An institutional perspective on fundraising by Italian YICs

ABSTRACT

Young Innovative Companies have received considerable attention in the last decade in entrepreneurship and management literature. These firms need financial resources to develop but lack legitimacy in the eyes of investors. This paper empirically explores the determinants of fundraising by analysing 545 Italian innovative start-ups, as defined by the Law 221/2012. In an institutional perspective we propose a model that considers the effect of three different sources of legitimacy. Results show that team educational and professional diversity, incubation and IPRs play a significant role in legitimating the company in the fundraising process.

KEYWORDS:

• Young innovative companies
• fundraising
• legitimacy
• institutional framework

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 https://www.mise.gov.it/images/stories/documenti/Executive%20summary%20ISA%2007_2019.pdf

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Valentina Iscaro

Valentina Iscaro is an Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship and the Coordinator of the Entrepreneurship Program at the College of Business and Public Affairs at Alabama A&M University. She has experience as a Professor of Entrepreneurship, Innovation Management and Social Media Marketing in undergraduate and graduate courses. She has developed a platform for business idea development. She is an entrepreneur, a startup mentor and marketing consultant with 10 + years of experience with national and international companies.

Laura Castaldi

Laura Castaldi is an Assistant Professor of Business Economics and Management at the Department of Economics of University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli. She received her PhD in Entrepreneurship andInnovation from the Second University of Naples. She was a Visiting Scholar in 2004 and Visiting Research Scholar in 2015 at the Snider Entrepreneurial Research Center, The Wharton School. She currently teaches Innovation Management and coordinates the technology transfer activities at the Department of Economics, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli.

Alessandro Augurio

Alessandro Augurio is research fellow in management at the Department of Economics of the University of Campania ‘Luigi Vanvitelli’ in Capua. He received a PhD in Entrepreneurship and innovation, during which he faced the phenomenon of servitisation in the manufacturing industries. He subsequently broadened his research field on purchase intention in the e-mobility market.

Francesca Rivetti

Francesca Rivetti, Ph.D., is Researcher in Management at University of Basilicata, Department DiMIE, Potenza, Italy, where she teaches ‘Business Plan and Venture Creation’ and ‘Service Management and Marketing’. She received her Ph.D. from Second University of Naples (now named University of Campania ‘Luigi Vanvitelli’). She has been Visiting Scholar at Fisher College of Business (The Ohio State University) and Cass Business School (City University of London).