Equity crowdfunding promises to be the next big thing for Chinese startups, reports Lan Lan

Does spending 300,000 yuan ($48,716) to become a share-holder in a coffee shop without any guarantee of earnings sound like a good idea? Perhaps not. But that's the deal that a group of China's shrewdest financiers recently made.

The crowdfunded store in a traditional siheyuan (Chinese court-yard house), complete with gray tiles and painted rafters, will soon open in Beijing's "Wall Street" district, the Jinrongjie area comprised mainly of sky-scrapers housing the country's most prestigious financial institutions.