Prior literature suggests that the gender funding gap may be alleviated when female founders raise through equity crowdfunding (Bapna & Ganco, 2021; Greenberg & Mollick, 2017; Johnson et al., 2018). This Thesis examines the role of gender-based heuristics on equity crowdfunding investments. Archival and experimental data largely confirm the hypotheses that familiarity with a firm’s target market and gender contamination based on mismatching between investors’ gender and a firm’s gender cues influence investment decisions in equity crowdfunding. The data reveal that female lay investors’ decisions are influenced by gender-based heuristics more consistently than their male peers. Utilizing the Stereotype Content Model, I find that female investors’ warmth perceptions of the firm explain the positive effect of familiarity on investment. These findings contribute to supply-side explanations for the gender funding gap and allude to the dual role of market participants as consumers and investors, which motivates the use of heuristics formed through personal experience when making investment decisions.