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Access to finance is crucial for sustaining entrepreneurial activity. Elaborating on resource dependence theory, we argue that the adverse impact of a loan rejection by a crowdlending platform is more severe than that of a rejection by a traditional financial institution. The data indicate that a failed crowdlending loan attempt is associated with a 14.80% increase in the probability of transitioning out of self-employment. This effect is 1.62 times that of revolving lines of credit and 3.08 times that of non-revolving lines of credit. We highlight that these effects are amplified for marginal borrowers and credit- and income-constrained entrepreneurs. In addition, we show that successful crowdlending enhances self-employed individuals' future income and future access to traditional lines of credit. Implications for policy and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the growing importance of crowdlending platforms as a new avenue for financing businesses, limited attention has been given to understanding how these platforms can enhance their reputation - an essential driver of their development and survival. This study addresses this gap by analyzing the factors that influence platform reputation. Drawing from the literature on corporate reputation and crowdfunding, we employ a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) on a sample of 221 European crowdlending platforms active as of July 2024. We examine how various factors, such as financial performance, social media, media relations, age, media visibility, and country specificity of platforms, combine and causally interact to produce both high and low levels of platform reputation. The results reveal that these factors interact non-linearly, with multiple configurations of conditions (factors) leading to similar reputational outcomes. No single condition alone determines reputation; instead, reputation emerges from different combinations of conditions. By shedding light on the mechanisms that shape platform reputation, this study contributes to corporate reputation and crowdfunding literature. It also provides practical insights for platform managers, showing that if a platform is less competitive in certain areas, it can improve its reputation by compensating through strengths in other domains. Furthermore, regulators and national crowdfunding associations should collaborate to improve the investment environment and promote greater media visibility for crowdlending and the broader crowdfunding sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista de Economía (Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán) is the property of Universidad Autonoma de Yucatan, Facultad de Economia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In the modern conditions of the development of innovative entrepreneurship in Ukraine, there is an important need to use the latest methods of attracting capital. Because of the successful foreign experience, one of the most common methods is crowdfunding and crowdlending. The purpose of the article is to reveal the essence of crowdfunding and crowdlending as modern ways of financing business, analyze the activities of domestic crowdfunding platforms in Ukraine and identify factors that inhibit the development of crowdfunding and crowdlending in Ukraine. Analyzing, systematizing and summarizing the scientific works of many scientists, the article investigated the essence of using crowdfunding and crowdlending as alternative sources of financing business ideas, startups, and projects in Ukraine in the conditions of innovative development of modern technologies. As a result of the study, the main advantages and disadvantages of using these two methods of financing are summarized. The main participants of these financial instruments are defined, the model of the organization of crowdfunding as a method of financing is highlighted, and the role of online platforms, through which funds are raised to finance the projects presented on them, is clarified. The dynamics of the average financing of crowdfunding campaigns on the market of Ukraine and the number of successfully closed crowdfunding campaigns during 2017–2023 were analyzed. The functioning of domestic crowdfunding platforms has been investigated and substantiated. Presented are modern crowdfunding platforms such as «Big Idea», «GoF», «My City» and «RazomGO», which help in financing many projects throughout Ukraine. The «Big Idea» platform is known as one of the leading Ukrainian leaders in the field of crowdfunding, so an analysis of the number of successfully implemented projects on the «Big Idea» platform was carried out. The reasons hindering the progress of modern financing methods in Ukraine have been identified and analyzed, and recommendations for its further development in our country have been proposed. The implementation of the above innovative forms of financing in Ukraine requires the creation of favorable legal regulations, raising public awareness and ensuring the development of reliable specialized platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This study developed several machine learning models to predict defaults in the invoice-trading peer-to-business (P2B) market. Using techniques such as logistic regression, conditional inference trees, random forests, support vector machines, and neural networks, the prediction of the default rate was evaluated. The results showed that these techniques can effectively improve the detection of defaults by up to 56% while maintaining levels of specificity above 70%. Unlike other studies on the same topic, this was performed using sampling techniques to address the imbalance of classes and using different time periods for the training and test datasets to ensure intertemporal validation and realistic predictions. For the first-time, default explainability in the invoice-trading market was studied by examining the impact of macroeconomic factors and invoice characteristics. The findings highlighted that gross domestic product, exports, trade type, and trade bands are significant factors that explain defaults. Furthermore, the pricing mechanisms of P2B platforms were evaluated with the observed and implicit probabilities of the default to analyze the price risk adjustment. The results showed that price reflects a significantly higher implicit probability of default than observed default, which in turn suggests that underlying factors exist besides the borrowers’ probability of default.

This study developed several machine learning models to predict defaults in the invoice-trading peer-to-business (P2B) market. Using techniques such as logistic regression, conditional inference trees, random forests, support vector machines, and neural networks, the prediction of the default rate was evaluated. The results showed that these techniques can effectively improve the detection of defaults by up to 56% while maintaining levels of specificity above 70%. Unlike other studies on the same topic, this was performed using sampling techniques to address the imbalance of classes and using different time periods for the training and test datasets to ensure intertemporal validation and realistic predictions. For the first-time, default explainability in the invoice-trading market was studied by examining the impact of macroeconomic factors and invoice characteristics. The findings highlighted that gross domestic product, exports, trade type, and trade bands are significant factors that explain defaults. Furthermore, the pricing mechanisms of P2B platforms were evaluated with the observed and implicit probabilities of the default to analyze the price risk adjustment. The results showed that price reflects a significantly higher implicit probability of default than observed default, which in turn suggests that underlying factors exist besides the borrowers' probability of default. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to validate a new model that explains the switching intentions of banking customers toward crowdlending based on the perceived investment value, the quality of the crowdlending platform, and two comparative technology adoption factors. The empirical investigation was conducted by conducting an online survey of a sample of 201 potential and actual users of two crowdlending platforms in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The findings of the study highlighted that the switching intentions of potential crowdlenders was affected by perceived emotional and economic investment values, which may in turn be influenced by the relative advantage of this kind of investment and the platform's information quality. The perceived relative complexity, however, had no significant impact on perceived investment value. This study extends our body of knowledge about the adoption of FinTech and specifically crowdlending by considering that the perceived investment value may include an emotional dimension, something that has been ignored in prior research. Finally, this investigation highlights the need for crowdlending platforms to employ communication strategies based on the notion of promoting the hedonic and economic values of this kind of investment and its relative advantages over traditional forms of investment, namely banking deposits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. The changes in the economic situation, which happened after certain events of February 2022, required signifi cant investment in the development of small and medium-sized businesses. Parallel imports, new market niches to be fulfi lled after foreign producers had left, the desire to preserve and increase capital while experiencing ruble devaluation– these and other reasons formed the basis of crowdlending studying in this paper. Theoretical analysis. The growth rates of the crowdlending market in Russia are analyzed and the dynamics of crowdlending and bank loans to small and medium-sized businesses are compared. Empirical analysis. Based on the example of the company “JetLend” LLC, an analysis of the requirements for borrowers and investors, the stages of potential borrowers’ business checking were carried out. A comparative characteristic of the JetLend, IFX Cbond, Cbonds-CBI RU High Yield indices is presented, which suggests that during 3 years, an average investor of the JetLend platform had a higher yield than if he owned a portfolio of high-yield bonds or bonds of the most liquid companies in Russia. Results. Positive and negative aspects of using crowdlending for both investors and borrowers are summed up. It is concluded that crowdlending is a promising tool for small and medium-sized businesses, especially for those economic entities which do not have collateral, credit history or other factors necessary for a bank loan.

Technological innovation in the field of finance requires in-depth study of both technology and law. To contribute to this field, this paper proposes to analyse crowdlending, a procedure that allows the conclusion of loan agreements in which intermediaries disappear and online platforms participate. This procedure presents numerous legal challenges to which we must respond, and response requires analysing our legal foundations. As everythi ng has its precedent, meeting the legal challenges of regulating crowdlending requires study of its antecedents and, thus, analysis of the loan agreement. We have found as a legal precedent the contract of mutual (mutuum) of the Roman Law because this system configures the loan contract also without intermediaries. We studied it to check the problems it raised and what were its solutions. This is the starting point to face the analysis of crowdlending.

Copyright of Revista del Centro de Investigación. Universidad La Salle is the property of Universidad La Salle and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

La revolución 4.0, las constantes crisis que circundan el desarrollo empresarial que impactan en el país y la búsqueda de oportunidades de pequeños inversionistas con bajos recursos obligan no solo a modernizar sino a cambiar la idea de crédito como mecanismo que apalanca oportunidades dejando a un lado las reglas de un “único” oferente o aportante financiero, el cual puede influir en la exclusión o en la limitación de la cantidad solicitada por el prestatario, para que logre ser un mecanismo accesible a las propuestas, reales en el tiempo, con los aportes de distintos inversores y el apoyo activo del intermediario para su logros de las PYMES. Se trata de un trabajo de corte descriptivo que tiene como objetivo presentar la caracterización del Crowdlending en Colombia llegando al contraste con otras plataformas de inversión a partir de la revisión documental. A grandes rasgos, la presencia de “prestamos colectivos” permite que las PYMES (en su mayoría pequeñas empresas, con menos de 5 años y del sector manufacturero) contar con un crédito accesible, permitiéndoles, por medio del acompañamiento de la plataforma, suplir sus necesidades de capital de trabajo.

Copyright of Revista Iberoamericana de Estudios de Desarrollo is the property of Revista Iberoamericana de Estudios de Desarrollo and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Crowdlending has emerged in recent years as an innovative way to fund financially-constrained new ventures and small companies. However, digitalized funding is a new technology itself and as such it is prone to mispricing and inefficiencies. We investigate whether peer-to-peer crowdlending to businesses provides investors with promised returns consistent with the level of risk borne. By studying over 6000 loans mediated on 73 European platforms from 2012 to 2018 we show that the ex-ante returns are inversely related to loans' riskiness and tenure, suggesting that, on average, crowdfunded loans are mispriced. Our results have important implications for the debate about the role of regulation in FinTech and the access to debt funding for entrepreneurial ventures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The crowdlending industry is a fast-growing financial technology (fintech) sector that brings together borrowers and lenders. As an alternative financial intermediary, the crowdlending industry plays an essential role in reducing the financial exclusion of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) struggling to obtain funds from traditional financial intermediaries such as commercial banks. With the onset of Covid-19 and the deteriorating economies worldwide, Singapore crowdlending platforms have come under pressure due to the increasing default rate of their borrowers. This case study illuminates the challenges faced by Aurora (pseudonym), a crowdlending platform that operates in Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia. In response to high default rates during Covid-19, Aurora's management made improvement to its current machine learning-based credit scoring model in June 2021. This case study describes the challenges Aurora faced in identifying relevant features for the machine learning model, data preparation and cleansing, and selecting the appropriate credit model algorithms to replace its current approval process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine investor behavior on a leading peer-to-business lending platform and identify an investment mistake that we refer to as default shock bias. First, we find that investors stop investing in new loans and cease diversifying their portfolio after experiencing a loan default. The default shock significantly worsens the risk–return profile of investors' loan portfolios. The defaults investors experience are often not beyond what would have been expected from the information that was provided by the platform ex ante. Second, investment experience on the platform is related to better investment decisions in general, but it does not reduce the default shock bias. These findings have important implications not only for the behavioral finance literature but also more generally for new forms of Internet-based finance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digitalisation, innovative financial services technologies and new business models hope for borderless markets. Financial technology (Fintech) is looking to be another player in this market. In order to increase the integrity of the EU common market and the size of its capital market, new legislative initiatives have been designed to level the playing field for all participants and to rethink the traditional concepts of capital flows and instruments and the risks associated with opening the capital market up to new participants. Financial services like crowdfunding platforms are transforming the services concept, while the risks associated with the digital operations of financial services place the entire digital finance world on the same level. In this context, this paper examines the EU's efforts to create a seamless legal environment.

Este trabajo analiza y compara el marco regulador aplicable a las plataformas de financiación colectiva existentes en la Unión Europea, España y Latinoamérica, con enfoque en los países de México, Brasil, Argentina, Colombia y Perú. Se concluye la existencia de una gran heterogeneidad en el grado de desarrollo del marco normativo y en el propio contenido de las normas entre la Unión Europea y Latinoamérica, lo que pone de manifiesto la necesidad de una armonización de los marcos regulatorios internacionales en aras de favorecer la expansión de este tipo de industria y la seguridad de los inversores internacionales.

Effective innovative development of the construction industry is impossible without providing the companies with financial resources. In turn some innovation approaches both in banks, and in non-bank credit organizations were created concerning this issue. The authors define the type of the innovations, occurring in the sphere of financing and crediting of construction companies as improving innovations or modification, aimed at the improvement of service while preserving the main functions and principles of the services rendering. First of all the innovations are based on the use of information technologies, such as application of big data, artificial intelligence, information analysis of the clients’ social networks for the adoption of the credit decision; the development of online crediting, creation of the infrastructure of the alternate investments and credits for providing the companies with financial resources. The purpose of this research was the identification and characteristic of the top innovation trends in providing the companies with financial resources. The system approach, methods of groupping, statistic and comparative analysis were applied for the achievement of this purpose. The results of the analysis allowed to conclude, that the innovation approaches make financial resources more available for the companies. Some modern problems of the information technology development in the field of financing and crediting were considered as the debatable question. The matter of the role of banks in the creation of the innovation system of providing the companies with financial resources is also considered.

In modern conditions, the housing construction sector is dynamically developing and transforming under the influence of the turbulent processes of our time: globalization, digitalization, platformization, greening, etc. The purpose of the article is to identify new innovative forms of investment in housing construction and their features in different countries. When analyzing innovative forms of investment in housing construction, a generalization of theoretical approaches to understanding this phenomenon was carried out, modern trends and features of investment were identified. Such new forms as crowdfunding and crowdinvesting are disclosed, which allow expanding opportunities for individual investors, reducing risks and promoting the further development of housing construction, taking into account modern key features. Mechanisms for financing housing construction depend on many factors: the development of the credit and financial, insurance and stock markets, the stability of the national currency, the inflation rate, the solvency of the population, the development and implementation of information technologies, the dynamic development of which is accompanied by the creation of digital platforms and other processes. Under the influence of these factors, the processes of investing in housing construction are actively developing and becoming more complex. Real estate crowdfunding is carried out through online crowdfunding platforms, in which many investors gather to implement construction or renovation projects for residential and commercial real estate. The crowdfunding platform acts as an intermediary between the fund seeker and investors. Crowdinvesting is equity crowdfunding that raises capital from many small investor companies through internet platforms. Loan crowdfunding or crowdlending is the financing of a real estate project through a loan that investors provide to develop the project. Modern information and communication technologies provide ample opportunities for developing new investment and lending instruments, which allows diversifying risks, expanding the number of investors, easing the debt burden for potential borrowers, etc.

Crowdlending platforms are becoming an increasingly prominent alternative funding channel for marginalized entrepreneurs to traditional financing. We examine whether the gender bias generally seen in conventional funding channels extends to the funding of female-led ventures in online platforms and how this potential bias affects service businesses. Our analysis of the KIVA crowdlending platform suggests that while online crowdlending platforms exert a democratizing influence on the funding of female entrepreneurial ventures, female-led service businesses were less able to get financing, mainly for larger loan amounts and longer loan terms. Our findings have significant implications for female entrepreneurs working for marginalized/social causes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peer-to-peer (P2P) lending uses two-sided platforms to link borrowers with a crowd of lenders. Despite considerable diversity in crowdlending research, studies in this area typically focus on several common research topics, including information asymmetries, social capital, communication channels, and rating-based models. This young research field is still expanding. However, its importance has increased considerably since 2018. This rise in importance suggests that P2P lending may offer a promising new scientific research field. This paper presents a bibliometric study based on keyword co-occurrence, author and reference co-citations, and bibliographic coupling. The paper thus maps the key features of P2P lending research. Although many of the most cited papers are purely financial, some focus on behavioral finance. The trend in this field is toward innovative finance based on new technologies. The conclusions of this study provide valuable insight for researchers, managers, and policymakers to understand the current and future status of this field. The variables that affect new financial contexts and the strategies that promote technology-based financial environments must be investigated in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relevance of this study stems from the fact that the development of a market for financial instruments can significantly expand lending opportunities for small- and medium-sized businesses. While research on the impact of tokenization on financial markets is extensive, literature provides virtually no description of mathematical models that can be used in the design and development of information systems issuing tokenized financial instruments. Thus, the study aims to develop mathematical models representing the transformation of the over-the-counter (OTC) securities market induced by the tokenization of underlying assets. The development of crowdlending platforms is gradually transforming the financial market landscape. The key change trends consist in transactional fragmentation both on the demand and supply sides. This paper proposes a mathematical model of internal transformation occurring in the OTC financial market, which describes the process of managing rights to underlying assets during their issuance and circulation. The model is built by analogy with the Harrison–Ruzzo–Ullman (HRU) model, applying the same principles to the relations of economic agents in exercising access rights to underlying assets as those that regulate access rights to files. The research novelty of the presented model consists in the formalization of financial market transformation occurring in the context of asset tokenization, which significantly expands the mathematical apparatus of digital financial transactions. This paper also proposes a mathematical model of competitive tokenization-induced transformation occurring in the OTC financial market, which describes transaction costs associated with attracting investment in the OTC financial market and the market for tokenized assets. In addition, the barriers of the OTC financial market and the stock market are described indicating the supply and demand trends in the context of transformation occurring in the OTC financial market under the influence of underlying asset tokenization. The novelty of this model lies in the mathematical formalization of the investment attraction process in the market for tokenized assets. The theoretical value of the developed models consists in the confirmation of significantly expanded supply capabilities of tokenized assets on the graph showing the dependence of asset returns on invested capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transformation of the energy system is among the most relevant topics of the current public debate in the German-speaking realm. Crowdfunding is suitable for promoting sustainable development, such as financing renewable energies. We investigate success determinants of financial-return crowdfunding to understand how this financing technique can contribute to realizing sustainable development, such as the energy transition. We conduct a cross-platform study and consider sustainably oriented campaigns to answer two research questions: First, what determinants influence financial-return crowdfunding success? Second, how does a sustainable orientation affect these success determinants? We rely on signaling theory to investigate the effect of quality signals. We consider four meta-platforms that aggregate campaigns with sustainable and other funding purposes, obtaining a dataset of 434 financial-return crowdfunding campaigns, mainly from Austria and Germany. We use hierarchical linear regression models for our statistical analysis. Our findings indicate that sustainable orientation alone does not significantly affect crowdfunding success. Entrepreneurs can increase their chances of campaign success by raising the interest rate unless their campaign has a sustainable orientation. In sustainably oriented campaigns, the effect of the interest rate is compensated. Finally, we find no significant evidence suggesting that the campaign duration affects sustainable or non-sustainable crowdfunding success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digitalisation, innovative financial services technologies and new business models hope for borderless markets. Financial technology (Fintech) is looking to be another player in this market. In order to increase the integrity of the EU common market and the size of its capital market, new legislative initiatives have been designed to level the playing field for all participants and to rethink the traditional concepts of capital flows and instruments and the risks associated with opening the capital market up to new participants. Financial services like crowdfunding platforms are transforming the services concept, while the risks associated with the digital operations of financial services place the entire digital finance world on the same level. In this context, this paper examines the EU's efforts to create a seamless legal environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Precedente is the property of Universidad ICESI and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Research Summary: When evaluating Internet‐based loan project of small and medium size enterprises (SME), lenders can rely on easy‐to‐understand risk ratings or more sophisticated financial information. We investigate lenders decisions and its effect on loan funding success on the marketplace‐lending platform Zencap. The data set has been provided by the platform Zencap and includes 414 SME marketplace loans and 2,196 lenders. The data examined provide strong support for the importance of simple platform ratings in influencing investor behavior, while the effect of more detailed financial information is less pronounced, controlling for relevant variables. Higher interest rates appear more profitable to investors without any serious concern about non‐repayment. Managerial Summary Platform managers and potential borrowers are interested in how to encourage lenders to pledge their money on marketplace‐lending platforms. We investigate the influence of easy‐to‐understand risk ratings and more sophisticated financial information on investment decisions and their effect on loan funding success on the marketplace‐lending platform Zencap. We investigate 414 SME marketplace loans and 2,196 lenders. We find that for marketplace lending on Zencap the effect of more detailed financial information is less pronounced than easy‐to‐understand risk ratings. Platforms base risk ratings on information other than the entrepreneurs' financial information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Crowdlending is increasingly popular among investors as a means of alternative investment or for raising capital. This platform emerged in Asia in 2009, with China being one of the earliest countries to introduce crowdlending. Since its inception over a decade ago, the industry has grown significantly; yet multiple unresolved issues remain. Method: Using computer-assisted textual analysis and content analysis, our study examined articles from representative online newspapers in Asian countries to understand crowdlending diffusion in Asia, both within China and outside China. Results: Using the issue-attention cycle and the diffusion of innovation (DOI) theory, our analysis of news excerpts relating to crowdlending over a ten-year period (2009-2019) showed that crowdlending diffusion took two different paths. In China, it started with the practical use of crowdlending, with government regulations introduced after numerous problems emerged. In contrast, outside China, the rules were enacted simultaneously with IT artifact and practice. Furthermore, in connecting the DOI theory with an IT-based regulatory system, we demonstrated the usefulness this approach in explaining how DOI can inform IT sensemaking and rulemaking, which can help crowdlending practitioners remove potential impediments from crowdlending practices. Lastly, media coverage on crowdlending practices was found to have offered multiple perspectives, which could have had an impact on public opinion and attitude towards the new technology. Conclusion: Our study's chief contribution lies in showing how media facilitates crowdlending diffusion. In painting a broad picture of crowdlending in Asia, we show that media can help the public, practitioners, and governments to be aware of the crowdlending platform's potential risks and to find ways to mitigate them. Knowing about crowdlending diffusion can help authorities in Asian countries consider more effective ways of regulating the industry. Hence, media as a contextual factor could be considered in other innovation research and IT-based regulation frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today investment platforms are at the stage of formation and development, and they do not occupy an essential share of the financial market. However, digital data processing, automated service provision, availability of financial resources and minimum costs of transaction processing are the factors stimulating market development in the Russian Federation. The article presents the research results of investment platforms in the Russian Federation. The authors gave a comparative assessment of platforms in the domestic financial market. The article described the problems and prospects of developing crowdfund investments in the Russian Federation. In the analysis of investment platforms the author used general scientific methods, such as comparison, generalization and the logical approach. As a result of the conducted research the author draws the conclusion that the volumes and number of transactions on Russian investment platforms increase. However, this method of capital investment did not reach the level of necessary standards which would give the chance of its universal application. Moreover, this way of project financing implies essential risks which are much higher in the Russian Federation, than in the European countries. The lack of the platform activity state regulation and inability to control the platform at the Smart System level is the paramount reason of that risks.

Access to financing is a fundamental factor determining growth opportunities for small and medium enterprises. Along with the state forms of support for the subjects of this business segment, as well as traditional banking products, private investment mechanisms are being developed through the establishment and extension of crowdinvesting platforms. They imply involving funds of population as the most important market agent. The aim of the article is to reveal the key importance of the institutional development of the crowdfunding and crowdinvesting market as a modern tool for supporting small and medium enterprises, reproduction of people’s personal savings and incomes of professional investors. The following scientific methods and approaches were used in the study: observation, comparison, analogies, analysis, synthesis, method of expert assessments, system and structured approach. The authors’ definition of crowdinvesting is given. Three fundamental features of crowdinvesting are defined: collective microfinancing of a project from an alternative set of startups, an intermediate agent in the form of a remote platform, financial retribution. To prove the development of the world and domestic crowdinvesting market, its condition and the performance indicators of well-known crowdinvesting companies are characterized in dynamics. The authors revealed the key advantages of crowdinvesting, factors stimulating of its volume growth in Russia, as well as risks, mainly associated with insufficient regulation of the new and fast-growing institutional mechanism of crowdinvesting. The important perspective of crowdinvesting as an instrument of project financing in Russia is highlighted on the example of specific scopes for investment, multifunctional services of Russian platforms, expanding pool of investors, new financial and technological methods of exchange and support. The study allowed identifying a number of key areas for crowdinvesting development in Russia. The work mainstreams: building an effective regulation system for crowdinvesting platforms, including through developing self-regulation tools, a co-financing program for crowdinvesting projects from development institutions, the work of the regulatory sandbox, legislative consolidation and support for implementing new types of information and economic interaction on crowdinvesting platforms (not only B 2B, P2B, but also G2B, B 2G).

Based on a unique data set on US direct microloans, we study the funding determinants of interest-free peer-to-peer crowdlending aimed at borrowers in the US. By performing logistic regressions on funding success and Tobit regressions on the reversed funding time, the existence of a social underwriting by a third-party trustee and information in the description texts fostering the investors' trust are shown to be the main predictors of successful funding. Regarding social impact, the possibility to empower women and groups of borrowers appeals to the investors, whereas empowerment of the family or community beyond the borrowers themselves appears to remain unappreciated. When examining the vulnerability of the borrowers as a predictor, the results manifest differences amongst the attitudes of the investors towards social impact. In the subsample of non-endorsed loans, the investors appear to prefer to support borrowers with an immigration background. In contrast, this is not the case with endorsed loans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peer-to-Business (P2B) crowdlending is gaining importance among companies seeking funding. However, not all projects get the same take-up by the crowd. Thus, this study aims to determine the key factors that drive non-professional investors to choose a given loan in an online environment. To this purpose, we have analyzed 243 crowdlending campaigns on October.eu platform. We have obtained a series of variables from the analyzed loans using logistic regression. Results indicate that loan amount, loan term and overall credit rating are the key predictors of non-professional lender P2B crowdlending success. These findings may be useful for predicting whether the crowd will subscribe to a loan request or not. This information would help businesses to modify specific loan characteristics (if possible) to make their loans more attractive or could even lead companies to consider a different financial option. It could also help platforms select and adapt project parameters to secure their success.

Crowdfunding is becoming an important tool to get funds for many projects thanks to web platforms that links funders and backers. Backers can get back from funders some return like equity capital, rewards, interest rates or nothing (donation). Recently, these Crowdfunding tools have been use by Microfinancial institutions to help people living in underdeveloped countries to improve their quality of life. Specially, these institutions have been using Donation Crowdfunding and Crowdlending tools. Moreover, we can establish that when Crowdfunding tools are dedicated to social integration, differences with Microfinance institution way to operate are not clear. In this paper, we try to set factors appearing in the academic literature relating both concepts. Results will help to find points of collaboration between them to get their owns objectives.