Crowdfunding and the case of Turkey

Bringing the production factors together and putting the enterprise into operation is important for the economic and social development of the country's economies. Funding is needed for a startup to come to life and continue. Enterprises that cannot meet their financing needs remain as an idea and cannot be put into practice. It is difficult to obtain funds from traditional financing sources for projects that are at the idea stage, and financial institutions are reluctant to offer funds because of the high risk of returning to startups. In this case, entrepreneurs need to turn to alternative financing sources to fund their project ideas. Alternative financing sources are important in terms of realizing the initiatives at the project stage and contributing to the national economy. "Crowdfunding", which is one of the alternative financing sources, is the method that has attracted the most attention of entrepreneurs and investors recently. The widespread use of the internet, depending on the developments in the transportation, communication and informatics sector, did not make crowdfunding tied to a specific place and/or geography, but enabled them to reach masses in different geographies and collect funds. China is the country where alternative financing resources are used most effectively in the world and contributes to bringing the country's economy to a strong position. Apart from China, many countries contribute to the development of their economies by using alternative financing resources effectively and efficiently. Due to insufficient financial resources, low savings and lack of information on alternative financing sources in Turkey, active use of these methods has been delayed. The aim of the study is to examine the applications of crowdfunding, which is an alternative financing source for entrepreneurs, and share-based crowdfunding, which is a sub-model of crowdfunding, in the world and in Turkey, to examine its advantages and disadvantages, and to offer suggestions for the development of share-based crowdfunding in Turkey. As a result, it can be said that Turkey is in efforts to establish the necessary legal basis for the safe implementation of crowdfunding. In Turkey, a special importance is given to the legal basis, as the funds collected by investors over the internet have resulted in cases such as fraud. However, it is also important that an excessive bureaucratic structure is not created under the name of controlling entrepreneurs through platforms. The share-based crowdfunding model will also be an important opportunity for developing countries such as Turkey both to provide financing and to spread ownership to the base.