Equity crowdfunding platforms allow small ventures to raise money and find new investors among retail individuals. In this work we aim at analysing the relationship between the number of equity investors registered in the crowdfunding round and the follow-up growth of revenues reported by investee firms. We find support for the 'curse of the crowd' hypothesis, according to which a larger number of investors registered at the end of the equity crowdfunding campaign is associated to lower growth

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... n the revenues, in the short run. We posit that this effect is attributable to coordination costs, possible conflicts and low incentive for investors to spend efforts in value-adding activities.