Fundraising activities and digitalization: defining risk indicators for evaluating equity crowdfunding campaigns

Abstract

Purpose The wide development of digital platforms permitted the birth of new financing modalities, namely, crowdfunding, where the crowd of individuals and investors can supply the necessary financial resources for venture creation and growth. While the extant literature has focused on analyzing the dynamics and features of crowdfunding campaigns, few studies have focused on understanding how crowd investors decide which ventures to invest in and which factors influence their decision-making process. Due to this gap, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the factors influencing the choice to invest in an equity crowdfunding campaign, by defining a set of indicators useful to evaluate the risk of the campaign. Design/methodology/approach An empirical research study of Italian equity crowdfunding campaigns has been conducted to identify quantitative indicators useful for evaluating the risk in a crowdfunding campaign. Findings Findings demonstrate that the risk indicators proposed to represent important gauges that investors can usefully consider ex ante to assess the degree of riskiness of the investment in the equity crowdfunding campaign. Research limitations/implications The limitations of the study regarding the size of the sample that is small due to the necessity to extract enough information in pre and post-equity campaigns. Also, the lack of historical data is another limitation. Originality/value The originality of the studies relies on the proposal of quantitative indicators for the evaluation of the risk in equity crowdfunding campaigns for “crowd” investors to reduce information asymmetries.

FinTechs and financial inclusion—Balkan experience: Digital perspectives on financial markets

“…The new financial technologies represented by Fintech are a natural solution in the context of the existence of special categories of consumers, namely the new generations who possess suitable digital skills—Generation Y and Generation Z. The Fintech growth is influenced by factors like customers' behavior, education (stem and financial), business digitization and ability to innovate (Grigorescu & Bortea, 2020; Ndou et al, 2021; Panait et al, 2018; Sumedrea, 2019; Vasile et al, 2021).…”

“…growth is influenced by factors like customers' behavior, education (stem and financial), business digitization and ability to innovate (Grigorescu & Bortea, 2020;Ndou et al, 2021;Panait et al, 2018;Sumedrea, 2019;Vasile et al, 2021).…”

Digital transformation experiences in the Balkan countries

“…Consequently, a new paradigm has emerged, named "Digital Transformation" (DT), which highlights the sweeping changes that firms, organizations and society in general are undertaking to respond to digitization (Mariani & Wamba, 2020;Nambisan, 2017;Sjödin et al, 2020).Digital technologies are disruptive within organizations (both public and private) by way of enabling automation of data processing and timely and effective decision-making processes, as well as innovative ways to create value. Academics and practitioners alike have indicated a steadily growing interest toward analyzing and understanding the different and multifaceted dimensions, perspectives, sectors and dynamics that are intrinsic to DT (Nambisan et al, 2017;Ndou et al, 2021). It's worth noting that DT is a subject of considerable relevance for many different sectors, such as the tourism and health sector (Annosi et al, 2020;Ndou et al, 2022;Sikandar et al, 2022), as well as being pivotal in addressing social problems and in the improvement of the environmental sustainability; DTs impact the ways and mechanisms by which waste, pollution, production, and urbanism are managed and controlled (Feroz et al, 2021).Extensive studies report the unsettled impacts that DT has on business models and value creation (…”

“…Academics and practitioners alike have indicated a steadily growing interest toward analyzing and understanding the different and multifaceted dimensions, perspectives, sectors and dynamics that are intrinsic to DT (Nambisan et al, 2017;Ndou et al, 2021). It's worth noting that DT is a subject of considerable relevance for many different sectors, such as the tourism and health sector (Annosi et al, 2020;Ndou et al, 2022;Sikandar et al, 2022), as well as being pivotal in addressing social problems and in the improvement of the environmental sustainability; DTs impact the ways and mechanisms by which waste, pollution, production, and urbanism are managed and controlled (Feroz et al, 2021).Extensive studies report the unsettled impacts that DT has on business models and value creation (…”

“…It's worth noting that DT is a subject of considerable relevance for many different sectors, such as the tourism and health sector (Annosi et al, 2020;Ndou et al, 2022;Sikandar et al, 2022), as well as being pivotal in addressing social problems and in the improvement of the environmental sustainability; DTs impact the ways and mechanisms by which waste, pollution, production, and urbanism are managed and controlled (Feroz et al, 2021).…”