Pitching as a Communication Technology and Pitch as a Tool for Investor Relations in the Digital Environment

One of the modern business communication technologies actively used in Investor Relations is pitching, which is usually defined as a brief presentation of a new project or idea for the purpose of selling or obtaining investment. Pitching can be referred to one of the types of corporate proposals initiated by a business entity to establish business relations with partners, in this case with the investment community. The integral characteristic of all corporate offers including the pitch, coming from the business actor is the concept "profit", while the differential characteristics are based on the characteristics of the source, the audience, the object, the purpose of communication and the function. When pitching, the entrepreneur has to convince potential investors of the financial benefits of the project, the growth of its profitability and the low level of risks when investing (buying shares). The pitch should give clear, unbiased information about the new project, supported by necessary verbal and visual arguments, in a concise, "catchy" form, in order to win investors' positive decision.Nowadays digital communications play ever increasing role in preparation and conducting of pitching sessions, which increase efficiency of pitching through multimedia, interactivity, hypertextuality, convergence of various forms and kinds of content and others. Digital packing of information increases the speed of communication, involving more and more participants who can exchange not only information, but also communicative roles.The purpose of this paper is to consider the specifics of the use of the pitching communicative technology in the practice of Investor Relations and to identify the specifics of pitching as a tool of personal communication between a pitcher and investors in the digital environment.The research was based on randomly selected 45 pitches presented by entrepreneurs in the reality shows "Shark Tank" (USA) and "Dragon's Den" (UK), posted on digital platforms of ABC and BBC TV channels.