ABSTRACT
Crowdfunding is small-time patronage supported by little amounts of contribution by a large number of people through a web-based platform or social networking site for a specific project, business venture, or social cause. The chapter is preceded by the history of crowdfunding and then its types that include peer-to-peer (P2P), equity, donation, and credit-based crowdfunding. After that various types of risk associated with crowdfunding platform is studied that includes substitution of institutional risk by retail risk, risk of default, central role of the Internet, risk of fraud, information asymmetry, systematic risk, and many others followed by the applications of crowdfunding. Crowdfunding for personal use, real estate, and crowdfunding for startups, crowdfunding for business, loans, and college debt, SMEs, etc. are the applications which are studied in the chapter. Cost-benefit analysis of crowdfunding is an important aspect that found a place in the chapter proceeded by the startups of the crowdfunding platform worldwide. The next important aspect is P2P lending rules in different countries of the world followed by crowdfunding websites such as Indiegogo and Kickstarter attract thousands of people that hope to invest their funds in the next big thing. In the last famous P2P lending crowdfunding ventures of the India that includes Rang De, Faircent, Ketto and Wishberry are studied.
