Ventures’ Social Media Presence, Innovation Performance, Financial Aspirations, on Return-Based Funding

With the growth of entrepreneurship, return-based investors seek entrepreneurial firms that indicate a high return on investment. In parallel, entrepreneurial firms attract financial capital in different ways, and utilize social media platforms is as one such way to communicate the value of the firm. As such, in this study, we seek to understand better the relationship between ventures’ social media presence and return-based funding (i.e., equity and debt) they can acquire. We additionally explore how start-ups showcase their attractiveness by communicating the venture’s innovation performance and financial aspirations on social media. Based on early-stage start-ups that applied to accelerators from 2013 to 2019, we find that start-ups’ social media presence is positively associated with the amount of return-based funding acquisition. Furthermore, we find a positive moderating effect of ventures’ innovation performance and financial aspirations on the relationship between start-ups’ social media presence and return-based funding. This study contributes to our scholarly and practical understanding of how start-ups’ social media presence, innovation, and financial aspirations are associated with return-based funding outcomes.