Firms‘ resource base is one of the determinants of their capacity to innovate. When firms’ internal base of financial, intangible or technical resources is not sufficient to realize innovation projects, resources provided by other stakeholders can mitigate innovation constraints. This cumulative dissertation intends to shed light on innovation-related collaborations and interactions of three specific kinds of actors. The first article investigates the role innovation plays for investors when screening and evaluating potential investment targets and explains to which extent the investors’ behavior re-orients towards the implementation of innovation-pushing measures once being invested. Also, the second article refers to the interaction between investors and innovative firms: Subsequent to a derivation of an industry-specific business model pattern, the second article analyzes whether and how financing of new and innovative digital health ventures differ between Europe and USA. Adopting a single case study approach, the third article focuses on the interaction between corporate accelerators and innovative firms and identifies shortcomings of Telefonica’s corporate accelerator Wayra.:1 Introduction 2 Theoretical background of dissertation 3 Purpose and focus of dissertation 4 Overview and summaries of dissertation articles 5 First article: The Role of Innovation in Venture Capital and Private Equity Investments in Different Investment Phases 6 Second article: Venture Capital in the Digital Health Industry: Analyzing and Comparing Funding Environment and Business Models of Digital Health Start-ups in USA and Europe 7 Third article: Start-ups in a Corporate Accelerator: What is Satisfying, What is Relevant and What can Corporates Improve? 8 Contribution of dissertation 9 Limitations of dissertation 10 Future Research 11 References

Bakgrund: Nya bolag är en viktig del i ett lands ekonomiska kretslopp. Det är där nya arbetsplatser, innovation och tillväxt skapas. Nya och unga företag kallas ofta för startup-bolag och startas av en eller flera grundare. En viktig källa för finansiering av dessa företag är s.k. venture capital. Investeringsprocessen och de urvalskriterierna, samt det stödet som en venture capitalist kan komma att erbjuda är av fundamental betydelse för hur industrin fungerar och utvecklas. Syfte: Studiens syfte är att undersöka och analysera vilka steg som kännetecknar VC-bolagens investeringsprocess och de kriterier som portföljbolagen måste uppfylla för att ha en chans att attrahera riskkapital. Vidare ämnar studien att analysera hur VC-bolagen jobbar för att utveckla sina portföljbolag genom utökat engagemang och involvering i post-investmentfasen, samt deras exit ur ett investeringsobjekt. Genomförande: Studien har baserats på tidigare forskning inom ämnesområdet som sedan analyserats via en deduktiv ansats. Information har inhämtats från kvalitativa undersökningar i form av semi-strukturerade intervjuer med kända aktörer inom venture capital-industrin. Slutsats: Studien fastställer att alla VC:s genomför en sekventiell investeringsprocess för att upptäcka intressanta objekt. Av störst betydelse i investeringsbeslutet är faktorer kopplade till humankapitalet, dock finns det även ytterligare kriterier som produkt, marknad och genomförbarhet som påverkar beslut om investering. VC:s tenderar att aktivt arbeta med sina portföljbolag och avslutar sitt engagemang med en exit. Studien finner inte att investerare arbetar med en fördefinierad exitstrategi. / Background: New enterprises are an important cog in the machinery of the economy. Newly founded companies are often referred to as startups and compile of one or more entrepreneurs. An important source of financing for these enterprises is venture capital. The investment process, the criteria’s used by investors and the support that they can come to provide are essential for the venture capital industries operation. Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate and analyze the process that VC-companies use when searching for potential investments. Furthermore, the study intends to give an overview of the criteria’s used by VC:s in their final decision making and what measures are taken to develop the portfolio company in the post-investment phase. The study also touches upon the exit-strategies implemented by the investors. Implementation: The essay uses a qualitive and deductive approach, where earlier concluded research is analyzed and compared to the interviews conducted during the study. Conclusion: The study finds that VC:s implement a process that is comprised of sequential steps to identify interesting companies. During the evaluation investors put emphasis on the quality of the entrepreneur and managerial team. However, they also consider other factors related to product, market and viability of the project. Investors try to add value to their portfolio companies in the post-investment phase. The investment is completed through an exit, or cashing-out from the portfolio company. The study does not conclude that investors follow a predefined exit strategy.

Eighty-five percent of all firms operating in Nigeria are small-and medium-sized business enterprises (SMEs) and contribute almost 55% to the gross domestic product (GDP) in Nigeria. Capital flight and other growth inhibitors pose threats to the sustainability of SMEs in Nigeria. This exploratory multiple-case study was to determine strategies SME leaders use to sustain business operations in Nigeria. The study participants consisted of 15 SME leaders from 3 regional manufacturing firms who had successfully implemented strategies to sustain SMEs in Nigeria. Bertalanffy's general systems theory and Freeman's stakeholder theory were the conceptual frameworks used in the research. The data collection processes included semistructured interviews and reviewing company documents. After analyzing the interview data and validating through member checking, 5 core themes emerged during the data analysis process: creating new markets, encouraging opportunity for sustainable growth, securing additional funding sources, employee participation in decision making, and gaining competitive advantages. The findings may promote social change among the business community leaders by identifying essential characteristics to improve the posterity of SMEs in Nigeria.

Thesis. 1975. M.C.P.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning. / Bibliography: leaves 138-139. / M.C.P.

Author of this dissertation focuses on venture capital financing in the Czech Republic. Individual aspects of venture capital financing from the perspective of investors and also businesses are researched and evaluated in this work and formulated proposals for changes that may lead to the development of venture capital financing in the Czech Republic .This research is based on findings published in foreign scientific journals and own research. This dissertation has several scientific objectives. It is necessary to identify the evaluation criteria used by the investors to evaluate the proposed business plans. It is also important to research the nonfinancial added value and to determine the forms of support businesses receive from the investors. The final objective is to identify the limitations of venture capital financing in the Czech Republic. A list of recommendations that should improve the condi-tions of venture capital financing is formulated based on these identified limitations. Primary research was conducted with the help of questionnaires and interviews. Resulting qualitative data was evaluated with the help of Microsoft Excel. Thorough analysis of the qualitative data allowed the formulation of conclusions which can be found in the final part of this work. This dissertation provides a complex view of venture capital financing in the Czech Republic, its specifics, conditions and limitations.

The Transformer, an attention-based deep learning architecture, has shown promising capabilities in both Natural Language Processing and Computer Vision. Recently, it has also been applied to time series classification, which has traditionally used statistical methods or the Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU). The aim of this project was to apply multivariate time series classification to evaluate Transformer-based models, in comparison with the traditional GRUs. The evaluation was done within the problem of startup success prediction at a venture and private equity firm called EQT. Four different Machine Learning (ML) models – the Univariate GRU, Multivariate GRU, Transformer Encoder, and an already existing implementation, the Time Series Transformer (TST) – were benchmarked using two public datasets and the EQT dataset which utilized an investor-centric data split. The results suggest that the TST is the best-performing model on EQT’s dataset within the scope of this project, with a 47% increase in performance – measured by the Area Under the Curve (AUC) metric – compared to the Univariate GRU, and a 12% increase compared to the Multivariate GRU. It was also the best, and third-best, performing model on the two public datasets. Additionally, the model also demonstrated the highest training stability out of all four models, and 15 times shorter training times than the Univariate GRU. The TST also presented several potential qualitative advantages such as utilizing its embeddings for downstream tasks, an unsupervised learning technique, higher explainability, and improved multi-modal compatibility. The project results, therefore, suggest that the TST is a viable alternative to the GRU architecture for multivariate time series classification within the investment domain. With its performance, stability, and added benefits, the TST is certainly worth considering for time series modeling tasks. / Transformern är en attention-baserad arkitektur skapad för djupinlärning som har demonsterat lovande kapacitet inom både naturlig språkbehandling och datorseende. Nyligen har det även tillämpats på tidsserieklassificering, som traditionellt har använt statistiska metoder eller GRU. Syftet med detta projekt var att tillämpa multivariat tidsserieklassificering för att utvärdera transformer-baserade modeller, i jämförelse med de traditionella GRUerna. Jämförelsen gjordes inom problemet med att klassificera vilka startup-företag som är potentiellt framgångsrika eller inte, och gjordes på ett risk- och privatkapitalbolag som heter EQT. Fyra olika maskininlärningsmodeller – Univariat GRU, Multivariat GRU, Transformer Encoder och en redan existerande implementering, TST – jämfördes med hjälp av två offentliga datamängder och EQT-datamängden som använde sig av en investerarcentrerad datauppdelning. Resultaten tyder på att TST är den modellen som presterar bäst på EQT:s datauppsättning inom ramen för detta projekt, med en 47% ökning i prestanda – mätt med AUC – jämfört med den univariata GRUn och en ökning på 12% jämfört med den multivariata GRUn. Det var också den bäst och tredje bäst presterande modellen på de två offentliga datamängderna. Modellen visade även den högsta träningsstabiliteten av alla fyra modellerna och 15 gånger kortare träningstider än den univariata GRUn. TST visade även flera potentiella kvalitativa fördelar som att använda dess inbäddningar för nedströmsuppgifter, en oövervakad inlärningsteknik, högre förklarabarhet och förbättrad multimodal kompatibilitet. Projektresultaten tyder därför på att TST är ett gångbart alternativ till GRUarkitekturen för multivariat tidsserieklassificering inom investeringsdomänen. Med sin prestanda, stabilitet och extra fördelar är TST verkligen värt att överväga för tidsseriemodelleringsproblem.

In this thesis, an econometric analysis has been conducted in order to research the rate of new business creation that venture capital investments potentially generate. Data was gathered from 32 OECD countries between the years 2006-2017, to establish to what degree TEA (total entrepreneurial activity) and TEA opportunity based, was fuelled by venture capital investments. In comparison to the majority of the literature, the findings of this thesis give a more nuanced picture to the enthusiastic attitude towards venture capital. As the results indicate a less significant impact of venture capital investments than expected, this thesis serves as an important counterweight to the overall positive stance towards the finance form. However, other findings of the study are in line with previous literature. For example, high GDP is associated to high entrepreneurial activity and high taxes discourage entrepreneurial activity. It is also worth mentioning the subtle, but existing, disparity in the results between TEA and TEA opportunity based. This indicates that further and more thorough research should be conducted within these two different measurements. / I den här uppsatsen har en ekonometrisk analys genomförts i syfte att undersöka venture capitals påverkan på graden av uppkomsten av nya företag. Data samlades in från 32 OECD länder mellan åren 2006-2017, för att ta reda på hur TEA (total entrepreneurial activity) och TEA opportunity based påverkas av venture capital investeringar. I jämförelse med majoriteten av existerande litteratur, så ger resultaten av den här uppsatsen en mer nyanserad bild den rådande entusiastiska attityden gentemot venture capital. Då resultaten indikerar en mindre signifikant påverkan av venture capital investeringar än förväntat, bidrar den här uppsatsen till en viktig motpol till en gällande positiva inställningen till finansieringsformen. Dock stämmer andra resultat från uppsatsen överens med tidigare litteratur. Exempelvis är högt BNP signifikant med hög entreprenöriell aktivitet och höga skatter visar sig ha en avskräckande effekt. En annan intressant iakttagelse utifrån resultaten, är den subtila, men existerande skillnaden mellan TEA och TEA opportunity based. De indikerar att vidare och mer djupgående forskning bör göras på de två olika variablerna.

The problem that most, if not all, large companies deal with in one way or another, is to stay relevant and competitive as their industry evolves. They need to keep improving their current services or products but still need to keep their eyes open for disruption. This requires them to make long-term investments in research and development, which does not always result in a quick return. To stay relevant, corporations need to increase corporate innovation. Research on collaboration between startups and corporations has grown substantially in recent years, but there is a gap in academic literature focusing on the barriers of these collaborations. This qualitative study focuses on what perspective Icelandic corporate managers have towards collaborating with startups as part of their corporate innovation. To accomplish that, eight semi- structured interviews with top-level managers from large corporations were conducted. It was clear that all interviewees were very positive about collaborating with startups even though most of them had little or no experience from doing so themselves. Icelandic companies seem to be reluctant to invest the required time and resources it takes for these collaborations to be successful because of the lack of successful examples in Iceland so far. This research only looked at the barriers and benefits from the perspective of top-level managers in large corporations but future research could include the perspective of startups as well.

This thesis examines the governance framework of two Venture Capital funds within the Private Equity industry; EQT Ventures II and Norrsken22. Building upon the research of Appelbaum and Batt (2021) concerning the general and limited partner relationship asymmetries of power, information, and incentives, the study further audits the imbalances from the perspective of the funds' general partners. An empirical basis was formed by conducting two interviews with suitable representatives from EQT, along with one interview and a governance document with Norrsken22. The paper finds that both are actively working on reducing asymmetries on a strategic and operating level. EQT has divisions and digital tools whose primary purpose is to bridge information gaps, a comprehensive due diligence process to increase the understanding of the power balance, and a financial framework to ensure that conflicts of interest are avoided. Norrsken22 tries to involve their Limited Partners in their operational work by creating a community of Limited Partners, thus bringing them closer to the General Partner role. The study could have involved a Limited Partner perspective instead of limiting the scope to the company's and General Partners' thoughts. Regardless, it depicts an inside perspective of the asymmetries shown and the counteractions initiated in response, a perspective not previously explored in academic papers. / Denna avhandling undersöker styrningsramen för två riskkapitalfonder inom Private Equity-branschen: EQT Ventures II och Norrsken22. Med utgångspunkt i Appelbaum och Batts (2021) forskning om asymmetrierna i förhållandet mellan fondförvaltare och investerare när det gäller makt, information och incitament, granskas dessa obalanser ytterligare i studien ur fondernas generalägares perspektiv. En empirisk grund bildades genom att genomföra två intervjuer med lämpliga representanter från EQT samt en intervju och ett styrdokument med Norrsken22. I studien konstateras att båda arbetar aktivt med att minska asymmetrierna på strategisk såväl som operativ nivå. EQT har avdelningar och digitala verktyg vars främsta syfte är att överbrygga informationsbrister, en omfattande due diligence-process för att öka förståelsen för maktbalansen och ett finansiellt ramverk för att säkerställa att intressekonflikter undviks. Norrsken22 försöker involvera sina investerare i det operativa arbetet genom att skapa en gemenskap sinsemellan och på så sätt föra dem närmare rollen som fondförvaltare. Studien kunde ha involverat ett investerarperspektiv i stället för att begränsa undersökningen till företagets och generalägarens tankar. Oavsett detta visar avhandlingen ett inifrånperspektiv på de asymmetrier som uppvisas och de motåtgärder som initieras som svar, ett perspektiv som inte tidigare har utforskats i akademiska artiklar.

The task of predicting start-up growth has been an item of institutional as wellas widespread individual research and acclaim of those successful. This workis an attempt to distill the alleged factors of prediction in the large body ofwork that has already been documented, as well as investigating reasonable butyet untested variables. Conclusions are built with a multiple regression model,exploring 7 regressors with data spanning 2014-2019 to avoid the potentiallyabnormal impact of the Covid-19 crisis.Due to the choice of non-predictive regressors, the final result is an explanatorymodel, highlighting the importance of rigorousness in the process of model-building and outlining of data collection in regression analysis. Most regres-sors had a non-significant or weak relationship with the response variable, butconcludes an explanatory degree of 51%. Even if it can not be utilised as apredictive model, it may provide some interesting insight. In the final model,every regressor except one had an unexpected beta value, contradicting earlierresearch. / Åtagandet att förutsäga 'start-up' tillväxt har varit ämne för institutionellsåväl som utbredd individuell undersökning och följaktligen hyllning för de som varit framgångsrika. Denna studieär ett försök att destillera de påstådda faktorerna för förutsägelse utifrån den redan dokumenterade litteraturen, samt utreda rimliga men ännu outforskade variabler. Slutsatser byggs med en multipel regressionsmodell,som utforskar 7 regressorer med data som sträcker sig 2014-2019 för att undvika de potentiellt atypiska effekterna av covid-19-krisen.På grund av valet av vissa icke-prediktiva regressorer är slutresultatet en förklarandemodell, som belyser vikten av noggrannhet i processen för modell-uppbyggnad och planeringen av datainsamling i regressionsanalys. De flesta regressorer hade ett icke-signifikant eller svagt samband med svarsvariabeln, men den slutgiltiga modellen påvisar en förklaringsgrad på 51 %. Även om den inte kan användas som en prediktiv modell, så bidrar den med betydande insikter. Alla regressorer utom en visade ett oväntat beta-värde, vilket motsäger tidigare forskning.