L’objet de cette recherche est d’identifier et analyser les facteurs déterminants de l’évolution du capital-investissement dans l’Europe de l’Est. De plus, notre travail compare les déterminants de LBO, respectivement de l’activité de VC dans les pays d’Europe de l’Est. Le modèle empirique comprend de nombreux déterminants déjà testés dans des études précédentes ainsi que de nouvelles variables telles que la productivité et l’indice de corruption, que nous considérons comme des facteurs importants pour expliquer l’évolution des investissements en capital-investissement en Europe de l’Est. Nos résultats confirment les hypothèses existantes concernant l’importance de certains déterminants sur l’évolution des investissements en capital-investissement en Europe de l’Est. Cependant, dans le contexte de la dernière crise, de nouveaux facteurs sont apparus comme importants pour le marché du capital investissement en Europe, tels que la productivité ou la corruption. La dernière partie de cette recherche montrent que les sociétés de capital-investissement en Europe de l’Est préfèrent les sorties à travers des fusions et acquisitions, suivies des introductions en bourse. De plus, nous validons une relation d'équilibre à long terme entre les investissements en capital-investissement, les introductions en bourse et les fusions et acquisitions. Le test de causalité de Granger montre l'existence d'une causalité unidirectionnelle du nombre de fusions et acquisitions par rapport au volume des investissements en capital-investissement en Europe de l'Est. / The purpose of this research is to identify and analyze the determinants of the evolution of private equity in Eastern Europe. Additionally, this paper compares the determinants of leveraged buyout activity, respectively venture capital activity in Eastern European countries. The empirical model of the first two sections includes many of the determinants already tested in previous studies and also new variables such as productivity and corruption index which we consider important factors in explaining the evolution of private equity investments in Europe. Our results confirm existing hypotheses regarding the importance of some determinants on the evolution of private equity investments in Europe. However, in the context of the last crisis new factors emerged as important for the private equity market in Europe such as productivity or corruption. The last section of this work tests the existence of a causal link between the evolution of private equity and the number of divestments of private equity funds in Eastern Europe during the financial crisis. Our results show that Eastern European private equity firms prefer M&A exits followed by IPOs. Furthermore, we validate a long-term equilibrium relationship between private equity investments, IPO and M&A. The Granger causality test shows the existence of a unidirectional causality of the number of M&A to the volume of private equity investments in Eastern Europe.

Venture capital (VC) plays an increasing role as part of the private equity asset class and the general investment continuum. The lack of transparency due to limited reportings and market data obstructs a concise view on VC investment value and performance. This thesis aims to shed some light on VC investment peculiarities and their effect in valuation terms. It primarily reflects on the implications of contractual rights on the investment value. In the first chapter, I present an approach to integrate the multi-perspective of VC investment and analyze the interaction effects of control and cash flow rights on the feasibility of follow-on funding based on the value position of investors. In the second chapter, I present a joint study by Prof. Dr. Schwetzler, Dr. Schreiter, Dr. Lodowicks and myself where we propose a valuation framework that is applied to a sample of primarily European ventures to derive investment level values and assess misvaluation when using simple heuristics instead. In the third chapter, a joint work by Dr. Schreiter, Dr. Lodowicks and myself is presented where we develop a prediction model that allows to derive more accurate estimates of VC investments.

Venture capital is associated with some of the most rapidly growing and influential technological companies. The strengths of the venture capital model have been effectively articulated by academics and policymakers. At the same time, venture capital financing became increasingly influential in the deep technology startup ecosystem, and there was a need to investigate the industry's growth impact of financing. Hence, this thesis focuses on the research area that is initiated by Industrifonden, an early-stage venture capital fund in Sweden. This study has chosen to investigate and answer the growth impact analysis in two key areas: timing (is timing of financing an independent factor for the growth of deep tech startups?) and sector based financing (Is Venture capital financing sector based?). The data comes from a cohort of startups (143 startups from 2010 to 2019) that are representative of deep-tech and non-deep-tech firms in Sweden, according to the Retriever Business Database in association with KTH Library. As the performance can be explained through the growth of the firms, the result shows that timing of funding has a statistically significant impact on the growth of the firm. The findings indicate a higher positive correlation between timing and startups’ growth, but sector based financing is statistically insignificant for deep tech startup growth. / Riskkapital är förknippat med några av de snabbast växande och inflytelserika tekniska företagen. Styrkorna i riskkapitalmodellen har effektivt formulerats av akademiker och beslutsfattare. Samtidigt blev riskkapitalfinansiering alltmer inflytelserik i det djupa teknikstart, och det fanns ett behov av att undersöka branschens tillväxtspåverkan av finansiering. Därför fokuserar denna avhandling på det forskningsområde som initierats av Industrifonden, en svensk riskkapitalfond. Denna studie har valt att undersöka och svara på analysen av tillväxtspåverkan inom två nyckelområden: timing (är tidpunkten för finansiering en oberoende faktor för tillväxten av djupa teknikstart?) Och branschfinansiering (är riskkapitalfinansiering branschbaserad?). Uppgifterna kommer från en grupp nystartade företag (143 startups från 2010 till 2019) som är representativa för djup teknologiska och icke-djup tekniska företag i Sverige, enligt affärsdatabasen Retriever i samarbete med KTH biblioteket. Eftersom resultatet kan förklaras genom företagens tillväxt visar resultatet att tidpunkten för finansiering har en statistiskt signifikant inverkan på företagets tillväxt. Resultaten indikerar en högre positiv korrelation mellan timing och startups tillväxt, men branschfinansiering är statistiskt obetydlig för djup teknisktillväxt.

One of the single biggest challenges for start-ups is to find the necessary funding to achieve growth. Software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies are no different and rely on seed stage investments to build and develop a service in order to acquire paying customers. Given the need of external investments, SaaS companies heavily depend on their valuation for each given investor. The purpose of this study was to investigate the main value determinants for seed stage SaaS company valuations. Hence, the research question at issue was “What are the main value determinants for seed stage SaaS company valuations?”. This study was delimited to seed stage SaaS companies with a business to business (B2B) service offering in Sweden. This qualitative research was carried out through semi-structured in-depth interviews with seed stage SaaS B2B founders and investors operating in Sweden. The primary results of the qualitative research show that the main value determinants can be divided into three main factors. Firstly, external factors, such as the region, industry, and market that the company is operating within. Secondly, company factors include team and founder characteristics, firm characteristics, SaaS metrics and financials, and partnership and alliances. Thirdly, investor factors, including investor type as well as reputation and value-add. Following the findings, similarities and differences with literature were discussed. Based on the results, a revised framework including the main value determinants for seed stage SaaS company valuation was developed. The conclusion of this study is that seed stage SaaS company valuations vary among investor types. The valuation tends to not be bound to a specific valuation method, but rather a process where an overall evaluation is made from a set of criteria, which leads up to the valuation process where the final valuation is set. / En av de största utmaningarna för nystartade företag är att genomföra extern kapitalanskaffning för att uppnå tillväxt. Det gäller även för SaaS-företag (Software-as-a-service) vilka är beroende av investeringar i seed stage (fröstadiet) för att bygga upp och utveckla tjänster för att erhålla betalande kunder. Givet behovet av externa investeringar är SaaS-företag starkt beroende av dess värdering från investerare. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka de viktigaste värdedeterminanterna för värdering av SaaS-bolag i seed stage. Forskningsfrågan var således "Vilka är de viktigaste värdedeterminanterna för värderingar av SaaS-företag i seed stage?". Studien avgränsades till SaaS-företag som erbjuder B2B-tjänster i Sverige. Denna kvalitativa studie genomfördes genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med seed stage SaaS B2B-grundare och investerare som är verksamma i Sverige. De övergripande resultaten visar att de viktigaste värdedeterminanterna kan delas in i tre huvudfaktorer: externa faktorer, företagsfaktorer, och investerarfaktorer. Externa faktorer avser region, bransch, och marknad inom vilka företaget är verksamt. Företagsfaktorer inkluderar teamet och grundarnas egenskaper, företagets egenskaper, SaaS-mått och finansiella data, samt partnerskap och allianser. Investerarfaktorer avser typen av investerare samt investerarens rykte och mervärde. Utfallet från intervjuerna jämfördes med resultat från tidigare litteratur. Baserat på intervjuresultaten utvecklades ett reviderat ramverk med de viktigaste värdedeterminanterna för värdering av SaaS-bolag i seed stage. Slutsatsen av denna studie är att värdering av SaaS-företag i seed stage varierar mellan olika investerartyper. Värderingen tenderar att inte vara bunden till en specifik värderingsmetod, utan en process där en övergripande utvärdering görs baserat på en uppsättning av kriterier, vilket resulterar i en slutgiltig värdering.

<p>Bakgrund: De svenska börsbolagen gör större vinster än någonsin tidigare, men har fått stor kritik för att vara för långsamma i sin vinstallokering. Företag med överkapitaliserade balansräkningar utan investeringsbehov är potentiella måltavlor för riskkapitalisternas affärsidé om finansiell effektivisering och en aggressivare kapitalstruktur. Debatten i media har skapat kritik kring dessa så kallade kortsiktiga och giriga bolagsplundrare som påstås förstöra finansiella värden och kreditvärdigheten i företagen. I tidigare fall har marknaden svarat positivt på riskkapitalisternas investeringar, något som har reflekterats i ett kraftigt ökande aktiepris. Skeptiker hävdar dock att spekulationer är anledningen till att marknadsvärdet drivs upp, inte fundamentala aspekter.</p><p>Syfte: Syftet med denna magisteruppsats är att fastställa en bild av fenomenet riskkapital och hur dess aktiva ägande inverkar på svenska börsbolags kreditbetyg, kapitalstruktur och värdering.</p><p>Metod: För att uppnå syftet med vår magisteruppsats har en kvalitativ ansats till-lämpats baserad på tre börsbolag där riskkapitalisters aktiva ägande spelat en betydande roll. Det empiriska materialet har insamlats genom personliga intervjuer med aktie- och kreditanalytiker, och studien förlitar sig även på markandsdata, artiklar och nyhetssändningar i media, samt respektive bolags kvartals- och årsrapporter.</p><p>Slutsats: Studien har gjorts over den tidsperiod som varit riskkapitalisternas inve-steringshorisont – explicit och implicit. Genom att analysera det aktiva ägarskapet i tre svenska börsbolag kan slutsatsen dras att det inverkat positivt i form av högre prestanda och marknadsvärdering. De finansiella förändringarna har, till skillnad från kritiken, styrkt kreditbetyget i fallen Lindex och Volvo. En analys av Skandia/Old Mutual visade dock en marginellt ökad kreditrisk. Slutsatsen visar härmed att riskkapitalisternas inverkan på svenska börsbolag är värdeförädlande utan att äventyra den finansiella statusen.</p> / <p>Background: The Swedish blue chip companies are performing better than ever, but have been strongly criticised for being too slow in their excess fund allocation. Companies with overcapitalised balance sheets and no investment needs are potential targets for activist funds’ business idea of more aggressive capital structures and financial restructuring. In media, this debate has raised criticism against these so called short-sighted, greedy asset-strippers that destroy company values and increase the companies’ risk of default. In prior cases where activist funds have taken actions, the market has responded positively through increasing the share price. However, sceptics argue that the higher share price is merely a response to a speculative reaction with no fundamental argument supporting the upgrade in market capitalisation.</p><p>Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to establish a view of the phenomenon of activist funds and their impact on blue chip companies’, listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange, credit rating, capital structure and valuation.</p><p>Method: To fulfil the purpose of our master thesis, a qualitative approach has been applied based on three cases involving the activities of activist funds. The empirical findings have been retrieved via personal communications with stock- and credit analysts, and the study also relies on articles and news coverage from media, stock market data and annual reports from each of the chosen companies respectively.</p><p>Conclusion: The study has regarded the period of time which has been the investment horizon of the activist funds – explicitly and implicitly. Analysing their active ownership, the conclusion can be drawn that these activist funds have clearly had a positive impact on each of the blue chip companies’ performance and intrinsic value respectively. The financial restructuring has - contrarily to the criticism – strengthened the credit ratings in the cases of Lindex and Volvo. In the Skandia/Old Mutual-case, a marginally higher default risk was detected. Thus, the study has concluded that activist funds indeed add significant shareholder value without jeopardising the companies’ financial statuses.</p>

現代創業投資活動主要崛起於第二次世界大戰後，我國自1984年引進創投事業發展迄今，對科技事業之發展頗具成效。然自2000年起政府基於租稅公平，取消促進產業升級條例原來賦予創投事業股東的投資抵減優惠，使得我國創投事業資金來源大幅減少。 目前我國創投事業面臨的困境有：一、資金募集困難；二、投資績效不彰；三、國內投資案源不足；四、欠缺熟悉國外創投運作的人才；五、國內外創業投資事業組織型態之不同；六、尚未能開放退休基金投資創投事業。 本研究係探討創投事業法制上相關問題，主要發現節錄如下：一、我國對創投事業之管制方式，已由管理放寬為輔導協助。二、建議適度放寬創投事業之資金來源限制。創投事業之資金來源甚廣，本研究討論之範圍為金融機構之投資限制、政府基金及四大基金之投資等。其中，放寬四大基金投資創投事業，向來為國內創投業界及創投公會之期望，然數年來仍未能達成該項目標。主要為：1.相關法令之限制，2.投資創投事業之風險控管問題。三、利用資本市場活動，協助創投事業退出。四、我國創投事業大部份係委託基金管理公司來管理，故形成雙層的公司治理結構，與國外創投契約型的治理結構不盡相同。五、引進國外有限合夥法制，與國際接軌。 惟引進有限合夥組織時，需考量制度本身之優劣，國情及使用者需求之不同。在有限合夥制度中，一般合夥人必須負無限清償責任，另一方面有限合夥人僅扮演出資者，完全不介入管理。對我國現行投資者習慣依出資比例，分配董監事席次，是否願意僅出資而不介入經營，尚待評估。 / The modern venture capital activities were incepted after World War II. The operation of venture capital were introduced to Taiwan in 1984, having a beneficial impact to the development of Taiwan’s science and high technology. However, since 2000 for the sake of Tax Equity, Our government abolish The Statute for Upgrading Industries was given to venture capital investment in the cause of the shareholders preferential credit, making the cause of Taiwan’s venture capital funding sources substantially reduced. Currently, Taiwan’s venture capital business is facing difficulties are: first, fund-raising is difficult; Second, poor investment performance; Third, the case of domestic investment was not enough; Fourth, the lack of venture capitalist are familiar with the operation of foreign talent; five, types of organizations of domestic and foreign venture capital business are different; six, have not allow pension fund to invest in venture capital business. In this study, is to explore the legal system on venture capital related issues, excerpts from major findings are as follows: First, The control of Taiwan’s venture capital business is from management to relax for the guidance and assistance. Second, it is proposed to deregulate venture capital funding source restrictions. Venture capital business have a wide range of funding sources, this study is to discuss the scope of financial institutions of investment restrictions, government funds and four pension funds. Among them, the relaxation of four pension funds wae the domestic venture capital industry and the Association of venture capital’s expectations, but over the years fail to reach the goal. Mainly for: 1. Relevant legal’s restrictions, 2. The risk management issues of venture capital business. Third, the use of capital market activities to withdraw from the venture capital business. Fourth, the majority of Taiwan’s venture capital business is managed by fund management company, so it’s formed a two-tier corporate governance structure, with foreign venture contractual governance structure is different. Fifth, the introduction of foreign limited partnership law. However, the introduction of a limited partner organizations, is need to consider the advantages and disadvantages of the system itself, the national conditions and needs of different users. In the limited partnership system, the general partner must bear the responsibility of unlimited liquidity, on the other hand, limited partner only play a role of investors, and not allow to intervene the management of venture capital business. Habits of our existing investors is familiar with in accordance with the proportion of funding, to allocate the seats of the Director board, are doubtful only willing to finance and not to intervene the operation, yet to be evaluated.

Notre recherche vise à établir un cadre pour améliorer la compréhension du marché de capital-risque européen et l’appariement entre entrepreneurs et fonds de capital risque qui a lieu dans ce marché. Nous présentons quatre essais qui permettent de connaître: la littérature théorique et empirique sur le domaine, les différents types des Fonds de Capital Risque qui participent au financement des entreprises en phase de démarrage et les dimensions qui comptent le plus dans les relations entre ces participants. / Our thesis aims to improve the understanding of European Venture Capital market and the matching that takes place between entrepreneurs and Venture Capitalists. We present four essays that allow us to get to know: the theoretical and empirical literature on the subject, the different types of European venture capitalists participating in the financing of early stage ventures and the dimensions that count in this relationship.

Crowdfunding as it looks today has had rapid growth in popularity as a financing alternative for start-ups. By seeking capital from a large number of private investors who will invest a smaller amount of money, the financing market has changed and access to capital has increased. This study has made a comparison between the different funding options. The aim of this study is to compare the development of companies financed by crowdfunding against companies traditionally financed to evaluate which approach is the strongest. Furthermore, the authors intend to identify risks with crowdfunding and to observe trends. The study has been conducted through a quantitative method with a deductive approach where the data is collected mostly from the companies annual reports. The result of the study shows that the companies that are traditionally financed have a higher level of sales and sales growth. One trend that the study has shown is that after the company's first two years, sales, sales growth and operating profit from companies financed through crowdfunding begin to decline.

[pt] No contexto da nova economia, um grupo particular de empresas vem se destacando - as Pequenas Empresas de Inovação Tecnológica. Essas empresas surgem em torno de novas idéias de produtos e serviços com base em conhecimentos específicos sobre uma determinada tecnologia e introduzem inovações tecnológicas na estrutura industrial, contribuindo para o crescimento econômico e a geração de novos postos de trabalho, em especial os de mão-deobra altamente qualificada. Recentemente, uma tendência emergente de formação de alianças estratégicas entre essas empresas tem configurado um novo comportamento estratégico. Entretanto, a literatura contemporânea sobre alianças estratégicas tem sido parcimoniosa na sua abordagem desse tema. O objetivo principal desta dissertação é verificar a suposição de que a principal vantagem competitiva que tais alianças estratégicas proporcionam a essas empresas é a redução da incerteza tecnológica e de mercado. Visa-se também contribuir para a literatura emergente sobre esse novo comportamento estratégico. Pretende-se ainda entender como diferentes tipos de financiamento podem impactar na forma dessas alianças e, por fim, adaptar um modelo conceitual de análise, derivado da Visão da Firma Baseada em Recursos, que auxilie a análise dessas alianças. O desenvolvimento do trabalho está baseado no estudo de caso da aliança estratégica formada entre a Gavea Sensors e a FiberSensing, duas pequenas empresas de mesma base tecnológica, uma situada no Brasil e outra em Portugal. Os resultados obtidos confirmaram a suposição e demonstraram que diferentes tipos de financiamento impactam na forma dessas alianças estratégicas. Por fim, são indicadas propostas de estudos futuros e de políticas públicas. / [en] In the new economy context, a particular group of firms has been getting a lot of attention - The Small Technology-Based Firms. These firms emerge around new ideas of products and services based on specific knowledge about specific technology. They introduce technology innovation in the industrial structure, contributing for economic growth and employment creation of highly qualified workmanship. Recently, an emergent tendency of strategic alliance formation between these firms has been configuring a new strategic behavior. Nevertheless, contemporary literature about strategic alliances has been parsimonious about this subject. The main purpose of this dissertation is to verify the assumption that the main competitive advantage that these kind of strategic alliances provide to Small Technology-Based Firms is reduction of market and technology uncertainty. The impact of different types of firm-financing on these alliances was also investigated. In addition, a conceptual framework based on Resource-based Theory of the Firm, which aids the analysis of these alliances, was adapted. This work is based on the case study of the strategic alliance formed between two small firms, one in Brazil and the other in Portugal, based on the same technology: Gavea Sensors and FiberSensing. Results confirm the assumption mentioned above, and show that different types of financing have influence on the form these strategic alliances take. Finally, future studies and public policies were suggested.

Sem trazer qualquer exceção explícita, a Constituição Federal estabelece o tratamento jurídico favorecido para as empresas de menor porte. Entretanto, o atual regramento diferenciado, intitulado Simples Nacional, constante na Lei Complementar nº 123/06, determina que dele não podem se beneficiar as empresas diminutas estruturadas na forma de sociedades por ações. Essa discriminação por modelo societário dificulta ou, até mesmo, inviabiliza a sobrevivência das startups, que necessitam da roupagem anônima fechada para acessar os recursos do capital de risco. Disto, o trabalho busca verificar a coerência das razões legislativas e doutrinárias conferidas à vedação de pequenas empresas em adotarem o regime tributário benéfico em virtude de sua organização societária. Para realizar essa tarefa, nós fazemos uma breve incursão histórica atinente às sucessivas leis brasileiras que introduziram diplomas incentivados em prol das organizações de menor envergadura, tendo como foco as normas discriminatórias por tipo societário. O exame da racionalidade discursiva dominante foi facilitado pelo uso do ferramental teórico crítico, especialmente a categoria da legalidade discriminatória. Em conclusão, defendemos que o intento oculto por detrás da norma que proíbe as pequenas sociedades anônimas de optarem pelo Simples Nacional foi o de conferir aparência legal a ações arbitrárias que intencionam tornar árduo, senão impossível, o acesso de pequenas empresas inovadoras a fontes externas de financiamento. / Without bringing up any explicit exception, the Federal Constitution establishes the favored legal treatment for smaller companies. However, the current differentiated regulation, called Simplified Taxation System (Simples Nacional), contained in the Complementary Law no. 123/06 determines that small corporations structured in the form of joint-stock companies cannot benefit from it. Such discrimination by corporate model makes it difficult or even impossible for startups, which need the closed anonymous aspect to access venture capital resources, to survive. From this, the work seeks to verify the coherence of the legislative and doctrinal reasons given to the prohibition of small companies to adopt the beneficial tax regime by virtue of their corporate organization. To accomplish this task, we make a brief historical incursion into the successive Brazilian laws that introduced incentive degrees for smaller organizations, focusing on discriminatory standards by type of company. The examination of the dominant discursive rationality was facilitated by the use of critical theoretical tools, especially the category of the discriminatory legality. In conclusion, we argue that the hidden attempt behind the rule prohibiting small corporations from opting for the Simplified Taxation System (Simples Nacional) was to give a legal appearance to arbitrary actions that intend to make it difficult, if not impossible, for small innovative companies to have access to external sources of financing.