Publication Type
Working Paper
Version
publishedVersion
Publication Date
9-2025
Abstract
We investigate whether collaborations with established incumbents bolster innovation and access to capital for FinTech start-ups. Collaborations increase patent applications and raise both short-and long-term citations. Collaborations with finance incumbents stimulate finance and technology citations and boost both short-and long-horizon venture capital fundraising. These effects persist after addressing endogeneity and conducting additional robustness tests. Theoretically, our findings test the resource based theory in the FinTech ecosystem and enrich the open innovation literature by showing that, despite power asymmetries, FinTech start-ups can sustain innovative momentum and capture innovation gains via collaborations with incumbents. Collaborations function as credible signals that confer capital market certification. Practically, the results suggest that policymakers should encourage collaborations within the FinTech ecosystem to support the development of the financial services industry.
Keywords
FinTech, collaborations, innovation, fundraising, resource based theory
Discipline
Finance and Financial Management | Technology and Innovation
Research Areas
Integrative Research Areas
First Page
1
Last Page
38
Identifier
10.2139/ssrn.5437021
Publisher
SSRN
Citation
COJOIANU, Theodor Florian; HELBING, Pia; PAZITKA, Vladimir; WOJCIK, Dariusz; and XIAO, Beiyun.
Banking on incumbents: how do FinTech start-ups benefit from collaborations. (2025). 1-38.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cis_research/465
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5437021