The relevance of investor rights in crowdinvesting

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Lars Hornuf - , University of Bremen, Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition, Munich Society for the Promotion of Economic Research - CESifo GmbH (Author)
  • Tobias Schilling - , Humboldt University of Berlin (Author)
  • Armin Schwienbacher - , Université Côte d'Azur (Author)

Abstract

A common assumption is that entrepreneurs retain more control of their venture when opting for crowdinvesting rather than venture capital. In this article, we investigate the relevance of cash-flow, control, and exit rights awarded to crowd investors in Germany, where more flexible contracts are offered than in many other jurisdictions. In Germany, many of the rights used in venture capital investment contracts are also prevalent in crowdinvesting contracts. We find that crowd investors are asked to pay higher prices if they receive more cash-flow and exit rights, consistent with the view that these rights are valuable to the crowd. However, we find no evidence that these rights affect campaign outcome, the likelihood of securing follow-on funding, or the insolvency likelihood of the venture. We interpret this as evidence that the redemption rights stipulated in the contract make other types of control rights less relevant or investors' actions are ineffective. Furthermore, crowd investors neither trigger insolvency proceedings nor mention the enforcement of their contractual rights in investor communication blogs or popular media.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number101927
JournalJournal of Corporate Finance
Volume77
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2022
Peer-reviewedYes
Externally publishedYes

External IDs

Scopus 85103593095
ORCID /0000-0002-0576-7759/work/142239300

Keywords

Keywords

  • Contract terms, Control rights, Crowdinvesting, Equity crowdfunding, Exit rights, Investor rights

Library keywords