In many developed countries angel capital investment is the main source of external financing for high growth early-stage entrepreneurial companies. In spite of its importance, research in the angel capital market is still very limited. This is partly due the fact that data on angel capital investment is rare and unsystematic. This dissertation attempts to learn more about this important but not well-understood angel capital market. In particular, the first essay looks at the relationship between angels and venture capitalists in financing start-up ventures. This essay juxtaposes a complements hypothesis – angel financing is a springboard for venture capital, against a substitutes hypothesis – angels and venture capital are distinct financing methods that ought not to be combined. The result shows that companies that obtain angel financing subsequently obtain less venture capital, and vice versa. On average venture capitalist make larger investments, but this alone cannot explain the substitutes pattern. In addition, this essay reports that companies funded by venture capital perform better than angel backed companies, as measured by successful exits or revenues. Mixing angel and venture capital funding tends to be associated with worse performance. The second essay studies the role of geographic distance between the angel investors and the investee companies on the angel investment performance. This essay conjectures four possible channels that can explain the relationship between distance and the return to angel investment. It shows that distance has a positive relationship with the return to angel investment. Examining the effect of distance across different categories of angel investors, across angel investor’s locations, and across company’s location, this essay finds evidence that this positive relationship is mainly driven by the “objectivity effect”, which suggests that distant investors can evaluate the prospect of a company more objectively than close-by investors, who tend to be more biased in their judgments. The third essay examines why entrepreneurs find it generally hard to find angel investors. This essay modifies the standard search model introduced by Pissarides to explain this phenomenon. In this model, angels hide to force entrepreneurs to engage in a costly search. The result shows that angel investors adopt the hiding strategy to screen out low-productivity entrepreneurs who would otherwise inundate angels. Interestingly, social surplus is often increased when angels hide, though in some circumstances surplus may fall. / Graduate / 0505 / danvo@uvic.ca

Early-stage investors increasingly impact the surging video game industry. Thus, understanding their thought processes provides vital insight for entrepreneurs. This thesis explores how early-stage investors assess investment opportunities in the Swedish game industry by presenting semistructured interviews with three prominent angel investors. Thematic analysis was performed on the interview data to extract significant themes regarding investors’ thought processes. Themes were then contrasted with previous research on investor decision-making to establish emergent patterns in the game industry. Results indicate that investors regard the composition and reliability of the team and pursue long-term involvement in companies. It is particularly important for teams to inspire trust. If investors can connect to teams personally, it facilitates successful long-term collaboration. Future research should focus on interviewing investors in other flourishing game markets, such as the U.S. or Chinese. Congruent results may lay the foundation for a framework to aid developers with acquiring funds in the broader game industry.

No description available.

Thesis (MComm (Business Management))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: For any country, including South Africa, new business development is critical for the sustained growth and development of the economy. In this study the impact of the transfer of knowledge and skills by the investor to the investee and the impact on the success of private equity, venture capital and angel investments, new business development in South Africa and internationally is researched. A literature study is firstly conducted to determine, from literature, the importance of the transfer of knowledge and skills by the investor to the investee of a new venture. The results from recent research conducted in the United States of America and Europe is also included to determine current global development tendencies. The research highlighted factors, other than merely having a good business idea, which determines the success of a new venture. The global research clearly demonstrates that the active involvement of the angel investors, venture capitalists and private equity investors in new ventures, through the transfer of knowledge and skills, determines the success of the investment in new business development. The survey that was done in the South African venture capital environment seems to support this outcome although the South African market sector is in the early stages of development and focuses mainly on private equity and not so much new business development. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Nuwe besigheidsontwikkeling is krities vir enige land, ingeslote Suid Afrika, om deurlopende en volhoubare groei en ontwikkeling van die land se ekonomie te verseker. Hierdie studie het die impak van die oordrag van kennis en vaardighede op die sukses van privatekapitaal- , waagkapitaal- (alternatiewelik – nuwebesigheidsbeleggings) en engelbeleggings in nuwebesigheidsbeleggings vir Suid Afrika en Internationaal, nagevors. ‘n Literatuurstudie om die belangrikeid van die oordrag van kennis en vaardighede, van die belegger na die nuwe besighede, in die gemelde belggingsprosesse vir nuwebesigheidsbeleggings te bepaal, is eerstens gedoen. Die uitkoms van navorsings wat onlangs in die Verenigde State van Amerika en Europa gedoen is, is ook ingesluit om die huidige internationale ontwikkelingstendense rakende nuwebesigheidsbeleggings te bepaal. Die navorsing het die klem geplaas op ander belangrike faktore anders as slegs ’n goeie besigheidsidee, wat die sukses van ‘n nuwe besigheid bepaal. Die internasionale navorsing het duidelik aangedui dat die aktiewe betrokkenheid van beleggers, engel-, waagkapitaal en privatebeleggers, deur die oordrag van kennis en vaardigheid aan die nuwe besigheid, die sukses van die nuwe besigheid en dus die belegging bepaal. Die opname wat in Suid Afrika gedoen is, ondersteun hierdie internasionale bevinding alhoewel die Suid Afrikaanse nuwebesigheidsbeleggings sektor in die vroeë stadium van ontwikkeling is en daar hoofsaaklik gekonsentreer word op privatekapitaalbeleggings, “private equity investments”, terwyl die werklike nuwebesigheidsbeleggings nie soveel aandag geniet nie.

This bachelor thesis evaluates how high-engagement investors contribute to the development and growth of for-profit social enterprises by providing both funding and non-financial advisory services focused on organisational capacity-building. Case studies on three social enterprises describe the structure of funding deals, what considerations affected these due to the high social character of the ventures, and inquire into the relationship between social enterprise and their investors to evaluate how the investors provide value for their investees beyond capital. The investor types involved include commercial venture capital funds, angel investors, accelerator programs and venture philanthropy funds; a sort of social impact investment fund which combines the high- engagement mentoring of venture capital funds with lower expectations on financial returns in exchange for higher demands on social impact. The findings indicate that high-engagement investors in general provide a wide range of services to the social enterprises studied, where strategic advisory services and networks introductions are identified as key enablers for development. Aligning philosophies on the combination of business and social impact is also identified as critical for a constructive relationship between investor and investee. The perceived value of venture philanthropy funding diverges between the cases; while filling an empty space in the social enterprise capital market, some findings question their capabilities and investment model. Apart from the initial research questions on how high-engagement investors add value to social enterprises, the study raises further questions on social enterprise funding in general and the issues that obstructs these organisations from introducing innovation and growth to underdeveloped markets.

Bakgrund Entreprenörer som startar nya företag kommer troligtvis att behöva antingen kapital, eller kompetens i hur ett företag drivs, men mest sannolikt är att de behöver både och. Affärs-änglar är individer som investerar sina privata pengar mestadels i företag som befinner sig i en utvecklingsfas eller en tidig tillväxtfas. Affärsänglar kan också bidra med icke-finansiella resurser till företag såsom kompetens, färdigheter, kunskap och erfarenhet. Problem/Syfte Vad kan entreprenörer som är i behov av både kapital och kompetens göra för att hitta den ”rätta” affärsängeln, hur kan entreprenören attrahera denna, samt vilka faktorer är avgö-rande för att en arbetsrelation med en affärsängel ska bli lyckad? Syftet med denna uppsats är att utifrån entreprenören som investeringsobjekt så väl som kapitalsökare, beskriva olika faktorer som entreprenörer kan beakta för att öka sina möjligheter till att inleda och genomföra ett lyckat samarbete med en affärsängel. Slutsats Vi fann ett antal faktorer som kan påverka utgången av en arbetsrelation med en affärsäng-el. Dessa är den personliga relationen, att entreprenörens behov stämmer överens med vad affärsängeln kan erbjuda, överensstämmande avsikter, och ett väl genomarbetat aktieägar-avtal. / Background Entrepreneurs who start a new venture will probably need either capital, or competence in how to run a business, but most likely they need them both. Business angels are individuals who invest their private money in companies in a start-up or early growth phase. Business angels can also contribute non-financial resources to companies such as competence, skills, knowledge and experience. Problem/Purpose What can entrepreneurs who are in need of both capital and competence do to find the “right” business angel, how can they attract these investors, and which factors are decisive for a successful working relationship with a business angel? The purpose of this thesis is, with a starting point in the entrepreneur as an investment project and capital seeker, to de-scribe a number of factors entrepreneurs can consider in order to increase their possibilities in initiating and carrying out a successful working relationship with a business angel. Conclusion The authors found a number of factors affecting the outcome of a working relationship with a business angel. These are the personal relationship, a match between the entrepre-neur’s needs and the business angel’s competence, an agreed agenda, and a thoroughly worked out shareholder agreement.

<p>Bakgrund</p><p>Entreprenörer som startar nya företag kommer troligtvis att behöva antingen kapital, eller kompetens i hur ett företag drivs, men mest sannolikt är att de behöver både och. Affärs-änglar är individer som investerar sina privata pengar mestadels i företag som befinner sig i en utvecklingsfas eller en tidig tillväxtfas. Affärsänglar kan också bidra med icke-finansiella resurser till företag såsom kompetens, färdigheter, kunskap och erfarenhet.</p><p>Problem/Syfte</p><p>Vad kan entreprenörer som är i behov av både kapital och kompetens göra för att hitta den ”rätta” affärsängeln, hur kan entreprenören attrahera denna, samt vilka faktorer är avgö-rande för att en arbetsrelation med en affärsängel ska bli lyckad? Syftet med denna uppsats är att utifrån entreprenören som investeringsobjekt så väl som kapitalsökare, beskriva olika faktorer som entreprenörer kan beakta för att öka sina möjligheter till att inleda och genomföra ett lyckat samarbete med en affärsängel.</p><p>Slutsats</p><p>Vi fann ett antal faktorer som kan påverka utgången av en arbetsrelation med en affärsäng-el. Dessa är den personliga relationen, att entreprenörens behov stämmer överens med vad affärsängeln kan erbjuda, överensstämmande avsikter, och ett väl genomarbetat aktieägar-avtal.</p> / <p>Background</p><p>Entrepreneurs who start a new venture will probably need either capital, or competence in how to run a business, but most likely they need them both. Business angels are individuals who invest their private money in companies in a start-up or early growth phase. Business angels can also contribute non-financial resources to companies such as competence, skills, knowledge and experience.</p><p>Problem/Purpose</p><p>What can entrepreneurs who are in need of both capital and competence do to find the “right” business angel, how can they attract these investors, and which factors are decisive for a successful working relationship with a business angel? The purpose of this thesis is, with a starting point in the entrepreneur as an investment project and capital seeker, to de-scribe a number of factors entrepreneurs can consider in order to increase their possibilities in initiating and carrying out a successful working relationship with a business angel.</p><p>Conclusion</p><p>The authors found a number of factors affecting the outcome of a working relationship with a business angel. These are the personal relationship, a match between the entrepre-neur’s needs and the business angel’s competence, an agreed agenda, and a thoroughly worked out shareholder agreement.</p>

This thesis explores the rapidly growing phenomenon of equity crowdfunding from the perspective of professional investors. The aim was to contribute to the relatively thin aca-demic field of equity crowdfunding, shedding light on why it is yet to be recognized as an important instrument for raising capital and provide suggestions for improvement. The data was collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews with Angel Investors that through their experience could identify benefits and constraints with equity crowd-funding not obvious to the crowd. Benefits of using equity crowdfunding platforms were outweighed by the identified constraints such as corporate governance issues, uncertainties concerning laws and regulations, high risk, and lack of intellectual capital. This eventually led to suggestions for improvements that included channelling the crowd investments through a mutual fund, and allowing the crowd to co-invest with Angel Investors to get around the constraints. Conclusively, the Angel Investors were positive towards the underlying ideology of equity crowdfunding of helping more entrepreneurial ventures reaching their full potential by tapping a previously unutilized source of capital, the crowd. However, there is scepticism to how the phenomenon is currently working in practice.

[pt] A economia mundial tem sofrido intensas mudanças nas últimas décadas. As pequenas e médias empresas ganham destaque na economia e revelam consigo a importância do mercado de capital de risco, que ajuda no desenvolvimento dessas empresas com auxílio financeiro e de conhecimento. Nas fases ainda mais iniciais destacam-se os investidores anjos, pessoas físicas com elevado capital social e financeiro que atuam de forma societária nessas empresas. Este trabalho descreve o advento da Economia Empreendedora, melhor adaptada às mudanças acima, e entra no universo do investidor anjo. Com base numa ampla revisão bibliográfica são descritos o investidor, seu ambiente e sua forma de atuação. Em seguida, pela aplicação de um questionário baseado no conhecimento obtido com a literatura, diversas barreiras nessa identificadas foram submetidas a uma pesquisa que constatou algumas semelhanças com os mercados internacionais e também peculiaridades do mercado brasileiro. Avaliou-se ainda o comportamento dos anjos frente a 17 variáveis políticas e econômicas. Esta parte da pesquisa é útil em especial para a avaliação das atuais políticas de incentivo a esta atividade e ao planejamento de outras. / [en] The World´s economy has changed a lot in the last decades. The small and medium size companies became more important and with them the venture capital, supplier of money and knowledge for these companies, also play an important role. In the first stages the angel investors, providers of social and financial capital for these companies, are more relevant. This work describes the origin of the Entrepreneurial Economy and enters into these investors universe. Based on an extensive bibliographic research it describes the angel investor, its environment and investment process. Latter, with research among Brazilian investors, the barriers fo und on the literature were submitted for their opinions. Many differences and similarities were found between Brazilian and the other markets. There were also evaluated the impact of 17 economic end political conditions, which are considerably important for the evaluation of actual and future political incentives to stimulate entrepreneurship.

[pt] A indústria de Capital de Risco tem recebido atenção significativa de formuladores de políticas, investidores e empreendedores em todo o mundo devido à sua história de sucesso em mercados desenvolvidos, especialmente nos Estados Unidos. No entanto, sua implementação em países em desenvolvimento enfrenta desafios que levam os investidores a se adaptar, especialmente nos estágios iniciais e mais arriscados. Nesses segmentos, outros investidores, como Anjos, Aceleradoras e Corporate Venture Capital (CVC), tornam o ambiente mais competitivo, fornecendo mais opções para empreendedores que buscam capital. No entanto, a literatura ainda não aborda os efeitos que esses investidores de diferentes perfis têm em suas startups investidas. O paradigma da escada financeira, que implica que os IVCs atuam apenas em estágios avançados, ainda está presente, mas isso tem mudado na última década nos Estados Unidos e mais recentemente no Brasil. Nesta tese, examinamos os efeitos de diferentes investidores em startups em estágios iniciais nos Estados Unidos e no Brasil por meio de três artigos de pesquisa relacionados. No primeiro artigo, realizamos uma revisão sistemática da literatura de CVC de 2005 a 2019, identificando mecanismos impulsionadores e efeitos em empreendimentos investidos. Isso fornece uma compreensão mais ampla dos múltiplos fatores que influenciam a relação entre investidores e empreendimentos, as diferenças nos perfis e incentivos de diferentes tipos de investidores de VC e como eles influenciam os empreendimentos. Este artigo também revela tendências e lacunas na literatura que orientam os artigos seguintes. No segundo artigo, investigamos os efeitos comparativos e conjuntos dos principais tipos de investidores de VC (IVC, CVC, Grupo de anjos e Aceleradoras) em 13.098 empreendimentos em estágios iniciais que receberam sua primeira rodada de investimento nos Estados Unidos de 2005 a 2016. Os resultados mostram que empreendimentos em estágios iniciais apoiados por IVCs alcançaram melhores resultados do que seus pares em todos os objetivos de estágios iniciais, contradizendo o efeito de marco esperado de investidores como Grupos de anjos e Aceleradoras e levantando questões sobre a validade de alguns aspectos do paradigma da escada financeira. No terceiro artigo, focamos nos resultados de 1.937 empreendimentos de estágio inicial que receberam seu primeiro investimento no Brasil entre 2000 e setembro de 2022. Examinamos empreendimentos apoiados por IVCs, CVCs, Anjos e Aceleradoras, e os resultados indicam diferenças significativas em relação aos EUA. No Brasil, os IVCs não apresentaram presença tão marcante como nos EUA, e o desempenho positivo esperado foi observado apenas em empreendimentos apoiados por IVCs altamente experientes. Além disso, os Anjos apresentaram o melhor desempenho para objetivos específicos de estágio inicial. No geral, nossa análise dos dois mercados demonstra diferenças significativas nos efeitos dos investidores de VC sobre o desempenho de empreendimentos de estágio inicial. O modelo de investidor IVC demonstra superioridade em relação aos seus pares no mercado americano, enquanto no Brasil, outros investidores também se destacam, especialmente Anjos. Essas diferenças podem ser devido a fatores no ambiente econômico local, moldando os perfis dos investidores e influenciando a maneira como eles operam no país. / [en] The Venture Capital industry has gained widespread attention from policymakers, investors, and entrepreneurs worldwide due to its success history in developed markets, particularly in the United States. How ever, its implementation in developing countries faces challenges that drive investors to adapt, particularly in the earliest and riskiest stages. In these segments, other investors, such as Angels, Accelerators, and Corporate Venture Capital (CVC), make the environment more competitive, providing more options to entrepreneurs seeking capital. Nevertheless, the literature still fails to address the effects these investors of different profiles have on their invested startups. The finance escalator paradigm, implying that IVCs only act in advanced stages, is still present, but this has been changing in the last decade in the US and more recently in Brazil. In this thesis, we examine the effects of different investors on early-stage startups in the US and Brazil through three related research articles. In the first article, we conduct a systematic review of the CVC literature from 2005 to 2019, identifying driving mechanisms and effects on invested ventures. This provides a broader understanding of the multiple factors influencing the relationship between investors and ventures, the differences in profiles and incentives of distinct types of VC investors, and how they influence ventures. This article also reveals trends and gaps in the literature that guide the following articles. In the second article, we investigate the comparative and joint effects of the main VC investor types (IVC, CVC, Angel Group, and Accelerator) on 13,098 early-stage ventures that received their first investment round in the US from 2005 to 2016. The results show that early-stage ventures backed by IVCs achieved better results than their peers in all early-stage goals, contradicting the milestone effect expected from investors like Angel Groups and Accelerators and raising questions on the validity of some aspects of the finance escalator paradigm. In the third article, we focus on outcomes for 1,937 early-stage ventures that received their first investment round in Brazil between 2000 and September 2022. We examine ventures backed by IVCs, CVCs, Angels, and Accelerators, and the results indicate significant differences from the US. In Brazil, IVCs have not shown a pervasive presence as in the US, and the expected positive performance was only true for ventures backed by highly experienced IVCs. Additionally, Angels revealed the best performance for specific early-stage goals. Overall, our analysis of the two markets demonstrates significant differences in the effects VC investors have on the performance of early-stage ventures. The IVC model investor demonstrates superiority over its peers in the American market, while in Brazil, other investors also stand out, especially Angels. These differences may be due to factors in the local economic environment, shaping investors profiles and influencing the way they operate in the country.