Crowdfunding as a new funding source in entrepreneurship: a review of crowdfunding platforms

Entrepreneurship is of great importance with its contribution to the economy, is employment-increasing effect and the increase in technological developments. Solving the problems of entrepreneurs is necessary for the economy, employment and development. One of the problems experienced by entrepreneurs is the problem of financing sources. There are traditional and alternative solutions to solve the financing source problem. Entrepreneurs, to solve their financing problems; In addition to traditional methods such as family and friends, bank loans; It is used in methods such as angel investors, venture capital and financial leasing. One of the alternative methods that have emerged in recent years as a solution to the financing problem of entrepreneurs is crowdfunding. Crowdfunding is a financing system where fund providers and entrepreneurs meet via the internet, and fund providers provide funds to entrepreneurs in exchange for rewards, donations, voting rights, shares or debt. There are four basic types of crowdfunding system: reward, donation, debt and equity crowdfunding. Crowdfunding in Turkey has an 11-year history. Until 2021, there were only reward-based crowdfunding platforms in Turkey for official reasons. With the removal of official obstacles in 2021, equity crowdfunding started in Turkey. equity crowdfunding, which started in 2021, is a solution to the financing source problem of entrepreneurs and contributes to entrepreneurship in Turkey. The goal of the study is to examine the equity crowdfunding system from its beginning to the present, to see which sectors are more suitable for crowdfunding, and to show the situation of equity crowdfunding from past to present. The study was conducted using the document analysis technique, one of the qualitative research techniques. In the study, data were collected and analyzed from 4 equity and 1 award-based platforms operating in Turkey. In the study; It has been observed that startups in the fields of software, education, electrical-electronics and artificial intelligence prefer crowdfunding more. Since startups in the fields of biotechnology, electrical-electronics, energy, finance, agriculture and artificial intelligence have 100% success, startups in these areas are thought to be suitable for crowdfunding. Agriculture is the area where the highest funds are collected. The study showed that the use of equity crowdfunding is increasing every year. In light of this data, it is estimated that its use will increase regularly in the future.