As startups, caracterizadas pela proposta de oferecer um produto ou serviço inovador, com alto grau de incerteza de sucesso, normalmente têm a necessidade de financiamento por capital externo para que consigam atingir seu crescimento. Em razão das incertezas que cercam uma empresa startup, normalmente, são raros os financiamentos disponíveis por bancos ou empresas financeiras. Como forma de suprir este buraco no financiamento de startups, encontram-se os investidores anjo, investidores individuais que caracterizam-se por investirem seu próprio capital em startups, em troca de percentuais na gestão da empresa. O perfil destes investidores anjo têm sido objeto de estudo em diversos países, principalmente no entendimento dos critérios que estes investidores utilizam para chegar à decisão de investimento. Entretanto, pouco se sabe sobre os critérios utilizados pelos investidores anjo brasileiros para decisão de investirem em startups. Desta forma, a presente pesquisa tem como objetivo analisar os critérios que determinam a decisão de Investidores Anjo brasileiros em investirem em startups. A fim de cumprir os objetivos desta pesquisa, a metodologia foi estruturada na natureza exploratório-descritiva com abordagem qualitativa. A coleta de dados foi realizada por meio de entrevistas junto a investidores anjo e especialistas, onde são analisadas a importância dada pelos entrevistados aos 17 critérios de decisão de investimento mais citados por investidores anjo na literatura internacional, bem como os critérios classificados como mais importantes. Observou-se que os investidores anjo brasileiros assemelham-se aos de outros países ao darem importância a grande maioria dos critérios levantados. Os critérios citados de maior importância foram de \"rentabilidade real\", \"interesse e benefícios do produto\", \"inovação e qualidade do produto\" e \"ROI/valorização\". Foi possível identificar similaridade entre investidores anjo brasileiros e investidores anjo de outros países acerca da importância dos critérios de decisão identificados na literatura. A pesquisa identificou limitações acerca do acesso aos investidores anjo brasileiros, de informações na literatura nacional e de informações sobre o perfil dos investidores anjo no Brasil. Notou-se que o investidor anjo ainda é pouco estudado pelos pesquisadores brasileiros, não sendo possível identificar muitas pesquisas sobre este tema. Esta pesquisa contribui ao ser um passo para o entendimento de um contexto ainda pouco explorado, o processo de decisão de investimento de investidores anjo em startups, bem como ao identificar os critérios de decisão de investimento considerados importantes pelos investidores anjo brasileiros. / Startups, characterized by the proposal to offer an innovative product or service with a high degree of uncertainty of success, usually have the need for foreign capital financing to help them reach their growth. Given the uncertainties surrounding a startup company, seldom are there funds available from banks or financial companies. In order to meet this gap in startups financing, one can find business angels, who are individual investors characterized by investing their own capital in startups. What they ask in return is a percentage in the company\'s management. The profile of these business angels has been studied in several countries, especially in the understanding of the criteria that these investors use to reach the investment decision. However, little is known about the criteria used by brazilian angel investors as far as this decision to invest in startups is concerned. Thus, the current study aims at analyzing the criteria that determine the brazilian business angels\' decision to invest in startups. In order to meet the objectives of this research, the methodology was structured in exploratory and descriptive qualitative approach. Data collection was performed through interviews with business angels and experts, where there was an analysis of the importance given by these respondents to the seventeen investment decision criteria most frequently cited by business angels in the international literature, as well as the criteria rated as the most important ones. It was observed that brazilian business angels are similar to those from other countries as they acknowledge importance to the majority of surveyed criteria. The most important criteria cited were \"realistic profitability\", \"interest and benefits of the product\", \"innovation and product quality\" and \"ROI/valuation\". It was possible to identify similarities between brazilian business angels and angels from other countries concerning the importance of decision criteria identified in the literature. The research spotted limitations concerning the access to brazilian business angels, on the national literature and information on the profile of business angels in Brazil. It was observed that the business angel is still little studied by brazilian researchers, what makes it unable to identify a lot of research on this topic. This research contributes for being a step towards the understanding of a still little explored context, the process of investment decision by the angel investors in startups as well as to identify the investment decision criteria considered important by Brazilian angel investors.

The diploma thesis deals with the different ways of investment in Private Equity. The work is focused on investment decision making, investment process and due diligence. In the analytical part, the author evaluates the results of the questionnaire, which focuses on the factors of investment decision. Factors that investment decisions are divided into three categories examined by the author.

För entreprenörer som arbetar med projekt i en "start up"- fas kan det vara svårt att lyckas med finansieringen. Detta beror på att det inte finns någon ekonomisk historik att visa upp för finansiärerna. För att lyckas få in tillräckligt med kapital för att kunna finansiera ett projekt kan man vända sig till olika typer av investerare. De vanligaste sättet är att man antingen vänder sig till banker, venture capital-bolag eller affärsänglar. Vad som motiverar dessa aktörer är olika, men det gemensamma för dessa aktörer är att det är svårt att få dem att investera i ett projekt. Under senare tid har det dock skapats ett nytt sätt för entreprenörer att få in kapital till sina projekt. Detta nya fenomen kallas för crowdfunding, vilket innebär att entreprenörer lägger ut sina projekt på internet. Entreprenören beskriver sig själv, sitt projekt och motiverar vad pengarna ska användas till. Sedan har vem som helst möjlighet att investera valfri summa till projektet, som motprestation får finansiären någon form av belöning. Crowdfunding har under de senaste åren blivit mer och mer populärt och fler entreprenörer väljer att använda sig av det. Denna studie syftar till att undersöka vilka faktorer som lockar individer till att satsa kapital i crowdfunding-projekt. Studien har baserats på information från 260 stycken projekt där olika faktorer har tagits fram som kan tänkas påverka möjligheten att lyckas. Dessa faktorer baseras på entreprenören, projektets produkt samt investerarens avkastningen. / Entrepreneurs that are in a "start-up" phase within a project they are working on finds it hard to find investors. This could appear within almost every project when a financial history don't exist to show the investors. If a project successfully wants to be financed there are different ways and options to explore. One can turn to either venture capital or business angels. What motivates these investors varies in different projects. What the investors all have in common is that it's hard to get them to invest in a project. During the last years there have been a new way for entrepreneurs to raise capital, called crowdfunding. Through crowdfunding, entrepreneurs can add their project/projects online on websites. The entrepreneurs describes themselves, their project and what the money will be used to. Through these websites it's open for the public to donate an amount of money in to the project and in return the investor gets some form of reward. This form of investment has become more and more common throughout the years and today there are many investment made with this method. This study is a research that shows which factors whom makes the investors interested to invest in a crowdfunding- project. The study is based on information from 260 different projects were we were able to discover some factors which can increase the possibility to succeed. These factors are based on the entrepreneur, the projects product and the investors return.

För entreprenörer som arbetar med projekt i en "start up"- fas kan det vara svårt att lyckas med finansieringen. Detta beror på att det inte finns någon ekonomisk historik att visa upp för finansiärerna. För att lyckas få in tillräckligt med kapital för att kunna finansiera ett projekt kan man vända sig till olika typer av investerare. De vanligaste sättet är att man antingen vänder sig till banker, venture capital-bolag eller affärsänglar. Vad som motiverar dessa aktörer är olika, men det gemensamma för dessa aktörer är att det är svårt att få dem att investera i ett projekt. Under senare tid har det dock skapats ett nytt sätt för entreprenörer att få in kapital till sina projekt. Detta nya fenomen kallas för crowdfunding, vilket innebär att entreprenörer lägger ut sina projekt på internet. Entreprenören beskriver sig själv, sitt projekt och motiverar vad pengarna ska användas till. Sedan har vem som helst möjlighet att investera valfri summa till projektet, som motprestation får finansiären någon form av belöning. Crowdfunding har under de senaste åren blivit mer och mer populärt och fler entreprenörer väljer att använda sig av det. Denna studie syftar till att undersöka vilka faktorer som lockar individer till att satsa kapital i crowdfunding-projekt. Studien har baserats på information från 260 stycken projekt där olika faktorer har tagits fram som kan tänkas påverka möjligheten att lyckas. Dessa faktorer baseras på entreprenören, projektets produkt samt investerarens avkastningen. / Entrepreneurs that are in a "start-up" phase within a project they are working on finds it hard to find investors. This could appear within almost every project when a financial history don't exist to show the investors. If a project successfully wants to be financed there are different ways and options to explore. One can turn to either venture capital or business angels. What motivates these investors varies in different projects. What the investors all have in common is that it's hard to get them to invest in a project. During the last years there have been a new way for entrepreneurs to raise capital, called crowdfunding. Through crowdfunding, entrepreneurs can add their project/projects online on websites. The entrepreneurs describes themselves, their project and what the money will be used to. Through these websites it's open for the public to donate an amount of money in to the project and in return the investor gets some form of reward. This form of investment has become more and more common throughout the years and today there are many investment made with this method. This study is a research that shows which factors whom makes the investors interested to invest in a crowdfunding- project. The study is based on information from 260 different projects were we were able to discover some factors which can increase the possibility to succeed. These factors are based on the entrepreneur, the projects product and the investors return.

Business angels fulfil an important economic role in society by getting involved in early-stage ventures. This dissertation aspires to advance our knowledge of the governance strategies used by business angels in the venture relationship, based on the idea that the choice of governance strategies depends on the individual venture but is also shaped by the strategies adopted by any business angel network (BAN) the business angel is part of. Major findings are twofold. First, the analysis suggests that governance strategies are role-contingent. The role of the business angel vis-a-vis the venture changes, typically from outsider to insider, as the relationship transitions through different stages. Business angels should only use governance strategies that are perceived as legitimate for their role. Moreover, all strategies do not mix well and some may even neutralize each other when used together. The impact of the BAN on the action of the individual business angel is not straightforward: the formalization of a BAN will certainly restrict individual action, but, on the other hand, it seems that the BAN can also be useful for managing conflicts. Second, results indicate that conceptualizing the long-term dynamic of the investor-venture relationship in terms of any single theoretical perspective, be it agency theory, procedural justice, or norm-based influence, is too simplistic. The utility of each theoretical perspective is role-contingent: a business angel in the outsider role is better understood with agency theory, whereas a business angel in the insider role is better understood with norm-based influence theory. The empirical data on individual business angels comes mainly from 30 interviews with 21 business angels, and some supplementary data. The analysis of BANs is made differently and based on a different data set consisting of approximately 150 interviews with BAN members, civil servants, politicians, banks, accountants, and entrepreneurs. / <p>QC 20141104</p>

Although just a minority of all small firms in the UK, high-growth entrepreneurial ventures are becoming widely recognised for their role in job growth and economic prosperity. However, due to their inherently high-risk nature, many of these early-stage firms experience difficulty in securing outside finance from institutional investors, which ultimately limits their growth and economic potential. Fortunately, two investor types, business angels (BAs) and venture capitalists (VCs), do fund a small proportion of these entrepreneurial ventures, although they, especially BAs, often have much more financial capital available for such investments. Since many aspects of BA and VC investment processes remain unknown, it is hoped that a better understanding of how and why these investors fund particular investments may aid in further lessening the entrepreneurial funding problem. This research study, therefore, conducts the first-ever detailed comparison of the investment criteria and procedures of these two financiers across the full investment process. To make the study more robust, a theoretical base is adopted (based on agency theory) to form research hypotheses which propose that BAs and VCs in the UK may use different approaches to limit potential agency risks in their investments (i.e. the risks associated with an entrepreneur's potential misuse of the investor's money). Utilising data from 40 personal interviews and 262 questionnaire responses, this study empirically supports the main hypothesised notion that, although both investors reduce agency risks at all stages of the investment process, BAs place more emphasis on doing so ex-post investment (the incomplete contracts approach), whilst VCs stress doing so more ex-ante investment (the principal-agent approach). In supporting the hypothese, empirical information is gathered about each investment stage and each investor group's heterogeneity. Possible implications of these findings are then discussed in the hope of aiding, no matter how slightly, the funding efficiency of small entrepreneurial firms.

Univ., Diss.--Zugl.: Leipzig, 2004.

Wiss. Hochschule f. Unternehmensführung (WHU), Habil.-Schr.--Vallendar, 2003.

Universiẗat, Diss--Marburg, 2004.

Problemställning Samtidigt som svenskt entreprenörskap ökar (Bolagsverket, 2016) förefaller det finnas ett tydligt problem för nystartade företag att hitta finansiering till sin verksamhet (Svensson, 2011). Affärsänglar är individer som investerar pengar, och ibland tid i nystartade företag. Medan den formella riskkapitalmarknaden, som består av institutionella aktörer, är restriktiva när det kommer till investeringar i nystartade företag (Svensson, 2011) är affärsänglar mer benägna att investera i nystartade företag (Silver, 2008). Således argumenterar vi för att affärsänglar är en viktig stöttepelare för Sveriges entreprenörer som i sin tur är viktiga för den ekonomiska utvecklingen. Det saknas dock tidigare forskning som undersöker affärsänglarnas professionalisering. Professionalisering innebär att ett yrke utvecklas mot en profession. En professionalisering kan leda till ett mer effektivt yrkesutövande, varpå det är relevant att undersöka. Syfte Studiens syfte är att undersöka professionaliseringen av affärsänglar i Sverige. Detta görs mot bakgrund av flertalet faktorer som talar för att en professionalisering i viss mån har skett. Forskningsfråga Studien presenterar två stycken forskningsfrågor: Har affärsänglar professionaliserats i Sverige? Om så är fallet, hur har affärsänglar i Sverige professionaliserats? Resultat Studien tar en kvalitativ ansats där intervjuer, dokument och deltagande observationer ligger till grund för den empiriska studien. Resultatet av studien pekar på att det finns fyra olika grupper av affärsänglar, som alla har professionaliserats olika mycket. Resultatet uppnåddes genom att identifiera 14 stycken professionaliseringskrav som respektive grupp jämfördes mot. Kunskapsbidrag Studiens resultat bör sättas i relation till forskning från två områden; professionalisering samt affärsänglar. För det förstnämnda forskningsområdet bidrar studiens resultat med ett teoretiskt bidrag i form av en teoretisk modell som öppnar upp för möjligheten att undersöka professionalisering av yrken som inte än klassas som renodlade yrken i en traditionell bemärkelse. För det sistnämnda bidrar studien med ny empirisk kunskap om en annars relativt outforskad grupp individer. / Problematization At the same time as Swedish entrepreneurship increases (Bolagsverket, 2016), there appears to be a clear issue for newly started companies to find funding for their business (Svensson, 2011). Business angels are individuals who invest money, and sometimes their time in new businesses. While the formal venture capital market, which consists of institutional players, is restrictive when it comes to investments in start-ups (Svensson, 2011), business angels are more likely to invest in start-up companies (Silver, 2008). Thus, we argue that business angels are an important player for Swedish entrepreneurs, which in turn are important for the economic development. However, there is no prior research investigating the professionalization of business angels, which comprises the journey of becoming a profession. A professionalization process can lead to a more efficient profession, and it is therefore relevant to further investigate. Purpose The purpose of the study is to investigate the professionalization of business angels in Sweden. This is done considering several factors that indicate that a professionalization process has to some extent taken place. Research questions The study presents two research questions: Have business angels in Sweden been professionalized? If that is case, how have they professionalized? Results The study takes a qualitative approach in which interviews, documents and participatory observations form the basis of the empirical data. The result of the study indicates that there are four different groups of business angels, all of which have professionalized to different degrees. The result was achieved by identifying 14 professionalization requirements for which each group was tested against. Knowledge contribution The results of the study should be related to research from two areas; professionalization and business angels. For the former research area, the results of the study contribute with a theoretical contribution in the form of a theoretical model that opens the possibility of studying professionalization of professions not yet classified as pure professions in a traditional sense. For the latter, the study contributes with new empirical knowledge of an otherwise relatively unexplored group of individuals.