Title: The use of equity crowdfunding to launch innovative ventures: insights from three cases

Authors: Gianluca Elia; Alessandro Margherita; Fabrizio Quarta; Pasquale Stefanizzi

Addresses: Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, Via per Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy ' Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, Via per Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy ' Department of Economics, University of Salento, Via per Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy ' Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, Via per Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy

Abstract: Crowdfunding is the process of collecting money from a large audience to launch an entrepreneurial project. It is mostly based on the use of internet to gather financial resources and leverage the 'wisdom of crowds' to pre-validate the potential of a business idea. In particular, equity crowdfunding allows broad groups of investors to fund new companies in return for ownership of a piece of the business. It is thus an interesting option for supporting the launch of innovative companies, although its adoption is still limited by a number of complexities and an incomplete awareness of potential benefits. In such vein, this paper delineates the status of equity crowdfunding in Italy and presents the analysis of three successful equity crowdfunding campaigns, with the purpose to collect a set of lessons learned and provide useful insights for entrepreneurs and investors as well.

Keywords: case study; crowdfunding; crowdsourcing; entrepreneur; equity; investor; Italy; project; startup; technology entrepreneurship.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEIM.2018.095047

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management, 2018 Vol.22 No.6, pp.578 - 596

Received: 31 Mar 2016
Accepted: 09 Sep 2016
Published online: 01 Oct 2018 *

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