Analisi dell'influenza dell'equity crowdfunding sulla decisione di investimento e della sua affidabilità durante l'instabilità causata dal COVID-19

Following the fragile and slow recovery from the GFC and the development of financial technologies, young entrepreneurs without a solid financial and economic background all around the world are facing increasing difficulties in raising capital to begin their businesses because of the tightening of credit access from most financial institutions and more accurate analysis of investments and evaluation of potential success from traditional money lenders (Venture Capitalists, Business Angels and Private Equity investors). This paper analyses in depth the rise of Equity Crowdfunding and why it is increasingly leading the actors in the economic systems to consider this recent Fintech as a sort of alternative finance. Indeed, the Equity Crowdfunding might be appraised as an economic, financial, and social signal of sustainability over the long term, thus acting as a magnet to the funders for coming allocation of resources. Following this path, through a systemic review of 47 of papers published along a 4 -year time frame (2018- today), it is questioned whether this technology affects in the same way the traditional interested funders from an economic, social and cultural point of view and what it is the impact on them in terms of different investment decisions. Another key research gap that has been recently arising is whether the recent COVID pandemic acted as a mouthpiece of the negative effects of the financial crisis and the subsequent acknowledgement of ECF as a reliable and efficient tool for credit access. The selection process and information collections lead to the development of a literature review that may provide a reliable pillar for future researchers, considering the lack of data related to this emerging topic.