The patent paradox in crowdfunding: an empirical analysis of Kickstarter data

作者：Azzurra Meoli, Federico Munari, James Bort · 发表于：Industrial and Corporate Change · 年份：2019 · DOI：10.1093/icc/dtz004 · 被引用次数：17 · 研究领域：FinTech, Crowdfunding, Digital Finance、Private Equity and Venture Capital、Microfinance and Financial Inclusion

Building on signaling theory, this paper analyzes whether projects signaling patented technologies have a higher probability of funding success on a reward-based crowdfunding platform as compared with a control group of similar projects. Our analysis of a set of Kickstarter projects suggests the existence of an apparent paradox concerning the role of patents in this funding context. Despite solid evidence in entrepreneurial finance literature on the positive role of patents for accessing financing from professional investors such as venture capitals and business angels, our results from the reward-based crowdfunding context point out a negative signaling role of patents. We provide explanations to reconcile such evidence with previous relevant literature and highlight promising avenues for future research in this area.