Exploring factors influencing the success of equity crowdfunding campaigns : findings from Italy

Since small and medium-sized enterprises and innovative start-ups always face greater difficulties in obtaining capital from traditional sources of finance, the development of alternative funding tools such as equity crowdfunding has helped them to bridge their financing gap. The purpose of this chapter is to examine which factors influence the performance of equity crowdfunding campaigns in the Italian equity crowdfunding market. The study is based on proprietary data that considers the entire Italian equity crowdfunding market, and analyses 175 projects from all Italian equity crowdfunding platforms between 2013 and 2018. Campaigns' success is driven by ex ante characteristics of the company itself, such as a large number of shareholders and the presence of an industrial partner among them. Since Italian equity crowdfunding is still in its infancy, the chapter is the first to explore success drivers right across the market. The results have practical implications relevant for seekers of both funding and crowdfunding platforms.