The advent of crowdfunding is linked to the changes that transpired in the economy after 2008 triggered by the financial crisis and the very rapid progress in the digitalization of the economy across the globe. The financial crisis compelled businesses to look for new methods of funding, and digitalization and the development of the internet created an opportunity to source funding from the community (natural persons and businesses) formed by the crowdfunding platforms in operation. Even though some 14 years have passed since the beginning of that crisis and large-scale research has been underway since 2010, as evidenced by the significant growth in the number of publications since that time, it turns out that this area has not been comprehensively described and analyzed. There is a major gap especially when it comes to the crowdfunding market in Poland. The analyses in the first part of this book largely fill that gap. These analyses pertain not just to the development of crowdfunding in Poland but also to the impact exerted by the number of crowdfunding platforms and the economic and financial standing of issuers after completing their campaigns on the actors and ventures present on the market. Contents Introduction Artur Trzebiński 10 Years of Equity Crowdfunding in Poland 1. Introduction 2. Equity Crowdfunding - the Platforms 3. Equity Crowdfunding - the Issuers (Project Owners) 4. Exit Strategies by Crowdfunding Investors 5. Conclusion 6. References Aneta Ewa Waszkiewicz, Maria Kukurba Crowdfunding as an answer to the needs of the SME sector during the pandemic 1. Introduction 2. Review of Literature 3. Methodology of the research 4. Results of the research 4.1. Alternative finance - crowdfunding and the crowdinvestment and non-investment CF sub-segments 4.2. CF broken down by business model - Poland vs. the European market 4.3. CF equity market in Poland 4.4. Beesfund: analysis 5. Summar Michał Bańka Crowdfunding and funding sources for startups in corporate acceleration programs 1. Introduction 2. Review of Literature 3. Results of the research 3.1. Funding sources for startups at the time of forming a company 3.2. Funding sources for startups when participating in acceleration programs 3.3. A startup's usage of funding sources and development stage (MVP, Growth, Scale up) 3.4. Startups' usage of funding sources and their success in pursuing a proof of concept in collaboration with a corporation 3.5. Length of time of a startup's operation on the market and funding from given sources 3.6. Number of persons employed by a startup and funding from given sources 3.7. Usage of funding sources and the presence of foreigners in a startup's management board 4. Summary and conclusions Piotr Boulang, Michał Bańka How Participants of Share Economy Use Elements of Crowd Economy, such as coworking, crowdfunding and crowdsourcing 1. Introduction 2. Review of Literature 3. Research Method 4. Results of the research 5. Summary of the results 6. Conclusions 7. References Sławomir Miklaszewicz Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Finance Digitalization in Poland 1. Introduction 2. Assessment methodology of economy and finance digitalization intensity 3. Poland in digital performance reports 3.1. Human capital 3.2. Connectivity 3.3. Integration of digital technology 3.4. Digital public services 3.5. FinTech in Poland 4. Innovation Drivers in the Fintech sector 5. Effects of the accelerated FinTech development at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic 6. Conclusion