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.

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>

Risk and return management is one of the core competencies of venture capital companies (VCCs) as they invest in young, innovative firms with a high return potential, but also high risk potential. Due to the liability of smallness, newness and financial constraints young, innovative firms are constantly under the threat of failure. In the scope of this dissertation are four related studies – three empirical studies and one literature review – analyzing the risk and return management of VCCs. In particular, risk assessment and risk management and value adding activities in the post investment phase were examined. In the first article, authors analyze which risks are relevant over the whole venture capital (VC) investment process and show how VCCs assess and documents risks in their deal documents. The second article studies risk management practices of VCCs. We show that the experience and the skills of the corresponding investment manager have a significantly negative impact on the failure risk of a venture. Article three analyzes value creation measures applied by VCCs. The results suggest that VCCs are highly engaged in supporting ventures in financial and human capital issues as well as in establishing strong governance mechanisms. The fourth article also deals with the foregone topic. This paper provides a literature analysis on value adding activity measures in VC investments, synthesizes the variables measuring the main levers of value adding and identifies directions for improvement in terms of data, variables and methods.:1. Introduction 2. The entire research project 3. Risk and return management of venture capital companies in the post-investment phase 3.1 Risk types and risk assessment in venture capital investments: A content analysis of investors´ original documents 3.2 Risk management in the venture capital industry: Managing risk in portfolio companies 3.3. Value adding activities of venture capital companies: A content analysis of investor´s original documents in Germany 3.4 Value adding activities in venture capital literature: A review on data, variables and methods 4. Further research in the venture capital field

Bakgrund: Riskkapital är en betydande finansieringsmetod för unga företag. Riskkapital tillhandahålls av Venture Capital-bolag som har en betydande inverkan på det investerade företaget. Venture Capital-bolagens fokus under den period som de är investerade i portföljbolagen ligger på tillförsel av värde och övervakning. Trycket för företag att arbeta mer med hållbarhetsfrågor har ökat. Vilket öppnar frågan om hur de kan använda ESG för att öka värdet i sina portföljbolag. Mål: Syftet med denna studie är att ge förståelse för hur svenska Venture Capital-bolag arbetar med ESG som ett verktyg längs alla investeringsfaser för att kunna tillföra värde till sina portföljbolag. Metod: För att besvara frågeställningen samt uppnå syftet av studien har semistrukturerade intervjuer genomförts. Det har genomförts sex intervjuer där fem av respondenterna arbetade på ett Venture Capital-bolag och en respondent arbetade på en intresseorganisation. Resultaten av intervjuerna jämfördes med tidigare separerade resultat till ämnena ESG och Venture Capital. Slutsats: Betydelsen av ESG i portföljföretag kan variera på grund av bristande standard inom branschen. Några monetära värdeökningar har inte kunnat fastställas däremot är en del av respondenterna eniga om att ESG bidrar till värdeökning genom mjukavärden. Alla respondenter tror att ESG kommer ha en betydande roll i framtiden för branschen. Vidare har det kunnat observeras att respondenter tror på att ESG bidrar till riskminimering som enligt teorin tillför värde i bolag. / Background: Venture Capital is a significant financing method for young companies. Venture capital is provided by Venture Capital companies that have a significant impact on the invested company. The focus of the Venture Capital companies during the period in which they are invested in the portfolio companies is on the supply of value and supervision. The pressure for companies to work more with sustainability issues has increased. Which opens the question of how they can use ESG to increase the value of their portfolio companies.  Objective: The aim of this study is to provide understanding how Swedish Venture Capital are working with ESG as a toll along all investment phases to be able to add value to their portfolio companies.  Methodology: To answer the question and achieve the purpose of the study, semistructured interviews were conducted. Six interviews were conducted in which five of the respondents worked at a Venture Capital company and one respondent worked at an interest group. The results of the interviews were compared with previously separated results for the topics ESG and Venture Capital.  Conclusion: The importance of ESG in portfolio companies may vary due to lack of industry standards. No monetary value increases could be determined, however, some of the respondents agree that ESG contributes to value increases through soft values. All respondents believe that ESG will play a significant role in the future of the industry. Furthermore, it has been observed that respondents believe that ESG contributes to risk minimization, which according to the theory adds value in companies.

The purpose of this diploma thesis is to understand financing of drug development from an enterprise risk management perspective as well as to critically assess the efficiency of the ISO framework and risk management techniques used for determining whether to fund drug development or not. The diploma thesis is divided into theoretical and practical part. The first part starts with perception and assessment of uncertainty and risk in the past. It describes how risk-averse individuals attempted to deal with uncertainty and different risk. This is followed by the evolution of traditional risk management into the fast developing enterprise risk management. The text further analyses commonly used risk management standards COSO ERM and ISO 31000:2009. However, the main focus is on the critical assessment of analytical tools which are frequently used for evaluating and assessing risks, especially financial ones, during drug development. The theoretical part is finished by a drug development process, whose phases are briefly described. The practical part was written in co-operation with AstraZeneca, a top-notch pharmaceutical company. The overview of its business is preceded by an explanation of current issues in the pharmaceutical industry. Furthermore, the risk analysis is conducted with respect to the ISO framework. Subsequently, selected risk assessment techniques are applied on the simplified financial model of two different drugs, which was created based on AstraZeneca's real data. These risk assessment tools are used in different phases of drug development so it could be seen clearly how the results are changing during a project. The outcomes of this risk analysis are compared with original plans used by AstraZeneca which were used for deciding whether to fund drug development or not.