The ability of A-share listed companies to adhere to the digital economy and achieve long-term corporate benefits amidst an uncertain external environment through financial digital transformation remains a crucial concern for entrepreneurs and scholars. The objective of this study was to scrutinize the effect of financial digital transformation on financial performance among 2566 of China’s A-share listed companies in the hopes of providing informative recommendations for businesses that are currently undertaking or planning to undertake financial digital transformation. To investigate the mechanism by which financial performance among A-share listed companies was influenced by digital transformation, a panel data regression model was utilized. The findings suggest that, first and foremost, financial digital transformation significantly boosts corporate financial performance for A-share listed companies, and this enhancement is sustainable over time. For every 1% growth in financial digital transformation, corporate financial performance improves by 1.1%. Corporate financial performance is projected to improve by 29.8% during the next three financial years. Secondly, information symmetry and operational expenses function as intermediaries in the financial digital transformation process that affects firm financial performance. For every 1% increase in financial digital transformation, the information symmetry level of firms grows by 15.1%, while the operational cost rate declines by 0.8%. Thirdly, information disclosure and operating costs play a chained intermediary role. Every 1% increase in the level of information symmetry reduces the operating cost rate by 2.3%. Fourthly, in comparison to enterprises in eastern provinces, businesses located in central and western provinces are better positioned to improve their financial performance by undertaking a financial digital transformation.

Purpose: This paper is about equity crowdfunding syndicates as a form of entrepreneurial finance and looks specifically at the lead investors' human capital and their ability to raise funds.Design/methodology/approach: The authors develop regressions on a unique hand-collected dataset of 178 lead investors taken from the US-based platform AngelList.Findings: Results indicate that lead investors' specialized human capital has a positive effect on their syndicate fundraising performance. However, it does not find a significant effect of general human capital. It also finds that specialized human capital is mediated by the reputation of the lead investor on the platform.Research limitations/implications: This study extends human capital theory in the crowdfunding context by providing a more comprehensive portrait of human capital and in doing so, shifts the focus from an entrepreneur to an investor perspective, an approach much neglected in the crowdfunding literature.Originality/value: This study advances the current knowledge on crowdfunding as it is one of the first to understand syndicate investment as an innovative and alternative platform-based financial channel. It also contributes to the current debate on the role of human capital in crowdfunding and more generally to entrepreneurial finance.

We investigate an important platform‐based technological innovation—equity crowdfunding syndicates—where crowd investors (co‐investors) use online platforms to co‐invest with lead investors in the form of syndicates into innovative startups. We concentrate on lead investors and what drives their success in drawing crowd investors to co‐fund innovative startups. Based on conceptualizing internal and external social capital, we investigate the effects of lead investors' social capital developed inside and outside the crowdfunding platform on their fundraising success. Using data from a sample of 178 individual lead investors on AngelList, we find that internal social capital is, as predicted, positively associated with lead investors' fundraising success. Surprisingly, the joint use of internal and external social capital will harm lead investors' fundraising success. This paper contributes to the debate on the role of social capital in crowdfunding and innovation management more generally by unveiling its competing effects and complex nuances as part of a crowdfunding investment strategy.