Female entrepreneurs and equity crowdfunding: the consequential roles of lead investors and venture stages

Previous research has found that female entrepreneurs are disadvantaged in traditional funding markets. Yet, whether the same conclusion can be drawn in the equity crowdfunding market has not yet been determined. Leveraging both stereotype content theory and warm-glow theory, and based on a data set drawn from 259 projects from three equity crowdfunding platforms in China between October 2014 and April 2019, this study empirically examines the...