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.

The Study discusses the development of the venture capital (VC) industry in China, from its fundraising, investment to post investment, and comparisons on a global scale. We also analyzed the relationship between the innovative industries and economic growth, and discussed the VC’s exit route and stock market in China. The growth of China’s VC industry is still promising but there are still some challenges that it has to overcome. Furthermore, the VC development in China also implies the growth potential of the Chinese stock markets, and suggests that Taiwan should act as an active role and take advantage of its geographical position, strong relationship and regional stability with China to participate in the possible collaboration of the stock markets in the Asia-Pacific region.

Introduction: Venture capital investment process is complex and different firms vary greatly in their investment practices. This has resulted in authors given several different factors that could be imperative for venture firms investment decisions. There is thus no consensus in the field of venture investing. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to list which factors are important for venture capital firms investment decisions in start-up firms. Method: The authors conducted structured phone interviews with seven venture capital firms in Sweden. Conclusion: The authors found the following factors to be important for venture firms investment decisions in start-up firms; Busienss plans that demonstrated the thinkings of the entrepreneur, communicate ideas, visions, product, market, competition, growth potential as well as the planned intentions with the recived funds. They also desired realistic, concreate, simple plans that explained the implementation process of the start-up firm. The second factor that was important was markets where large markets, market growth, market share, market entry and global markets were mentioned. The third factor of importance was product, in which uniqueness, simplicity, patents and time-to-market were listed. Management was the fourth factor of importance, in which sensibility, competence, technical skills, entrepreurial spirit, attitude, humbelness, determination, openness, drive, chemistry and confidence were included. The fifth factor of importamce financial embraced ROI, economioes of scale, valuation and the size of the investment. The last two important factors that the authors found to be important for the venture firms in the study were location and industry.

Venture capital investments have become a major contributor the growth of start-up firms. Investing in start-up firms carries a substantial risk of failure, only a minority of start-ups is high-return investments. This put great responsibility to the valuation methods used by the venture capital firm. It is argued that when uncertainties about future pay-offs are high traditional valuation tools are of little help, they are said to be too static and not to comply with change. A valuation method that is alleged to act in accordance with a changing environment where uncertainty is high is real option which is said to consider these variables, thus giving a more accurate valuation. The structure of venture capital funding can be seen as well suited for real option valuation. The authors find it interesting to find out how venture capitalists screen possible investments, if the traditional valuation methods hold in proportion to the challenges they face and if the real option approach could be suitable. The purpose is to describe and analyze how Swedish venture capital firms can valuate investments. The research was carried out using a qualitative method. We conducted interviews with four venture capital firms that operate in Sweden. The participating firms were: Industrifonden, Itact, FöretagsByggarna and LinkMed. The authors found in their research that the most important factors when screening the possible investments are the market and the entrepreneur. The venture capital firms use of valuation methods differ significantly. LinkMed and Industrifonden apply traditional valuation tools in contrast to Itact and FöretagsByggarna that rely on personal experience and expertise. Limitations found in the traditional models were lack of accurate and reliable estimations. The structural outlay of the investment is in line with that of the real option approach and the authors believes that real options exist embedded in the respondent’s investments. This implies that a real option approach is suitable for them.

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.

Under 2010 var nästan var tredje VC investering i Sverige riktat till Life Sciences.Life Sciences är en bransch som täcker områdena bioteknik, medicinteknik, medicin och sjukvård. Branschen kännetecknas av att företagen arbetar mycket utifrån framtida förväntningar och ej framställda produkter. Därför är det viktigt för VC företagen som agerar inom Life Sciences att kunna identifiera den potential och de problem som kommer med en investering. För att bekräfta potentialen och problemen genomförs en due diligence. Due diligence är till för att finna styrkor och svagheter. Det är de anställda på VC företagens uppgift att genomföra due diligence vilket innebär att det är viktigt att inneha anställda med den rätta kompetensen. Denna studie syftar till att undersöka hur anställda kan påverka due diligence.    Utgångspunkten för studien är att beskriva hur due diligence genomförs av VC företag som investerar inom Life Sciences. Den ska även förklara hur de anställda kan påverka denna process. För att kunna genomföra det har vi arbetat genom tre olika delar av due diligence. Dessa är kommersiell, finansiell och juridisk. Varje del har sitt fokus men är av samma betydelse för att få fram ett samlat värde. Tidigare forskning har identifierat att utbildning, erfarenhet och nätverk är viktiga egenskaper för anställda som ska utvärdera ett investeringsobjekt. Utifrån det har vi samlat på oss teorier för att kunna identifiera vilken påverkan anställda kan ha på due diligence genom dessa egenskaper.   Studien har utarbetats ifrån det kvalitativa synsättet. Eftersom att forskningen inom Venture capital relaterat till Life Sciences är knapp finns det få studier att luta sig emot. För att kunna fånga hur due diligence genomförs och hur de anställda påverkar anser vi att den kvalitativa metoden är att föredra framför den kvantitativa. Vi har intervjuat personer som har en aktiv roll och ett stort ansvar i due diligence. Vi har låtit respondenterna svara för företagen som helhet.   I slutsatsen kommer vi fram till att oberoende vilken sammansättning av anställda VC företagen har genomförs due diligence mycket likartat. Det är tydligt att anställda kan påverka due diligence och då framförallt i den kommersiella genom egenskaperna utbildning och erfarenhet.

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.

In order to drive innovation and growth in a nation is it important to have innovative companies. Many of those innovative companies are smaller companies, which are in need of capital injections for expansion of its operations or to be able to produce a commercial product. In many cases the banks will not lend because they believe there is too great a risk that they will not get their money back. It is in this situation venture capital becomes interesting. Venture capitalists’ see the potential the product and/or entrepreneur possesses and are therefore more willing to take the risk in investing in these companies. Venture capital doesn´t just bring capital in to the investment, but also competence. For venture capitalists’ to get a return from their investments they need to get the portfolio companies to increase in value. This increase in value can be created through the venture capitalists’ different roles and methods. The different roles and methods also determine what the value created will be and in what way the venture capitalist will be involved in their portfolio company.Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate the role and the involvement venture capital firms have in their portfolio companies and how they create value in their portfolio companies.Implementation: This study is a survey study, based on earlier research, with mainly a quantitative approach. The data collected has been analyzed with essentially an abductive method. To assist the completion of this study, we made significance tests on the differences between venture capital firms’ and portfolio companies' responses, to examine in which aspects they agreed.Conclusion: There are five roles that are common among venture capitalists: financiers, advisors, supervisors of financial performance, acting as a sounding board and providers of a wider network of contacts. The form of involvement that emerges in this study is inactive to active advisor. Venture capital firms create value by contributing to a larger network of contacts, financing, improvement of accounting procedures, supervision/monitoring, counseling and strategic guidance. The contribution that venture capital firms make to their portfolio companies is a non-financial value in the form of larger network of contacts and a greater motivation/better working environment for the portfolio company's manager/CEO.Keywords: Venture Capital, roles, involvement, creation of value, portfolio companies / För att driva innovation och tillväxt i en nation är det viktigt med innovativa företag. Dessa är i många fall mindre företag som är i behov av kapital för exempelvis expansion av sin verksamhet eller för att kunna få fram en kommersiell produkt. I många fall vill inte banker bevilja lån då de anser att det finns en alltför stor risk att de inte får tillbaka lånet. Det är här riskkapital kommer in. De ser till den potential som produkten och/eller entreprenören besitter och är därför mer villiga att ta den risk som det medför att investera i dessa företag. Riskkapitalbolag bidrar inte bara med kapital i form av betalningsmedel utan också med kompetens. För att riskkapitalisten ska få avkastning behöver denne få entreprenörsföretaget att öka i värde. Detta kan göras genom olika roller och olika tillvägagångssätt för värdeskapande som riskkapitalbolagen kan åta sig. Det avgör också vad för värde som skapas samt vilken form av involvering riskkapitalbolagen har.Syfte: Studiens syfte är att undersöka vilka roller och vilken form av involvering riskkapitalbolag har i sina portföljbolag samt hur de går tillväga för att skapa värde i portföljbolagen.Genomförande: I denna studie användes framför allt en kvantitativ enkätundersökning baserad på tidigare forskning som sedan analyserades med en i huvudsak abduktiv ansats. Som hjälp till fullbordandet av denna studie gjorde vi också hypotesprövningar på skillnaderna mellan riskkapitalbolagens och portföljbolagens svar för att undersöka vilka aspekter de var överens om.Slutsats: Det finns fem roller som är vanligt förekommande bland riskkapitalbolagen: finansiär, rådgivare, övervakning/kontroll av finansiell prestation, agera bollplank och bidra med ett större kontaktnätverk. Involveringen som framkommer är inaktiv till aktiv rådgivare. Riskkapitalbolagen skapar värde genom bidragande av ett större kontaktnätverk, finansiering, förbättring av redovisning, övervakning/kontroll, rådgivning och strategiskt arbete. De bidrar med icke-ekonomiskt värde i form av större kontaktnätverk och en större motivation/bättre arbetssituation för portföljbolagets chef/VD.Nyckelord: riskkapital, roller, involvering, värdeskapande, portföljbolag

New Ventures projects emerge in response to the growing need of countries to develop and grow economically in an environment characterized by rapid changes. The importance of these projects is such that during the last decades they have played a role not only as drivers of the economy but also as sources of new jobs and innovation (Chen, 2009). Due to this importance, there have been multiple studies related to the efficient management of such projects. However, it is not sufficient for these projects to be managed properly, but the presence of limited resources makes necessary to select, prioritize and control these projects strategically within a portfolio.   This strategic management can be carried out by using the theory developed in Project Portfolio Management (PPM). The importance of PPM is the ability to integrate the world of projects with the operation of organizations, helping to minimize failures such as making unnecessary effort to undertake these projects in an appropriate manner when in fact these are not the right projects.  However, there is a lack of knowledge in the application of PPM theory for New Ventures projects, because their characteristics differ from those of any other type of projects in terms of high level of risk and, in many cases, high technical uncertainty (Mac Millan & Gunther, 2000).  This knowledge gap can be minimized using two different approaches. The first one consists in employing the theory developed by PPM in R&D projects, applying it for New Venture projects, as suggested by Mac Millan & Gunther (2000). The second approach corresponds to using the theory developed around the management of projects within Business Incubators (BIs) and Venture Capital firms (VC) in every stage of the PPM process.   This study describes how BIs and VCs in Sweden manage their New Venture projects portfolios in issues such as selection, prioritization and monitoring and control. To achieve an adequate depiction of this process, the study seeks primarily to identify the role of BIs and VCs in the PPM and the proper relationship that should exist between both organizations to ensure an ideal flow of projects at each stage of their development. In addition, it also seeks to find whether tools outlined in the literature are often used in practice.   Among the main findings of the study, the major contribution of the BIs is mainly in the feasibility analysis of projects and the support they give in their development, while VC firms are usually more focused on the selection, prioritization and monitoring and control of their portfolios. In practice there have been shortcomings in the transition of New Venture projects between BIs and VCs. These can be solved by creating a single organization that integrates the entire process of PPM between BIs and VCs, or other alternative is for VCs to start investing mainly in early stage projects.  Another important finding corresponds to the use of the expertise of BIs and VCs members as the most important tool when making strategic decisions. And although there is general satisfaction with the success of these projects in Sweden, some authors have argued that this industry is not totally mature. Therefore, this study suggests using some tools, proposed in a conceptual model, developed to achieve the maturity that New Venture projects industry requires.

The development of venture capital industry is not only about the effective operation of venture capital firm, but also its supporting environments. The venture capital firms in different countries have different operation modes, for instance, the organizational structure, the source of finance and the investment behavior. The reason of the differences is that the venture capital supporting environments such as economy, culture, laws and regulations are different in various countries.   The objective of this research is to study the venture capital supporting environments in China and analyze the role of government on how to improve these supporting environments. After research questions are decided, the author analyzes and combines the selected previous researches in different countries in order to build a more systematic, scientific and complete theoretical framework to conduct the case study in China.   In the case study, all seven venture capital supporting environments in China are studied. By analyzing the facts, the author finds out that some environments such as laws and policies and financial environment have developed rapidly in past years and become more and more adapt to the development of venture capital. However, some other environments, especially the culture environment have negative effects on venture capital and can not be easily changed within a short period of time. Based on these findings, the author tries to find out some possible actions that the government can do to reduce these limitations and improve the venture capital supporting environments.     Key words: venture capital; supporting environment; venture business; venture capitalist