<p>Background: The growth of the venture capital industry has given birth to new relations between investors and entrepreneurial firms. Venture capital firms are by definition investors serving as an active partner which implies a deeper relation between investors and entrepreneurs than has been the case previously. This new situation leads to a number of questions. Do venture capitalists really act as active partners with a long term interest in the venture? Do they add any value besides capital? How important is their influence in the portfolio company's decision making process? </p><p>Purpose: The purpose of this study is to give a deeper understanding of the relation between venture capital firms and IT companies in the start-up phase. </p><p>Limitations: This study is limited to Swedish IT companies. We have further chosen to study the phenomenon from the portfolio company's point of view. A final limitation that has been made is to focus on companies financed by formal venture capital. </p><p>Realisation: Using theories treating interorganisational relations and adjacent theories treating power we have chosen to study the relation between venture capital firms and their portfolio companies. The empirical data was gathered through interviews with five entrepreneurial companies in the IT business. The studyhas been carried out with an approach similar to a qualitative case study. </p><p>Result: We have found that the venture capital firm is seen as a very devoted partner with a long term interest in the company and that their contribution of resources is important. Regarding its influence in the portfolio company's decision making process we have concluded that this is due to an informal power position resulting from their possession of critical resources. In particular we have found that the possession of capital gives rise to a very influential position in the portfolio company.</p>

<p>Avsikten med denna studie är att undersöka vilka motiv, påverkande faktorer och synsätt små IT-företag har när de väljer att ta in riskkapital som finansiering. Vi har utgått från tidigare forskning inom området för att identifiera vilka motiv och påverkande faktorer som kan förekomma och utifrån dessa byggt upp grunden för vår studie. Kapitaltillskott är det som naturligt känns som det mest primära motivet, vilket även vår studie har visat men det finns ändå en önskan om annan värdetillförsel i form av affärskompetens, nätverk och kontakter. Dessa önskemål har dock inte varit några huvudsakliga motiv för att inleda samarbete med riskkapitalisterna utan de kan mer ses som positiva sekundära motiv. </p><p>Motiven kapitaltillskott och tillförsel av affärskompetens samt nätverk och kontakter blir i sin tur påverkade av ett antal faktorer såsom företagets och produktens livscykelfas, ägande och kontroll, produkt och marknad samt ledningens erfarenhet och kompetens. Alla dessa både inre och yttre faktorer är mer eller mindre sammankopplade med varandra och påverkar beslutsfattarnas val om de ska ta in riskkapital eller välja någon annan form av externt kapital. Studien omfattar fyra små IT-företag och trots att företagen utifrån sett är lika genom att de alla har en eller flera unika IT-produkter, så har de ändå delvis olika synsätt på nyttan och effekten av finansiering med riskkapital. Två av företagen är totalt sett mer negativa medan två av dem är mer positiva. Av de två som är positiva är det bara det ena som idag har riskkapital och detta beror då på att alla ägarna inte har haft samma synsätt.</p>

Alma mater matters: The value of school ties in the venture capital industry. This paper examines the role and estimates the economic value of social networks tied to academic institutions in the venture capital industry. I show that having a shared academic background increases the likelihood of matching between entrepreneurs and venture capitalists by 57%. Similarly, a shared academic background increases the likelihood of matching between different venture capitalists by 42% when they syndicate portfolio company investments. Finally, a shared academic background improves portfolio company performance. For example, when an entrepreneur and a venture capitalist attended the same Top 3 academic institution, the likelihood that the investment will result in an initial public offering or acquisition increases by 42%. This is the incremental effect of having attended the same Top 3 academic institution. Taken together, these results provide strong evidence that shared academic backgrounds help reduce information gaps in the venture capital industry. Unveiling the secrets of the academy: Alumni networks and university endowment success. This paper shows that when university endowments become limited partners with venture capital firms, the performance of their connected portfolio companies improve relative to non-connected ones. Portfolio companies are connected when any of their entrepreneurs attended the corresponding universities for undergraduateor graduate studies. In a differences-in-differences design I compare initial public offering rates between connected- and non-connected venture capital investments in a treated- and an untreated cohort and estimate this effect to be 6%. Since the unconditional sample mean of initial public offerings is 10%, this is commensurate to a 60% increase in the unconditional initial public offering probability. This effect consists of two separate and potentially different effects, however. First, the effect of obtain a new university endowment as a limited partner, second, the effect of losing an already existing university endowment as a limited partner. Further analysis shows that the main effect is mostly driven by the latter. These results continue to hold in a rich set of robustness checks. Goldrush Dynamics of Private Equity. We present a simple dynamic model of entry and exit in a private equity market with heterogeneous fund managers, a depletable stock of target companies, and learning about investment profitability. Its predictions match a number of stylized facts: Aggregate fund activity follows waves with endogenous transitions from booms to busts. Supply and demand in the private equity market are inelastic, and the supply comoves with investment valuations. High industry performance precedes high entry, which in turn precedes low industry performance. Differences in fund performance are persistent, firsttime funds underperform the industry, and the first-time funds that are raised in boom periods are unlikely to be succeeded by follow-on funds. Fund performance and fund size are positively correlated across private equity firms, but negatively correlated across consecutive funds by the same firm. Finally, boom periods can make ”too much capital chase too few deals”. Ownership Matters: A Clinical Study of Investor Activism. This paper studies the involvement and engagement objectives of an activist investor in an institutional environment characterized by concentrated ownership. It highlights the heterogeneity of the investor’s activism and its focus on operational improvements. It emphasizes the ownership structure of the portfolio companies as important determinants of investor activism. Using a carefully selected set of peer companies, it is possible to show that the investor targets undervalued companies with operational slack that maintain open ownership structures. In particular, by avoiding to invest in companies with other active owners, e.g. families and industrial owners, and seeking to invest in companies with more institutional holdings, the investor ensures that there is not only scope for improvements. There is also a reasonable chance of exercising control. / <p>Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2010. Sammanfattning jämte 4 uppsatser.</p>

Background: The growth of the venture capital industry has given birth to new relations between investors and entrepreneurial firms. Venture capital firms are by definition investors serving as an active partner which implies a deeper relation between investors and entrepreneurs than has been the case previously. This new situation leads to a number of questions. Do venture capitalists really act as active partners with a long term interest in the venture? Do they add any value besides capital? How important is their influence in the portfolio company's decision making process? Purpose: The purpose of this study is to give a deeper understanding of the relation between venture capital firms and IT companies in the start-up phase. Limitations: This study is limited to Swedish IT companies. We have further chosen to study the phenomenon from the portfolio company's point of view. A final limitation that has been made is to focus on companies financed by formal venture capital. Realisation: Using theories treating interorganisational relations and adjacent theories treating power we have chosen to study the relation between venture capital firms and their portfolio companies. The empirical data was gathered through interviews with five entrepreneurial companies in the IT business. The studyhas been carried out with an approach similar to a qualitative case study. Result: We have found that the venture capital firm is seen as a very devoted partner with a long term interest in the company and that their contribution of resources is important. Regarding its influence in the portfolio company's decision making process we have concluded that this is due to an informal power position resulting from their possession of critical resources. In particular we have found that the possession of capital gives rise to a very influential position in the portfolio company.

Bakgrund: Idag kräver så gott som alla nya idéer riskvilligt kapital för att kunna ta sig till marknaden. Oavsett om finansiären är ett etablerat företag eller en enskild person är orsaken till risktagandet en förhoppning om god avkastning på investeringen. För att minimera risken och maximera avkastningen gäller det dels att generera tillräckligt med idéer att välja bland, dels att investera i livskraftiga idéer. Mycket få idéer är tillräckligt bra för att passera det nålsöga som finansiärernas urvalsprocess utgör och ta sig till marknaden. Syfte: Att bidra med kunskap om tre fenomen; riskkapitalbolags agerande för att skapa och finna idéer, etablerade företags agerande vid val av idéer att utveckla samt hur etablerade företags agerande i de tidiga delarna av innovationsprocessen, från idé-skapande till investeringsbeslut, kan skilja sig från riskkapitalbolagens agerande. Avgränsningar: Uppsatsen omfattar endast utveckling av teknik, eftersom det finns gott om både svenska riskkapitalbolag och svenska etablerade företag som sysslar med utveckling och finansiering inom området. Genomförande: Information om den praktiska genererings- och urvalsprocessen har in-hämtats genom djupintervjuer med fyra utredare på riskkapitalbolag samt tre utveck- lingsansvariga på väletablerade företag. Slutsatser: Riskkapitalbolagens arbete för att skapa och finna idéer begränsar sig till att delta i en mängd olika nätverk. De kan dock, till skillnad från de etablerade företagen, erbjuda god ekonomisk motivation åt sina entreprenörer. De etablerade företagen tycks vid val av idéer fokusera mycket hårt på att de ska passa kärnverksamheten, men lägger liten eller ingen vikt vid idégenererarens personliga egenskaper, vilka kanske är det mest centrala för riskkapitalbolagen. Företagen har slutligen högre tolerans för misslyckan- den, vilket speglas av bristen på tidigt såddkapital i dagens svenska riskkapitalbransch.

Avsikten med denna studie är att undersöka vilka motiv, påverkande faktorer och synsätt små IT-företag har när de väljer att ta in riskkapital som finansiering. Vi har utgått från tidigare forskning inom området för att identifiera vilka motiv och påverkande faktorer som kan förekomma och utifrån dessa byggt upp grunden för vår studie. Kapitaltillskott är det som naturligt känns som det mest primära motivet, vilket även vår studie har visat men det finns ändå en önskan om annan värdetillförsel i form av affärskompetens, nätverk och kontakter. Dessa önskemål har dock inte varit några huvudsakliga motiv för att inleda samarbete med riskkapitalisterna utan de kan mer ses som positiva sekundära motiv. Motiven kapitaltillskott och tillförsel av affärskompetens samt nätverk och kontakter blir i sin tur påverkade av ett antal faktorer såsom företagets och produktens livscykelfas, ägande och kontroll, produkt och marknad samt ledningens erfarenhet och kompetens. Alla dessa både inre och yttre faktorer är mer eller mindre sammankopplade med varandra och påverkar beslutsfattarnas val om de ska ta in riskkapital eller välja någon annan form av externt kapital. Studien omfattar fyra små IT-företag och trots att företagen utifrån sett är lika genom att de alla har en eller flera unika IT-produkter, så har de ändå delvis olika synsätt på nyttan och effekten av finansiering med riskkapital. Två av företagen är totalt sett mer negativa medan två av dem är mer positiva. Av de två som är positiva är det bara det ena som idag har riskkapital och detta beror då på att alla ägarna inte har haft samma synsätt.

There are many different forms of financing for small businesses and two common financing options mentioned in the study, bank loans and Venture Capital.Venture Capital is a form of risk capital financing, investing in unlisted stock market. The feature of the arrangement is that those people are trying to find companies that can offer unique, attractive and in demand products on a strong growing market. Since VC-firms are taking a big risk in cooperation with the investment, the VC-company strong demands while assessments are made on the company will generate a return in the future. Bank loans are the most common form of financing for companies in the market. Requirements and assessment under the law is hard especially for small businesses because financing entails high risks. Banks require that the liquidity management in the enterprise should be stable because the bank's main objective is to repayment of debt and the interest payable on the capital. The purpose of this study is to examine the requirements and assessments VC-firms and banks make use of the financing of small businesses.

En uppsats om Venture capital-företags exitprocess och de faktorer som påverkar under processens gång

This thesis has been carried out within the framework of the Master of ScienceProgramme in Sociotechnical Systems Engineering and performed for the SwedishTrade Council in London. The author investigates how the Swedish Trade Councilcan facilitate and bridge the contacts between venture capitalists in the UK andhigh-tech start-ups in Sweden. High-tech ventures in the start-up phases often face a challenge in accumulatingsufficient financial resources and skills to successfully move from concept stage tobusiness, particularly within the life sciences’. High costs associated to time consumingand demanding product development cycles may require external investors whichprovide venture capital and expertise. However, many face difficulties in attractingventure capital partly due to the so-called equity gap, which relates to financiersunwillingness for taking on risk and investing in the early-stages. The study shows that venture capital largely rely on local networks and are limited intheir investments’ geographical distribution. The interviewed market players alsoemphasise the importance of local networks in the investment processes. Given thesecharacteristics, it may be difficult for a Swedish company seeking venture capitalabroad without help from intermediaries. Although there is a role to fill forintermediaries in assisting in the investment discovery process, it is likely to provedifficult over time as tasks become increasingly cumbersome.

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) issues are becoming more and more significant for comprehensive evaluation of companies responsible investing activities. Over the years, the growth in corporate responsibility to the society and policies towards environmental consciousness has necessitated the need for comprehensive ESG integration into investment decision-making process and the impact of such activities on company‟s financial performance. Although, studies suggest that there is an increasing trend in ESG considerations among large-cap companies and public investors, little have been written about the link with private investors. Venture capital and private equity investors have an important role in shaping current innovative companies to become future leaders in the market and therefore posses the ability to influence entrepreneurs towards sustainability by incorporating ESG issues in their investment selection processes. This study sought to find out if venture capital and private equity investors consider ESG issues in their activities and if so, do cultural and institutional contexts in which they operate have any effect on their considerations? We have used two of the most advanced venture capital and private equity industries in the world – USA and UK to analysed the response of this sector to ESG issues. Essential ESG factors have been coded using content analysis method for 122 companies from both countries relating to how they practise and integrate environmental, social and corporate governance issues into their investment decision process. Statistical multivariate analysis was conducted with SPSS to analyse data gathered. Our findings revealed that in general venture capital and private equity investors are responding to calls for ESG considerations in their activities, with almost all studied companies reporting some form of ESG issues on their corporate website. However, majority of them are just at the initial stage of mentioning with little information on how it is been used as part of investment selection criteria. Results of the study also show that, investors in environmental related products and services (Cleantech) have higher levels of ESG considerations than other investors. An indication that investor‟s who finance innovative companies that provide solutions to current environmental problems do impact more positively on society. In addition, findings also confirmed earlier studies that differences in cultural and institutional contexts between countries do affect behaviour and values of companies. Thus, a country with strong regulations and incentives towards sustainability will impact on corporate culture that will increase ESG considerations among venture capital and private equity investors. Therefore, our study concluded that there is an appreciable levels of ESG consideration among venture capital and private equity investor‟s, however investors need to increase their considerations by committing more resources to environmental solutions and social issues such as clean technologies and community philanthropy.