Government venture capital and cross-border investment

We use data on venture capital investments from 26 countries from 1998–2013. We investigate the following questions: Do domestic government sponsored venture capital funds augment or curtail domestic private venture capital funds from cross-border investment? Do government sponsored venture capital funds attract or repel foreign private venture capital investment? The results show that a preponderance of mixed-structured over pure-structured government venture capital investment has a crowding-in effect overall: it attracts domestic and international private venture capital to the domestic venture capital market while simultaneously increasing total private venture capital investment. In contrast, a preponderance of pure-government over mixed-government venture capital fund investment repels foreign private venture capital investment (has a crowding out effect). We find that both these effects are more pronounced for domestic rather than foreign private venture capital and that the attraction effect is stronger than the repulsion effect.     

Venture capital investment cycles: The impact of public markets

It is well documented that the venture capital industry is highly volatile and that much of this volatility is associated with shifting valuations and activity in public equity markets. This paper examines how changes in public market signals affected venture capital investing between 1975 and 1998. We find that venture capitalists with the most industry experience increase their investments the most when public market signals become more favorable. Their reaction to an increase is greater than the reaction of venture capital organizations with relatively little industry experience and those with considerable experience but in other industries. The increase in investment rates does not affect the success of these transactions adversely to a significant extent. These findings are consistent with the view that venture capitalists rationally respond to attractive investment opportunities signaled by public market shifts.     

Is a VC Partnership Greater Than the Sum of Its Partners?

This paper investigates whether individual venture capitalists have repeatable investment skill and the extent to which their skill is impacted by the venture capital (VC) firm where they work. We examine a unique data set that tracks the performance of individual venture capitalists' investments over time and as they move between firms. We find evidence of skill and exit style differences even among venture partners investing at the same VC firm at the same time. Furthermore, our estimates suggest the partners' human capital is two to five times more important than the VC firm's organizational capital in explaining performance.     

Venture capitalist value-added activities,fundraising and drawdowns

This paper is the first to introduce an analysis of the effect of different types of venture capitalist value-added activities (financial, administrative, marketing, strategic/management) on fundraising. In addition, we include an analysis of the functional difference between committed funds and drawdowns from capital commitments vis-à-vis pension funds and venture capital funds. The new comprehensive data, collected by the Australian Bureau of Statistics for 1999–2001, enable controls for venture capitalist performance, risk, investment activity, and management and performance fees. The results indicate that significantly more capital is allocated to venture capitalists that provide financial and strategic/management expertise to entrepreneurial firms (as opposed to marketing and administrative expertise). In addition, fundraising is greater among funds with higher returns and performance fees and lower fixed management fees. In contrast, drawdowns from capital commitments are greater among venture capital funds that provide financial and marketing expertise to investees (as opposed to strategic and administrative expertise), and among funds with higher performance fees and fixed management fees. Further, the results indicate an adverse impact on venture capital fundraising from illiquidity attributable to a 2-year lock-up period in IPO exits over the period considered.     

Experience,screening and syndication in venture capital investments

We consider a theoretical model that offers a rationale for the syndication of venture capital investments: syndication improves the screening process of venture capitalists and prevents competition between investors after investment opportunities are disclosed. The analysis identifies the costs of syndication in terms of investment decisions or post-investment involvement of venture capitalists. These costs depend crucially on the level of experience of venture capitalists. The model generates empirical predictions concerning the determinants of syndication and the characteristics of syndicated deals.     

The role of accounting in high-technology investments

We present new qualitative empirical evidence from a series of interviews with representatives of venture capital support organisations, which discusses the role of accounting in high-technology investments. Our discussion is framed around three propositions on: whether or not the stewardship role of accounting still holds; the usefulness, or otherwise, of accounting information in the valuation of high-technology investments; and assessing the value of intangible assets in the investment decision. We find that accounting no longer plays such a strong stewardship role, certainly for the venture capital investor. Further, its role in enabling investors to make decisions on how, when and how much to invest is limited. We propose that standard setters take this on board in revising reporting requirements.     

Can investors time their exposure to private equity?

Private equity performance, both for buyouts and venture capital, has been highly cyclical: periods of high fundraising have been followed by periods of low performance. Despite this seemingly predictable variation, we find modest gains, at best, to pursuing realistic, investable strategies that time capital commitments to private equity. This occurs, in part, because investors can only time their commitments to funds; they cannot time when commitments are called or when investments are exited. There is a high degree of time-series correlation in net cash flows even across commitment strategies that allocate capital in a very different manner over time.     

吸收风险投资对企业投资效率的影响研究--基于创业板的数据研究

以创业板上市公司为研究对象,就初创公司上市后是否吸收风险投资、吸收风险投资的比例以及是否存在风险投资机构的联合投资展开实证研究。结果表明:公司上市后风险投资参与仍可以显著提高企业的投资效率,风险投资比例越高,越有利于提高投资效率,联合投资也对此有正向促进作用。     

Limited partner performance and the maturing of the private equity industry

We evaluate the performance of limited partners? (LPs?) private equity investments over time. Using a sample of 14,380 investments by 1,852 LPs in 1,250 buyout and venture capital funds started between 1991 and 2006, we find that the superior performance of endowment investors in the 1991–1998 period, documented by prior literature, is mostly due to their greater access to the top-performing venture capital partnerships. In the subsequent 1999–2006 period, endowments no longer outperform, no longer have greater access to funds that are likely to restrict access, and do not make better investment selections than other types of institutional investors. Nevertheless, all investor types? private equity investments continue to outperform public markets on average. We discuss how these results are consistent with the general maturing of the industry, as private equity has transitioned from a niche, poorly understood area to a ubiquitous part of institutional investors? portfolios.     

The determinants of venture capital funding: evidence across countries

This paper analyses the determinants of venture capital for a sample of 21 countries. In particular, we consider the importance of initial public offerings (IPOs), gross domestic product (GDP) and market capitalization growth, labor market rigidities, accounting standards, private pension funds, and government programs. We find that IPOs are the strongest driver of venture capital investing. Private pension fund levels are a significant determinant over time but not across countries. Surprisingly, GDP and market capitalization growth are not significant. Government policies can have a strong impact, both by setting the regulatory stage, and by galvanizing investment during downturns. Finally, we also show that different types of venture capital financing are affected differently by these factors. In particular, early stage venture capital investing is negatively impacted by labor market rigidities, while later stage is not. IPOs have no effect on early stage venture capital investing across countries, but are a significant determinant of later stage venture capital investing across countries. Finally, government funded venture capital has different sensitivities to the determinants of venture capital than non-government funded venture capital. Our insights emphasize the need for a more differentiated approach to venture capital, both from a research as well as from a policy perspective. We feel that while later stage venture capital investing is well understood, early stage and government funded investments still require more extensive research.     

Building Relationships Early: Banks in Venture Capital

This paper examines bank behavior in venture capital. It considersthe relation between a bank's venture capital investments andits subsequent lending, which can be thought of as intertemporalcross-selling. Theory suggests that unlike independent venturecapital firms, banks may be strategic investors who seek complementaritiesbetween venture capital and lending activities. We find evidencethat banks use venture capital investments to build lendingrelationships. Having a prior relationship with a company inthe venture capital market increases a bank's chance of subsequentlygranting a loan to that company. Companies can benefit fromthese relationships through more favorable loan pricing.     

Performance differentiation: cutting losses and maximizing profits of private equity and venture capital investments

Recent research has pointed out the need to differentiate between good versus poor performance of venture capital and private equity investments and to analyze the factors that determine the ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ of a fund. This study examines the different contractual and behavioral characteristics and their influence on the positive and negative performances of private equity investments. Specifically, we analyze how fund managers apply tools and investment behavior to mitigate risks and maximize returns. The empirical investigation of these questions is based on a merged dataset, which combines the Venture Economics and CEPRES databases. It includes a total of 1,011 investments made by 137 different funds that belong to 54 private equity and venture capital firms worldwide over the period from 1979 to 2003. Our results confirm that the reduction of losses and the maximization of investment profits have different antecedents. Although losses are minimized by the use of convertibles and by increasing the venture capital firms’ accumulated experience, profits are increased by the potential of the fund’s management to allocate resources to portfolio companies. Our findings contribute to the understanding of the determinants of venture capital and private equity returns by differentiating between the mitigation of risks and the maximization of profits.      

Entrepreneurs' financing choice between independent and bank-affiliated venture capital firms

This paper analyzes how the affiliation of a venture capital firm affects the deal terms for innovative entrepreneurial ventures. We develop a theory to explain the advantages of independent and bank-affiliated venture capital funds for entrepreneurs. We assume that independent venture capital firms provide better support quality while bank-affiliated firms are less financially constrained. The entrepreneur selects the optimal contract by trading-off these characteristics. The model allows several empirically testable predictions concerning the nature of projects financed by either type of venture capital firm. Entrepreneurs should seek capital from independent or affiliated venture capitalists contingent on the degree of sophistication of their project, their liquidation value, the importance of expected management support, and the remaining time to fundraising.     

Voluntary disclosure of corporate venture capital investments

In this paper, we investigate drivers of corporate venture capital investment announcements. Consistent with voluntary information disclosure theories, we find that a public announcement is less likely to be made when the start-up firm is in the seed stage but more likely when the parent company is large, active in concentrated markets and in non-high-tech industries; spends heavily on internal R&D and capital expenditures; has low leverage ratio; and faces more information asymmetry problems. In addition, corporate venture capital programs managed externally disclose more often than internal programs. We find that parent companies facing more severe asymmetric information problems enjoy the highest abnormal returns in response to announcements. This study contributes to the literature on voluntary information disclosure in that it evidences that larger corporations use disclosure of some of their investments in innovative startups strategically as a way to convey valuable information to the market.     

Syndication in Venture Capital Financing

We examine syndication in venture capital (VC) investments between 1980 and 2005. We argue that VC firms syndicate investments to mitigate human capital and financial constraints within individual VC firms and to reduce uncertainty about firm value. Our results are consistent with those arguments. We find that syndication is more likely for firms in the earliest stage of development and firms in the last stage of development as private firms (when human capital investments are greatest), for firms requiring the largest amounts of financial capital, and for firms with greater growth opportunities (those that are most difficult to value).     

Liquidity,Technological Opportunities,and the Stage Distribution of Venture Capital Investments

This paper explores the determinants of the stage distribution of European venture capital investments from 1990 to 2011. Consistent with liquidity risk theory, we find that the likelihood of investing in earlier stages increases relative to all private equity investments during liquidity crisis years. While liquidity is the main driver of acquisition investments and, to some extent, of expansion financings, technological opportunities are overall the main driver of early and late stage venture capital investments. In contrast to the dotcom crash, the recent financial crisis negatively affected the relative likelihood of expansion investments, but not of early and late stage investments.     

How Fundamental are Fundamental Values? Valuation Methods and their Impact on the Performance of German Venture Capitalists

This paper studies how the use of alternative valuation methodologies affects investment performance for a sample of 53 German venture capitalists. We measure investment performance by the amount of investments they need to write off and by the number of companies they take public. We find that a significant number of investment managers use discounted cash flow (DCF) techniques, but only a minority appears to use a discount rate related to the cost of capital. The majority applies DCF using subjective discount rates. We present evidence that the use of DCF is correlated with superior investment performance only if applied in conjunction with an objectifiable discount rate. Also, funds that invest with a longer horizon perform better. The use of multiples is not significantly correlated with investment performance. We conclude that a focus on fundamental values confers an advantage.     

Nonlinearity and smoothing in venture capital performance data

Performance indices for illiquid investments are known to suffer from returns smoothing, and the purpose of this paper is to investigate the presence and nature of such smoothing in the context of venture capital. We find that while the standard techniques may or may not indicate the presence of smoothing, significant evidence of smoothing exists when a nonlinear regime-dependent model is specified. Further, the model suggests the presence of regime-specific responsiveness of venture capital returns whereby different weights are placed on newly arrived information in different regimes.     

风险投资对创业板IPO折价影响的实证研究

本文以截至2011年6月30日在我国创业板上市的236家公司作为研究对象,研究风险投资对创业板IPO折价的影响。研究发现：（1）有风险投资参与的企业IPO折价显著高于无风险投资参与的企业,支持声誉效应假说,即风险投资机构以IPO折价来提早退出投资项目,以此来建立自己的声誉,从而吸引更多的资金流入;（2）在对有风投参股的投资公司做进一步分析后发现一一随着风投参与度的增大,IPO调整折价率并未出现明显的提升,创业板企业IPO时风险投资机构的数量、风险投资机构持股比例与调整折价率关系不显著。     

The investment strategies of publicly sponsored venture capital funds

This paper investigates the effects of public ownership on the investment strategy of hybrid VC funds. We exploit a unique dataset containing data for all of the venture capital funds in Europe that received financial support from the European Investment Fund (EIF) during the years 1998–2007. The dataset includes 179 VC funds that invested in 2482 companies. We find that the level of public ownership shows a weak negative correlation with the likelihood of observing a write-off and that a higher public share is associated with a longer duration for the investment. The latter effect is more relevant for those investments that generate intermediate financial returns. The results are robust to the introduction of controls at the target firm level and for financial market conditions.