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Angel investments are increasingly getting specialized. In recent years, start-ups are raising pre-seed funding before seed-stage funding. Investors in pre-seed and seed-stage companies commonly are angel investors. The purpose of this paper is to understand the differences between these two groups of angel investors.

Data for this study obtained from angel funding deals from the sources such as Venture Intelligence, VCCEdge, Keiretsu Forum, Dealcurry and The Chennai Angels. A total of 732 angel investments made by 405 investors during 2014–18 were used in the analysis. Non-parametric tests and regression estimations were used to identify the differences between angel investors investing in pre-seed and seed-stage ventures. An index was developed to measure the extent of syndication in angel investments and used as an independent variable in the regression.

There are significant differences between angel investors investing in pre-seed and seed-stage ventures. The results show that angels with more industry-specific experience make a higher proportion of investment in seed-stage ventures. Seed-stage ventures attract investors from Tier-1 cities, whereas the pre-seed stage has higher investors from smaller cities. Though the investment size is smaller, the extent of syndication is greater in pre-seed stage investments.

To differentiate the angel investments between pre-seed and seed-stage funding, this study uses data from Indian start-ups. Further, this study develops a composite syndication index to measure the extent of syndication in angel investments and assesses its impact on an angel investor’s choice of pre-seed stage investments.

“Starting up a new company” and “development of technology-based venture”.

The target audiences for this study are advanced business or non-business undergraduate students and MBA students taking courses of entrepreneurship, management of innovation and organization theory and design.

Yeayyy.com was a private limited company based in Bandar Baru Bangi, Selangor, a township located about 30 km south of Kuala Lumpur. It was founded by Mr Hazmin in early 2010 with a seed funding of RM150,000 (about US$50,000). By the end of 2014, its core businesses include developing mobile application (app), software and website, as well as conducting information technology (IT) training. The company had developed its own animation cartoon, Oolat Oolit, and had commercialized several mobile app inventions. These mobile apps include a Jawi (traditional Malay writing system) app, mobile games and Facebook apps which were compatible with most mobile operating systems. Since its inception, Yeayyy.com had aspired to follow the footsteps of the internationally acclaimed Malaysian home-grown animation production house, Les’ Copaque, which had produced the popular Upin Ipin series. Similar to Les’ Copaque, Yeayyy.com also planned to commercialize its in-house characters into TV series and to market related merchandises, along with its collaborative partner, CikuTree Studio. However, by the end of 2014, the company’s seed funding had depleted, thus forcing Mr Hazmin to strategize for the company’s future.

Understanding the process of entrepreneurship and technology-based venture development enables case analysts to apply the concepts in many situations involving business opportunities and company development.

CSS:3 Entrepreneurship.

In many states, legislators have serious concerns about American competitiveness in the global economy. Based on Thomas Friedman's The World Is Flat – perhaps the most highly read book in policy communities over the past decade – legislators are aware the United States is falling behind other countries on many indicators of educational attainment. Although the United States was once a leader in higher education access, with 60 percent of its population attending at least some college, nine countries now exceed this level of participation (Wagner, 2006). Our educational attainment is predicted to increase in the future, not because of increasing participation rates, but because of the expanding college-going population. In production of bachelor's degrees, the United States is now merely average among the 20 most prosperous countries. On a per capita basis, one could argue that the United States no longer has the best higher education system in the world.

Available evidence suggests that South Dakota is one of only five states in the US that has no formal venture capital outlet, to either commit or disburse financing — no professional venture capital firm, no private or public or combination seed and start‐up fund, or bank Community Development Corporation. The absence of South Dakota in the disbursements list where 42 states and the District of Columbia are identified as receiving venture capital funds in 1990, is particularly telling. If South Dakota expressed a “need” for venture capital, the venture capital industry either felt no obligation to satisfy it or saw insufficient economic opportunity. Or, perhaps, South Dakota, and other similarly “disadvantaged” states, all yet to effectively express their need.

In this article, we analyse how variations in organisational conditions for research affect researchers’ opportunities for changing individual-level or group-level research programmes. We contrast three innovations that were developed in universities and public research institutes in Germany and the Netherlands, which enables comparisons both between organisational settings and between properties of innovations. Comparing the development of three innovations in the two types of organisations enables the identification of links between patterns of authority sharing at these organisations and the opportunities to develop innovations. On this basis, the distribution of opportunities to change research practices among researchers in the two countries can be established.

After completion of this case study, students will be able to describe the funding path for start-ups, including the amounts and profiles of the usual investors or sources of funds, according to the moment in their life cycle and the characteristics of the initiative; highlight the challenges faced by start-up founders in weak entrepreneurial ecosystems and risky institutional environments; and argue in favor of or against different modes and typical instruments of venture capital (VC) investments in the early stages of new businesses, each of them different regarding dilutions, valuation potential, depth of negotiations and term sheets.

Asistensi, a technology and telemedicine start-up founded in 2020 in Venezuela by three entrepreneurs (Andrés Simón González-Silén, Luis Enrique Velásquez and Armando Baquero), raised US$3m in less than a year in a seed round in which it attracted the attention of professional VC funds such as Mountain Nazca, Alma Mundi Ventures and 468 Capital. Everything was set for launching operations in Mexico and the Dominican Republic in April 2021. However, a series of difficulties led to higher expenditure than planned, prompting the entrepreneurs to seek additional capital. The decision on the financial instrument to be associated with the potential valuation and shareholder dilution figures has been posed as a dilemma.

The case study focuses on understanding the start-up financing process. It can be used effectively in management- and finance-related subjects for graduate students taking introductory topics in entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial finance, as well as introductory executive education courses in entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial finance and VC.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS3: Entrepreneurship

The rapid growth of foreign private lending to microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the past several years has led to a surprising reversal of roles between government-owned development agencies and private lenders. Development institutions [International Financial Institutions (IFIs)] are concentrating their loans in the strongest MFIs, leaving private lenders to look for opportunities among smaller, riskier borrowers. Development institutions are “crowding” private lenders out of the best MFIs.