Page - 203 - in Digital Entrepreneurship - Impact on Business and Society

NewSources of Entrepreneurial Finance Theo Lynn and Pierangelo Rosati Abstract Digital technologies are transforming entrepreneurial finance. Near-ubiquitous access to the Internet, platformisation, and advances in cloud computing, machine learning and artificial intelligence, and blockchain are changing the sources, basis, and quantum of funding in ways that were unimaginable at the turn of the century. This chapter outlines the changes to the market for entrepreneurial finance from the perspective of structure and participants. The key sources and characteristics of alternative sources of finance available to entrepreneurs, including start-ups, are presented. Twoonline alternativefinance sources, crowdfundingand tokenofferings, arediscussed ingreater detail.These are illustrated with case studies. This chapter concludeswith recommendations and a discussion of practical implications. 1 Introduction Entrepreneurs are typically defined by their risk taking, innovation, and opportunity-seekingbehaviour (Wennekers andThurik1999).Their contribution to economic growth is widely accepted. Entrepreneurship provides employment and income to a wide range of citizens and contributes to increased innovation, pro- ductivity, andcompetitiveness (OECD2017;WennekersandThurik1999).Despite this, the nascencyof entrepreneurial ventures presents challenges for entrepreneurs in attracting the resources needed to survive and achieve and sustain economic success. This is particularly the case in sourcing finance. Limited credit histories, T. Lynn (&) P. Rosati Irish Institute of Digital Business, DCUBusiness School, Dublin, Ireland e-mail: theo.lynn@dcu.ie ©TheAuthor(s) 2021 M.Soltanifar et al. (eds.),DigitalEntrepreneurship, FutureofBusiness andFinance, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53914-6_11 209