THE CHANGING ENTREPRENEURIAL FINANCE LANDSCAPE: CHALLENGES FOR POLICY

EU-SPRI 2019 Early Career Researcher Conference
The global financial crisis, which struck most of the world’s national and regional economic systems, has led to calls for a further reflection on the evolution of the financial system and of the financing instruments to sustain entrepreneurship, technological changes through innovation, and firms’ growth (Lee et al., 2015).
The pressing financial needs of SMEs, together with the growing and ever-changing opportunities for investors, have induced the rise of new modes of financial intermediation beside the traditional sources and often in combination with them. Many new equity and debt based financing opportunities are now available for SMEs, including crowdfunding (CF), crowdlending (CL), easy access to business angels (BAs) and governmental VC finance, hybrid and innovative finance schemes (e.g. participative loans).
The digital revolution has also accelerated the use of alternative sources of finance for start-ups, which both complement and compete with traditional sources.