In Search of Crowdfunding Business Models

Abstract

Crowdfunding platforms have substantially increased since 2005 and have supported entrepreneurial projects in response to the low propensity of banking institutions to finance either startups, or poor or young entrepreneurs. However, the theory of strategies and management of crowdfunding is far behind the dynamism of its growth. This shortcoming most likely causes costs and failures, in particular during the current state of increasing competitive pressure in the sector. This paper seeks to construct a general theoretical definition for the concept of a business model and apply it to the P2P social lending on the Internet. Extensive literature is reviewed to construct an archetype business model. The validity of the model will be tested through crowdfunding platforms.