Emerging trends in entrepreneurial finance

The emergence of new sources of financing in the aftermath of the financial crisis has substantially increased the funding options available to new entrepreneurial ventures. Technology parks, startup incubators and accelerators, business angels and angel investment organizations, equity crowdfunding platforms, venture capital funds, corporate seed funds and institutional investors directly investing in new ventures, have significantly increased the menu of funding channels, in many cases by leveraging the disrupting effects of Fintech companies and the emergence of internet-based segments of the capital market. As a consequence, a new financing eco-system for new ventures has emerged in recent years that has significant implications for both investors and entrepreneurs, impacting on entrepreneurial growth paths and creating new policy challenges at both the national and global scales. The substantially larger set of funding channels has not only been instrumental in the unprecedented growth in the number of early stage companies but has also raised new questions that have challenged scholars and practitioners and policymakers alike. Idiosyncratic risk-return profiles and investment philosophies, unorthodox investment practices, innovative value-adding contributions to portfolio companies ventures and structurally different exit options are some of the areas that require urgent investigation.