Platforms share resources with complementors to support them in their value creation and capture activities. This study examines how and when the resources that a platform provides to its complementors through external partners can affect the growth of the platform. We build on the literature on multisided platform ecosystems and the resource-based view and contend that through partnerships with independent service providers, platforms can offer varied support and resources to complementors. We hand collect a novel data set of 3,372 crowdfunding campaigns that raised funds on 32 equity crowdfunding platforms across 12 European countries from the emergence of equity crowdfunding industry, i.e., from 2012 to 2022 period, to test the effects of partnerships on platform growth and the boundary conditions of these effects. We find that platforms with more partnerships attract more complementors, but the average size of complementors is significantly smaller. We also find that these effects are moderated by the diversification of the platform, such that diversification magnifies the positive effect of partnerships on the number of complementors entering the platform but also has an adverse effect on complementor size. The study offers several important implications for platform managers, complementors, and government institutions.
