Crowdlending Campaigns for Renewable Energy: Success Factors

Crowdlending is becoming an alternative way of funding start-ups and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in various sectors, including renewable energy, a sector with major difficulties in financing. It consists in financing projects, through specialized platforms, by a large number of individuals (the crowd). But despite the growing popularity of crowdlending, its usage and functioning in the renewable energy sector remain misunderstood. This paper addresses this lack of clarity by exploring empirically the factors that contribute to the success of crowdlending campaigns in renewable energy sector. The study uses data collected from the three most important crowdlending platforms dedicated to renewable energy in France. The results support the importance of the economic characteristics of the project, including its interest rate, the amount requested, the size of the firm and its financial performance as the major contributors to the success of campaigns. Subjective criteria, mainly the age, and, to a lesser extent, the size of the social network and the gender of the entrepreneur, also contribute to collecting funds. These findings are relevant for entrepreneurs and platforms, helping to identify the most important elements to provide to the crowd in order to facilitate the success of campaigns in renewable energy.