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Investment performance of life-science venture capital investment funds, persistence, and subsector analysis

Thesis (S.M.)--Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology; and, (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2007. / Vita. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 28). / Venture capital investment performance data and performance attribution are not typically published. Venture investors articulate (and sell to LPs) conflicting strategies; the popular business literature and culture is rife with rapidly changing beliefs about the relative attractiveness of healthcare venture subsectors, particularly therapeutics and devices. To examine these issues in a more rigorous format I developed a dataset of healthcare venture deals, scored each deal with a new metric ("jb-score"), and assigned each portfolio company to appropriate subsectors. This dataset was then used to examine subsector performance, persistence, and fund strategy attribution (pure vs. mixed healthcare strategies.) Specifically, I found that the performance characteristics of device and therapeutic (aka biotech or drug) investments are similar: both subsectors evidence similar jb-scores and firms who invest heavily in these subsectors show similar levels of persistent overperformance with devices showing somewhat higher persistence. Firms that focus on one subsector do not perform as well as firms that follow a more balanced strategy. Finally, I examine the validity of the jb-score and offer some suggestions for future improvements. / by Jeffrey S. Behrens. / M.B.A. / S.M.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:MIT/oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/38334
Date January 2007
CreatorsBehrens, Jeffrey S
ContributorsAntoinette Schoar and Stanley N. Lapidus., Sloan School of Management., Harvard University--MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology., Sloan School of Management.
PublisherMassachusetts Institute of Technology
Source SetsM.I.T. Theses and Dissertation
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis
Format32 leaves, application/pdf
RightsM.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission., http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

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