Authors: Paraskevi Boufounou, Theodora Tsaimou

Title: Equity Crowdfunding - An Innovative Instrument for SME Financing: Challenges and Prospects for Greece

Abstract

This paper presents equity crowdfunding as a mechanism for financing SMEs and reviews and critically evaluates the international experience. Subsequently the potential challenges and prospects of introducing equity crowdfunding in the Greek SME market are presented by conducting a SWOT analysis. The findings indicate that equity crowdfunding can be an important innovative financing mechanism for the Greek SMEs during the current economic crisis.