This technical note is an introduction to the world of financing entrepreneurial ventures. It is a primer on the different stages of a business and the different types of financing available. Most of the capital that high-growth entrepreneurial businesses will secure to fund their future plans is private capital. Private capital includes all the equity financing that is not in public equities; i.e. publicly listed companies. Hence, private capital includes not only venture capital and private equity, but also business angels and equity crowdfunding. We will go deeper into these sources in section 2 of this note.

Heading into Old Street Tube station in London on a chilly January day, Freddie's mind was racing with ideas. He had just come out from another meeting with Forward Partners, a well-known, London-based venture capital firm, and it was clear the conversation had gone well. The team at Forward Partners understood his vision and saw value in the opportunity he had identified: a personalised solution to the urban gardening market. Moreover, Forward Partners brings a unique value proposition, with a team of in-house technical and marketing experts that work closely with the entrepreneurs. But is that the right fit for him?

The idea for ONk originated in 2012 when six-year-old Mike asked his father, Sam Ke, one night, "Can we make a computer that is simple and fun?" Soon afterwards, a team of three - Alex Bell, Joe Costa and Sam Ke - came together to answer the call. The mission: to give young people - and the young at heart - a simple, fun way to make and play with technology and take control of the world around them. At the core of the proposed offering is a hardware and software kit that can be assembled to create an easy-to-program computer. They named the company ONk to epitomise the spirit of their idea: build a computer, turn it ON and hit any KEY, so you could immediately start to code.

While the crowdfunding phenomenon has attracted considerable practitioner and scholarly attention, existing research predominantly reflects a U.S.-centric perspective. This article examines crowdfunding platform creation in 15 European countries. Despite the omnipresent reach of the internet, national boundaries shape the evolution of the European crowdfunding industry. Specifically, crowdfunding platform creation varies across countries and distinct national patterns emerge for crowdfunding activity in general. Moreover, econometric analyses suggest that country-level factors influence platform creation in European countries, with interesting variations across four crowdfunding models: Donation, Reward, Lending, and Equity.