Women leading the way on crowdfunding

Men use seed crowdfunding more than women to build up their business, but they are less successful at doing so, according to new research.

Female-led crowdfunding campaigns in the UK were 29 per cent more successful at reaching their funding target than male-led campaigns, the joint study by PWC and The Crowdfunding Centre has found.

And while men typically seek higher funding targets, female-led projects achieve a greater pledge amount – on average each individual backer contributes $78 (£60) to women and $69 to men.

The report’s findings are based on two full years of seed crowdfunding data tracked by The Crowdfunding Centre and includes the results of more than 19,000 campaigns from some of the largest crowdfunding platforms in Britain.

Some 20 per cent of maleled campaigns in the UK reach their finance target, compared with 26 per cent of female-led campaigns.

Barry E James, co-founder and chief executive of The Crowdfunding Centre, said: “Who could have expected that when the middle-men are removed from the equation, and women and men entrepreneurs get equal and direct access to the market, it would turn out that women would, immediately and decisively, outperform the men, across the board?

“It’s time to readjust not just our expectation and perceptions but our attitudes, institutions, behaviours – and the way we make decisions.”

The UK is second only to the US in terms of the number of crowdfunding campaigns. 0 Barry E James is one of the study’s commentators