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.

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

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.