8. Signaling Success Factors in Alternative Entrepreneurial Finance

This paper focuses on the role of signaling in equity crowdfunding by examining the determinants of funding success in the Italian context. By using a unique dataset of 191 successful and unsuccessful campaigns, launched between January 2014 and November 2018 on the leading Italian equity crowdfunding platforms, we analyze the signaling role played toward external investors by the disclosure of financial information, the share of equity retained by founders and by the size of their social networks. Our results show that the disclosure of financial information, the share of equity retained by entrepreneurs and the their social capital have a positive and significant impact on funding success and are interpreted as quality signals of crowdfunding campaigns by external investors.