A social discovery mechanism for endorsing investors in equity crowdfunding

The development of the Internet has significantly reduced the threshold of entrepreneurship, and the number of new companies is increasing. Following the rise of crowdfunding platforms, many startup companies have begun to use such platforms to raise funds. However, existing crowdfunding platforms lack a network and community to help funders find influential leader investors. In this study, analyzing social network, we propose an endorsing investor discovery mechanism that could be applied to equity crowdfunding for startup support. We analyze the preferences of fundraisers and investors and use the investors' community relationships to help fundraisers attract more investment through their influence. The proposed mechanism can effectively discover relevant and influential investors so as to expedite the fundraising process and reach the goal of fundraising.