxford MBA alumni Jeff Lynn and Carlos Silva. They worked on the project as part of Entrepreneurship Project at Saïd before it was launched in July 2012. Today over £2 million is invested in startups across Europe each month through Seedr.