Success Factors in Reward based and Equity based Crowdfunding in Finland

Autolla 
Nepaliin 
EkoRent 
Juuri 
Pyynikin 
Käsityöläispanimo 
Crowdfunding 
Model 
Reward-
based 
Reward-
based 
Reward-based 
Equity 
Equity 
Crowdfunding 
Platform 
Indiegogo 
Independent 
Joukon Voima 
& Mesenaatti 
Invesdor 
Independent
Invesdor
Independent 
Target Amount Minimum 
50 thousand 
US dollars 
Minimum 25 
thousand 
euros 
Minimum 4400 
euros per 
campaign 
75-300 
thousand 
euros 
(First campaign 
target unclear) 
222-256 thousand 
euros 
Minimum 125 
thousand euros 
Amount of 
Funding Raised 
103 
thousand 
US dollars
33 thousand 
euros
6550 and 5660 
euros (in two 
simultaneous 
campaigns)
173 
thousand 
euros
40 thousand euros 
243 thousand euros 
336 thousand euros 
Duration 
2 months 
3 weeks 
5 weeks 
3 months 
2 weeks 
1 year 
1,5 months 
Entrepreneurs’ 
Network Size 
Hundreds 
ready to 
fund and 
share
11 to 12 
thousand 
Facebook 
followers
25-30 bloggers 
and media 
representatives 
800 on the 
mailing list
8-10 
thousand 
on the 
mailing 
list
1000 shareholders
Table 4: A table of the main details of the interviewed crowdfunding projects 

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Master’s Thesis 
55 
9.2.1. Motivations for Participating in Crowdfunding 
As suggested by earlier research (
Gleasure, 2015; Mollick, 2014; Belleflamme et al., 
2013; De Buysere et al., 2012)
, the entrepreneurs interviewed had various motivations 
to pursue crowdfunding.
All interviewees stated need for financing as a reason to participate in crowdfunding. 
For both EkoRent and Pyynikin Käsityöläispanimo, expansion of their business was 
explicitly stated as a reason for capital requirement. For EkoRent this was in order to 
open more service points and for Pyynikin Käsityöläispanimo this was for upgrading 
brewery equipment in order to increase production capacity. For Autolla Nepaliin, the 
funding was for the realization of the movie, not expansion, because the venture was a 
one-time affair. These monetary motivations were primary to the entrepreneurs, as 
indicated by academic research 
(
Mollick, 2014; 
De Buysere et al., 2012; Gerber and 
Hui, 2013; Manchanda and Muralidharan, 2014; Lasrado and Lugmayr, 2013;
Wheat 
et al., 2013). 
Autolla Nepaliin, Juuri and Pyynikin Käsityöläispanimo also had difficulty attaining 
financing from elsewhere, which increased motivation to participate in crowdfunding. 
Autolla Nepaliin was proposed as a movie to TV stations without success. Thus, the 
creators turned to crowdfunding. Juuri and Pyynikin Käsityöläispanimo both had chal-
lenges obtaining bank loans, which drove them towards crowdfunding. Their larger 
funding targets and challenges with traditional funding might have been motives for 
equity crowdfunding. Research states that not only do equity crowdfunding initiatives 
acquire more capital (Belleflamme et al., 2015), but also larger targets seem to suit 
equity crowdfunding better than other crowdfunding models (Belleflamme et al., 
2014). 
In addition to capital requirements, other benefits of crowdfunding were mentioned as 
motivations. Market validation was a significant motivation for Ambronite, Autolla 
Nepaliin and EkoRent. It is interesting that market validation was most important to 
the reward-based ventures. However, considering Ambronite and Autolla Nepaliin 
were using crowdfunding to enter their market and had a limited existing customer 
base, it is not surprising that validation and verification of demand is important to 

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