nvestment crowdfunding can be debt-based or equity-based, or can follow other models, including profit-sharing and hybrid models. The term equity crowdfunding is often used to describe crowd investing into both debt and equity based instruments when they are offered on an equity crowdfunding platform. The first known equity based crowdfunding platform for startups was launched as a private beta in June, 2009 by Grow VC Group[2] followed by full commercial launch in February 2010[3] The first US. based company ProFounder launched model for startups to raise investments directly on the site in May 2011,[4] but deciding later to shut down its business due regulatory reasons preventing them from continuing,[5] having launched their model prior to JOBS Act.[6][7][8][9] One of the first operational equity crowdfunding platforms in the USA was EquityNet,[10] and other early platforms include CrowdCube and Seedrs in the UK.