Publications:
(Authors are listed in alphabetical order and contributed equally to the work)
Are digital finance markets inclusive? Evidence from Equity Crowdfunding Investors. Butticè, V., Lo Monaco, V., Montanaro, B., & Vismara, S. (2026). European Financial Management, 32: 336–358.
Abstract: Digital finance promises to reduce barriers in financial markets, yet its inclusiveness remains uncertain. This paper examines individual investors in equity crowdfunding (ECF) using data from 20,209 registered users on Italy's largest ECF platform. We analyze gender, age, location and ethnicity in investment decisions. Our findings challenge traditional finance views: women and ethnic minorities invest more and in larger amounts, while younger individuals invest less, contradicting assumptions about digital finance appealing to youth. No significant differences emerge between rural and metropolitan investors, suggesting that digital access alone does not eliminate geographic barriers.
Dancing with strangers? Initial trust and the formation of initial ties between new ventures and corporate venture capitalists. MG Colombo, B Montanaro, K Shafi. 2024. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 10422587241227635.
Abstract: This study proposes a hybrid model of initial trust formation that highlights the role of social categorization and its interplay with both institutional trust and the individuating information about the party. Using data on 1,474 corporate venture capital (CVC) investments in European ventures and a case-control research design, we find that ventures more likely form initial CVC ties with investors whose parent companies are located in countries considered more trustworthy. This effect is weaker but does not disappear when social defenses safeguard ventures from misplacing trust and when there are social ties between CVC investors and ventures’ independent VC investors.
Venture capital investments in artificial intelligence. B Montanaro, A Croce, E Ughetto. 2024. Journal of Evolutionary Economics, 1-28.
Abstract: Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies have significantly attracted the attention of institutional investors over the last decade. However, previous literature has not deeply explored the characteristics of venture capital (VC) investments in AI ventures. In this study, we explore whether and to what extent investments in AI ventures differ from those in similar non-AI ventures, and whether they are moderated by venture-level, country-level, and investor-level factors. We test our hypotheses on a sample of 5235 investments in 2689 AI ventures and 9215 investments in 4373 non-AI ventures belonging to the Industry 4.0 domain, observed from 2000 to 2019. We find that the amount invested in AI ventures is significantly lower than non-AI ones: this negative relationship is, however, moderated by a venture’s development stage, VC investor’s experience and the AI development level of the country in which the invested venture operates.
What drives the valuation of entrepreneurial ventures? A map to navigate the literature and research directions. MG Colombo, B Montanaro, S Vismara. Small Business Economics, 61 (1), 59-84
Abstract: The drivers of the valuations of entrepreneurial ventures are an important issue in entrepreneurial finance, but related research is fragmented. The theoretical perspectives and the drivers highlighted by previous studies differ based on the financial milestones during a venture’s lifecycle in which the valuation is performed (e.g., venture capital investments, initial public offerings, acquisitions). The introduction of new digital financing channels (e.g., crowdfunding, initial coin offerings) that allow retail investors to directly invest in entrepreneurial ventures challenge our understanding of the drivers of valuation. This change has also increased the diversity in the sequence of financial milestones that ventures go through, with important implications for valuation. We conduct a systematic literature review and develop a map highlighting how and why the drivers of venture valuations and their underlying theoretical lenses vary across the different milestones that ventures go through. The map allows us to outline new promising avenues for future research.
Working papers:
[A study on Signal Sequences and Ventures' Valuation]. MG Colombo, B Montanaro.
[A study on VC-backed cross-border acquisitions]. G Latifi, B Montanaro, MG Colombo, J Henkel.
Venture Capital and Startup Organization: CEO Replacement, Managerial Hiring, and Top Management Team Development. MG Colombo, B Montanaro, C Zhong.
Abstract. This paper studies how venture capital (VC) is associated with changes in firms’ leadership structure and the composition of top management teams (TMTs). Using a matched difference-in-differences design, estimators for staggered treatment adoption, and an instrumental variable approach, we find that VC-backed firms are more likely to replace CEOs and, conditional on a CEO appointment, to appoint successors coming from outside the firm. At the TMT level, VC-backed firms improve TMT functional completeness and appoint more new TMT members after investment, with especially strong increases in administrative, financial, sales, and business development roles. Finally, we find that, among external TMT appointments, VC-backed firms become less reliant on founder-network appointments and more likely to appoint executives from the broader labour market. These findings suggest that VC investors influence not only who holds decision-making authority, but also how managerial capabilities are added and allocated within growing firms.
Signals' Effectiveness in Acquisitions: The Impact of Prospective Acquirers’ Information Asymmetry on the Valuation of Entrepreneurial Ventures. MG Colombo, B Montanaro.
Abstract: Information asymmetries between buyers and sellers can create inefficiencies in the acquisition market for privately held entrepreneurial ventures which may inhibit the realization of value-creating acquisitions and depress the target ventures’ acquisition valuation. Quality signals help reduce these negative effects. We consider the target ventures’ affiliation with venture capital investors (VCs), an important signal conveyed by privately held firms, and argue that its effects depend on the prospective acquirers’ characteristics. Our theoretical model predicts that: i) compared to non-VC-backed ventures, VC-backed ones are more likely to be acquired by firms that are poorly informed about the target venture, and ii) the positive effect of VC-backing on the target ventures’ acquisition valuation is greater if there are more poorly informed prospective acquirers. These effects are more pronounced if the VCs are more reputable. We investigate our claims using data on 1,310 European privately held entrepreneurial ventures that were acquired between 1998 and 2018.
Corporate Venture Capital Investments in General Purpose Technology: the case of Artificial Intelligence. F Di Lorenzo, B Montanaro.
Abstract: This paper investigates the role of generic vs. specific complementary assets in corporate venture capital (CVC). Looking at investments in general purpose technology (GPT) startups, as per the case of artificial intelligence (AI), we unfold a more complex and nuanced relationship between firm’s generic vs. AI-specific complementary assets and CVC activities in GPT startups, as well as performance implications for firm’s AI innovation productivity and firm profitability. We analyze CVC investments of 384 corporations in 2010-2021 period; our findings reveal new insights that contribute to the CVC literature and extent the emerging AI research in the realm of corporate entrepreneurship.
Corporate Venture Capital Investment in Artificial Intelligence: The Role of Corporate Knowledge. B Montanaro, M Pedota.
Abstract. This paper examines how corporate AI-relevant knowledge shapes investments in AI startups through Corporate Venture Capital. Combining traditional literature on absorptive capacity with emerging research on AI in management, we theorize that AI-relevant knowledge’s peculiarities, including multidimensionality and increasing returns to scale, distinctively shape corporations’ CVC investment behavior in the AI domain. Through a custom-built dataset integrating investment, patent, and firm-level data, we empirically show that the AI-relevant knowledge stock has a U-shaped relationship with CVC investments in AI startups, while AI-relevant knowledge diversity has a positive effect. Interestingly, diversity in the corporation’s overall knowledge base increases CVC investments in AI startups only when coupled with high AI-relevant knowledge, and decreases it otherwise. Thus, we contribute to the literature on strategic entrepreneurship and AI in management by revealing theoretically salient connections between the characteristics of a corporation’s knowledge base and its CVC investments in the AI domain.
Exploring the Role of Business Angels on Equity Crowdfunding Platforms. V Capizzi, L Hornuf, B Montanaro, F Tenca.
Abstract: This paper investigates the investments of Business Angels (BAs) through equity crowdfunding (ECF) platforms. Using a dataset of 185 successful crowdfunding campaigns launched by Italian ventures between 2015 and 2020, we identify the effect of individual BAs, defined as former entrepreneurs that successfully exited their companies with proceedings to reinvest, and BAs affiliated to BA networks or groups on the post-campaign performances of ECF ventures. We find that companies invested by BAs during their first ECF campaign are more likely to realize a follow-on ECF campaign over a second VC-BA round or exit compared to companies invested by regular crowd investors only. This positive effect is mainly driven by active BAs that participate in shareholders’ meetings and individual BAs who are not affiliated with BA networks or groups. Results remain robust when using instrumental variables (IVs) to account for the likelihood of BA participation in ECF. Tax shocks affecting BA investments in startups and market volume serve as the IVs in this analysis.
Venture Capital-Backing, the Pricing of Shares, and Post-Campaign Performance in Equity Crowdfunding. B Montanaro, S Manigart, T Vanacker.
Abstract: In this paper, we investigate the effect of being backed by Venture Capital (VC) investors before going through an equity crowdfunding (ECF) campaign, on the pricing of entrepreneurial ventures’ shares in equity crowdfunding. Using a sample of 809 successful and unsuccessful ECF campaigns launched between 2011 and 2018 on Crowdcube, one of the most prominent UK crowdfunding portal, we show that VC-backed firms obtain higher pricing than non-VC-backed firms but are more likely to fail after the campaign. We draw from signaling theory and information processing theory and we suggest that being VC-backed before the campaign is a false signal in the ECF domain, since it does not create a separating equilibrium between high-quality and low-quality firms in the long-term. However, the crowd in the ECF campaign misinterpret it as a true signal conceding higher pricing to VC-backed companies, thus being outsmarted by the VC investors.
Book Chapters in Edited Books:
Colombo, M., Manigart, S., Montanaro, B., Verbow, J. (2026). Venture Capital. In: Supradeep Dutta, Ine Paeleman, Tom Vanacker, Silvio Vismara, Field Guide to Entrepreneurial Finance. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Montanaro, B. (2024). Drivers of Valuations of Entrepreneurial Ventures. In: Cumming, D., Hammer, B. (eds). The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Private Equity. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Mapping Venture Capital: Exploring Regional Differences among Independent and Corporate Venture Capital Investors in Europe. MG Colombo, M Guerini, B Montanaro, F Tenca. 2024. Raising finance: From traditional to new forms of entrepreneurial finance. World Scientific Publishing