The diploma thesis is divided in two main parts. In the first part the thesis describes the concept of venture capital, it provides venture capital concept definition and clarifies possibilities of utilisation of venture capital. The work shows creating funds, gives definition of a founder, funds rules and their priorities, ways of checking investments and the process of the final phase, i.e. evaluation. Kind of venture capital investment, investment process length, quantity of provided tools and investment risk are very important points in this dissertation, too. The second part of the thesis tries to find out more on venture capital funds, which are regular members of CVCA, i.e. Argus Capital Group Limited, Genesis Capital, KBC Private Equity, Enterprise Investors, Advent International and 3TS Capital Partners.

O venture capital (VC) é uma importante fonte de captação de recursos para as empresas de base tecnológica ao realizar aporte financeiro temporário e suporte gerencial em troca de participação societária. Trata-se de uma alternativa que se enquadra nos estágios iniciais de desenvolvimento das empresas de biotecnologia. A biotecnologia é considerada uma das áreas mais promissores do século XXI e representa o segundo maior segmento investido pelo mercado nos EUA. No Brasil, o mercado de VC é pouco explorado em comparação com os EUA, resultando no menor número de trabalhos realizados nesta área. A contribuição desta pesquisa na literatura está na análise das dificuldades encontradas pelos gestores de fundos de VC e as empresas de biotecnologia no Brasil. A metodologia utilizada contempla entrevistas com gestores de fundos de VC e questionários junto às empresas de biotecnologia. Concluiu-se que as dificuldades estão presentes nas três funções do ciclo de VC analisadas: captação de recursos, investimentos e desinvestimentos. Na captação de recursos, dificuldades relacionadas ao pequeno histórico e cultura de investimentos em VC no Brasil foram constatadas, além da influência de variáveis macroeconômicas, desestimulando os investidores a atuarem neste mercado. Em relação aos investimentos, há diferenças de percepção entre as gestoras e as empresas quanto aos critérios utilizados no processo de seleção, além da dificuldade de se realizar co-investimentos. No aspecto do desinvestimento, a falta de alternativas viáveis de mecanismos de saída disponíveis no mercado de VC nacional força as gestoras a buscarem a venda estratégica. A pesquisa limitou-se a analisar somente o mercado de VC brasileiro e empresas atuantes no segmento de biotecnologia, não sendo objeto de análise o mercado de PE e empresas atuantes em outros segmentos. / Venture capital is an important source of fund raising for technology based-firms by providing temporary financial and managerial support in exchange for equity. It is an alternative that fits in the early stages of development of biotechnology companies. Biotechnology is considered one of the most promising areas of the twenty-first century and it is the second largest segment of the investment market in the USA. In Brazil, the venture capital market is underexplored compared to the USA, resulting in fewer works done in this area. The contribution of this research in the literature is the analysis of the difficulties between venture capitalists and biotechnology companies in Brazil. Methodology includes interviews with venture capitalists and questionnaires with biotechnology companies. It was concluded that the difficulties are present in the functions of the VC cycle analyzed: fundraising, investments and exits. In fundraising, difficulties related to the history and culture of small investments in VC in Brazil have been verified, as well as the influence of macroeconomic variables, discouraging investors to act in this market. Regarding investments, there are differences of perception between venture capitalists and firms as for criteria used in the selection process, in addition to the difficulty to perform co-investments. In the aspect of exits, the lack of feasible alternative exit mechanisms available in the domestic VC market force the management to seek strategic sale. The research was limited to examining only the VC market and Brazilian firms operating in the biotechnology segment, not being subject to analysis the private equity market and firms operating in other segments.

Le financement institutionnel du capital initial, l’investissement providentiel le financement collectif des entreprises entrepreneuriales : un cadre conceptuel et quelques exemples » est une thèse de doctorat qui décrit un cadre conceptuel global des différentes facettes financières de l'entrepreneuriat et propose une étude empirique approfondie de certains éléments. Le nouvel apport de ce travail consiste à identifier les complexités croissantes du marché du financement en fonds propres de l’entreprenariat en développant un cadre conceptuel qui met l'accent aussi bien sur l'interaction croissante des acteurs du marché que sur de nouvelles recherches empiriques. Les thèmes choisis utilisent un ensemble de données uniques qui vont au-delà des études de recherches existantes et sont les premiers dans leur domaine à explorer de nouvellespistes. / Institutional Seed Financing, Angel Financing, and Crowdfunding of EntrepreneurialVentures : a conceptual framework and selected examples is a doctoral dissertation that outlines an overall conceptual framework for the financial facets of entrepreneurship and proposes an empirical in-depth exploration of designated components. The novel contribution of this work lies in identifying the increasing complexities of the entrepreneurial equity finance market by developing this conceptual framework that emphasizes the growing interaction of the market players as well as investigating additional empirical topics. The selected topics use unique datasets that go beyond existing research studies and are the first in their fields to explore new avenues.

Venture capital finances high-risk, high-return projects. In addition to financing, venture capitalists provide advice and expertise in management, commercialization, and development that enhance the value, success, and marketability of projects. Venture capitalists also have skills in selecting projects with potentially high returns. The first chapter investigates the contracting relationship between venture capitalists and entrepreneurs in a setting where the venture capitalist and entrepreneur contribute intangible assets (advice and effort) to a project that are non-contractible and non-verifiable. In general, in the private market equilibrium, advice provided by the venture capitalist and the number of projects funded are lower than the social optimum. Government tax and investment policies may alleviate these market failures. The impact of a capital gains tax, a tax on entrepreneur’s revenue, an investment subsidy to venture capitalists, and government run project enhancing programs are evaluated. Finally, we analyze the effects of a government venture capital firm competing with private venture capital. The second chapter focuses on competition in venture capital markets. We model a three-stage game of fund raising, investment in innovative projects and input of advice and effort, where fund raising is used as an entry deterrence mechanism. We examine the impacts of taxes and subsidies on venture capital market structure. We find that a tax on venture capitalist revenue and a tax on entrepreneur revenue increase the likelihood of entry deterrence and reduce the number of projects funded in equilibrium. A subsidy on investment reduces the likelihood of entry deterrence and increases the number of projects funded. The third chapter examines the venture capitalist's choice of investment in project selection skills and investment in managerial advice. We model, separately, a private venture capitalist and a labour-sponsored venture capitalist (LSVCC) with different objectives. A LSVCC is a special type of venture capitalist fund that is sponsored by a labour union. The private venture capitalist maximizes its expected profits, while the LSVCC maximizes a weighted function of expected profits and returns to labour. Consistent with empirical evidence, the quality of projects, determined by project selection skills and managerial advice, is higher for the private venture capitalist.

Idag anses startupföretag vara en viktig del av samhället, både för den ekonomiska tillväxten och ekonomiskt välstånd. Främst bidrar de med innovation, nya arbetstillfällen och välstånd. Dock är det endast hälften som lyckas skapa avkastning på investerat kapital. Att anskaffa riskkapital anses vara ett av de största problemen för en startup och är avgörande för dess tillväxt. Det finns ett antal kriterier som venture capital-bolag, VC-bolag, värderar högst vid ett investeringsbeslut hos en startup, de faktorerna har studerats tidigare av många teoretiker. Frågan är dock om teorierna stämmer överens med dagens samhälle med tanke på att läget ser annorlunda ut. Samtidigt är det intressant att veta om startupförtag fokuserar på det VC-bolagen värderar högst vid investeringsbeslutet. Studiens syfte är att se vilka faktorer som främst bidrar till att dagens startupföretag får riskkapital. Vidare undersöks vad startupföretag tror är de mest relevanta faktorerna i VC-bolagens investeringsbeslut. Slutligen visar undersökningen om teorier som finns inom området är applicerbara på svenska venture capital-bolags investeringsbeslut idag. Studien utgår från en kvantitativ ansats med ett deduktivt förhållningssätt och ett positivistiskt perspektiv. All empirisk data är insamlad genom en surveyundersökning med ett urval på 125 företag och vald forskningsdesign är tvärsnitt. Vidare analyseras det insamlade materialet med valda teorier, för att därefter besvara forskningsfrågorna i slutsatsen. Studien ger en detaljerad bild över de kriterier som används vid ett VC-bolags investeringsbeslut i en startup. De viktigaste faktorerna är marknadens behov av produkten, tillväxtpotential inom marknaden och marknadens storlek. Studien har även kommit fram till att startupföretag har en god uppfattning om vad VC-bolag värderar högst vid ett investeringsbeslut. Utöver det här är den har studien kommit fram till att entreprenörens egenskaper har mindre betydelse vid ett investeringsbeslut än vad tidigare teorier betonar. Studien bidrar befintlig teori med nya synsätt av vad dagens svenska VC-bolag värderar högst vid ett investeringsbeslut hos en startup. / Today startups are considered to be an important part of the society, regarding both the economic growth and economic affluence. Foremost they contribute to innovation, job creation and prosperity. Out of ten startups it is only five who succeed in yielding return on invested capital. To procure venture capital is considered to be one of the biggest problems for a startup but also essential for their growth. There are a number of criteria that venture capital firms evaluate before investing in a startup, these criteria have been studied by many theorists. The question is if the theories are relevant to society today, considering it is forever changing. At the same time, it is interesting to research if startups have the same idea regarding the relevance of the criteria that venture capital firms evaluate when making an investment decision. The aim of this study is to evaluate which criteria are contributing to a startup company receiving venture capital. Also what startups think are the most relevant criteria in a venture capital firm’s investment decision are investigated. Finally, the study examines if the existing theories on the subject are still applicable on Swedish venture capital firms’ investment decision. The study is based on a quantitative method with a deductive approach and a positivistic perspective. All empirical data is gathered through a survey with a selection of 125 companies and the research design is cross-sectional. The empirical data is analyzed with the explained theories in order to answer research questions in the conclusion section. The research provides a detailed overview of the criteria that venture capital firms use when making an investments decision for startups. The most important criteria are market need for the product, growth potential of the market and size of the market. The study shows that startups has a good perception of what venture capital firms are valuing the most in an investment decision. In addition to this, the research discovered that entrepreneurial characteristics has less value in an investment decision than previous theories stresses. In conclusion, the study provides a developed view to already existing theories about the criteria used by Swedish venture capital firms when making a decision to invest in a startup today.

The leaders of all countries of each sector and level of society are compelled to work together to address [social and environmental] challenges by maintaining sustainable human development and ensuring that the benefits of globalization are shared more widely. It is in the interests of businesses that these benefits continue both for companies and for others in society.   The Venture Capital is a financial capital provided to the startup firms in their early stages which has a high potential for growth but also entail high risk. The Venture capital firms typically look for new and small businesses with a perceived long term growth potential that will result in a high payout for investors. Venture capital is a subset of private equity of the firms. On other hand, Private equity is an asset class consisting of equity securities, which are not quoted in the stock market. An investment in private equity most often involves either an investment of capital in a mature firms as well as buyout firms.             The purpose of this study is to explore the gap between UK and U.S venture capital and private equity firms on the base of ESG criteria into investment decision making process. To find a relationship between venture capital and private equity firms mainstream investment with ESG criteria and also highlight new trends and the issues, which are potential barrier of ESG criteria implementation in UK and US firms. The authors used different academic literature, previous studies to find a gap and a relationship of ESG criteria into mainstream investment decision making process in UK and U.S firms.   The research is based on both primary & secondary data under descriptive nature of study. A technique with the name of content analysis was used to collect the quantitative data from the U.K and U.S Venture Capital and Private Equity firms. These firms are further categorized in the sample size under the umbrella of clean tech and non-clean tech. Total sample size is 120 firms (60 VC & 60 PE), where 56 are clean tech and 64 are Non-clean tech firms. The find a relationship between variables regression analysis technique is used through SPSS for verifying the validity and variability of collected Data.   We found that, an ESG criterion is on development stage, and there is no such technique and standards that are developed by the venture capital and private equity firms. We found, that firms are mostly focusing on responsible investment strategy; it is somehow same like whole ESG for purpose of their investment screening process. We found that ESG consideration in some UK and U.S venture capital and private equity firms exist, but vary from firms to firms. Some firms are considering just one factor while some other firms consider more than one.  Large firms have more focus on ESG as compared to small firms; due to the nature of business and size, and number of employees, focus is only limited towards investment options and development of strategies for the firm. The result of this study interpret that the U.S firms are focusing more on investment returns, and pay less attention towards ESG as compared to U.K firms, Where UK Venture capital and private equity firms results shows that, they are more focused towards ESG and feel free to incorporate ESG criteria into their investment strategies without incurring any cost in terms of risk and returns.

For start-up businesses, the source of outside capital can be retrieved from the venture capital industry. The venture capital industry has grown substantially over the past 50 years, reaching its pinnacle during the internet bubble in the 1990s and serves as an important contributor to the economy. After some time, and optimally when the start-up has matured into a successful business, venture capitalists want to receive money in return for their investments. Most commonly, the exiting of venture capital investments is retrieved through an IPO. An IPO refers to the transition from a private corporation to a public corporation and occurs when a private corporation offers its shares to the public for the first time. The existing literature of IPOs is commonly associated with the depiction of abnormal returns. More precisely, the offer price is often underpriced in comparison to the closing price on the first day of trading. In addition, the returns 1 to 5 years after going public are often subject to subsequent declines (Miller & Riley, 1987; Ritter, 1998). A part of the underperformance of IPOs is anchored in the type of capital structure, venture capital. Thus, this study examines the relationship between venture capital backed IPOs and IPO performance. Furthermore, the relationship between the degree of venture capital, the amount of capital held by the venture capital firm in the IPO, and IPO performance are examined in order to discover eventual correlations. Concerning the performed analysis, the study concludes that there is no clear positive relationship between venture capital backing and IPO performance in the short run. However, one could interpret that being a VC-backed IPO can be prosperous for long-term performance since VC has a positive impact on ROA. Regarding the degree of venture capital, it had a negative impact on the ROA, i.e., the level of degree of venture capital does not have a positive impact on the IPO performance.

[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.

This paper extends recent research studying biases in venture capitalist's decision-making. We contribute to this literature by analyzing biases arising due to similarity between a venture capitalist and members of a venture team. We summarize the psychological foundations of such similarity effects and derive a set of hypotheses regarding the impact of similarity on the assessement of team quality. Using data from a conjoint experiment with 51 respondents, we find that venture capitalists tend to favor teams that are similar to themselves w.r.t. the type of training and professional experience. Our results have important implications for academics and practitioners alike. (authors' abstract)

Existing variance studies of venture capital (VC) provide an incomplete understanding of VC emergence, emphasizing either macro-level enabling conditions or the efficient fund-level operation of the VC cycle. While important, such perspectives do not provide for a complete understanding of the systemic, processual character of VC emergence. A multistage process model of emergence is developed, linking industry structural characteristics and their underlying processes to precursor resources through the intermediate processes of coproduction and diffusion. Using data from multiple embedded case studies in South Africa and Botswana, this model integrates four processes--simultaneity, coproduction, diffusion, and the VC cycle. These processes are linked by a logic that is dominated by initial conditions and includes elements of rational choice (conditioned by path dependence) and altruism. The establishment of appropriate simultaneity conditions enables the diffusion of the established VC model and related institutions from other populations. In the presence of a market failure, government investors and private fund managers can then cooperate to fill the equity gap, creating the signal necessary for replication of additional VC funds through the functioning of the VC cycle.