Evaluation of the Use of Risk Management in Crowdfunding: ACase of a Start-up Company in Iran

Crowdfunding is one of the financing methods in the era of online platforms expansion which has beenpresented to entrepreneurs as an alternative solution to finance businesses. While according to surveys, onaverage, more than ۶۱% of companies in Iran consider a lack of access to financing resources as asignificant obstacle in creating and developing a business, crowdfunding has not yet been welcomed byIranian entrepreneurs in spite of its high potential.This paper aims to evaluate the use of risk management in the crowdfunding of a start-up company. Afterreviewing theoretical sources and semi-structured interviews with activists in this field, ۹۹ primary riskswere identified. The number was reduced to ۴۵ risks, and finally, nine final risks were specified aftereliminating duplicates and merging them. Experts carried out risk screening based on the Pareto principleand qualitative analysis of ۲۰% of significant risks, and risk evaluation and ranking were performed basedon fuzzy logic via MATLAB software.The results of this study reveal the impact of evaluated risks on this financing method, and “Lack ofsupportive laws corresponding to crowdfunding and legal restrictions” was discriminated as the mosteffective risk in this method. Thus, through specified risk management processes, the project team will beable to benefit the most from this method.