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The purpose of this paper is to identify the impact of public support through equity instruments on firm performance, as measured by growth in employment, turnover and innovative activities.

The paper draws on available academic literature and policy evaluation studies and using a mixed-method approach based on evaluation synthesis.

The key findings reflect positive, albeit quantifiably small, outcomes for this type of policy intervention for employment and turnover and no effect on innovation. There is some concentration of positive results, which is also dependent on the number and quality of the available target companies.

The evaluations used in this study vary considerably in their design, nature and the input and output variables used and, thus, limit a robust comparison of their outputs. Most of the evaluations examined in this paper did not control for multiple simultaneous treatment effects and/or subsequent funding rounds.

The evaluations are rarely designed to compare the treatment effects of alternative policy choices. Only seldom is an evaluation designed to assess the impact of the scheme in the context of the broader policy mix (with its framework conditions, etc.) which would provide more fine-grained policy implications.

The recent literature (Duruflé et al., 2017, Da Rin et al., 2011) highlights the dearth of studies exploring the role of government policies supporting venture and, more broadly, equity investments beyond comparisons of the efficiency of independent venture capital and government-backed venture capital. Most studies explore the impact in terms of exits, initial public offering and leverage effects whereas fewer studies look at output effects on companies such as turnover and employment growth. The paper aims to collect the existing evidence including less analysed policy evaluation studies and draw lessons for public policy.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the investigation of the venture capital investment process in the emerging markets of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), including Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, and Russia. The study aims to describe the mechanics by which venture capital firms operating in the CEE region process deals.

The paper is based on a two‐phase interview interaction process with venture capitalists operating in the CEE region. In the first semi‐structured (exploratory) phase of the study, 14 venture capitalists agreed to participate in one‐hour interview and aimed at discussing their venture capital process. In the second phase of the study (confirmatory), 24 venture capital firms commented on the actual fit of the proposed nine‐stage model into their past investments.

The study has two conclusions. Firstly, the study confirms the existence of a nine‐stage venture capital investment model, comprised of deal origination, initial screening, feedback from the investment committee and due diligence Phase I, feedback from the investment committee (due diligence Phase I), pre‐approval completions, formal approvals and due diligence Phase II, deal completion, monitoring, and exit. Secondly, the proposed model defines the venture capital process in terms of three channels of activity: document channel, information channel, and decision channel.

The study is important for at least four reasons. Firstly, the study focuses on the investigation of the entire venture capital process. Previous research in the area focuses on some specific facets of the venture capital process. Secondly, the paper investigates the connection between decision‐making, information gathering and written communication within a venture capital fund. Thirdly, the study focuses on the most recent period of development of the CEE industry. Many venture capital firms only recently crystallized their venture capital process. Lastly, the study proposes areas of further research for academics and makes suggestions for practitioners.

New Technology Business Firms are known to be volatile dynamic organizations whose innovations are subject to short life cycles and product imitability. Venture capitalist firms who allocate funds to these start-ups need to evaluate multiple facets associated with the individual firm’s internal and external characteristics, as well as, its own unique objectives and goals. This study applies a multicriteria decision making model to the identification for venture capital firms of potential New Technology Business Firms who are requesting capital infusions.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and rank critical factors influencing investment decisions of venture capitalists.

To identify and prioritize factors affecting investment decisions of venture capitalists, a two-phase methodology was adopted: in the first phase, critical factors influencing venture capitalists’ investment decisions were identified using exploratory factor analysis; the second phase entailed the use of a multi-criteria decision-making technique – analytical hierarchal process (AHP) which involved assigning weights to, and prioritizing the identified criteria and sub-criteria.

Seven factors were found to significantly influence investment decisions of venture capitalists: entrepreneur’s characteristics, product or services, market characteristics, management skills, financial consideration, economic environment and institutional and regulatory environment. Findings revealed that entrepreneur’s characteristics, financial consideration and product or services were prime influencers of venture capitalists’ investment decisions.

As for limitations, first, the study considers limited number of factors influencing investment decisions of venture capitalists; there may be other influencers not considered in this study. Second, the AHP methodology assumes that the various decision-making criteria and sub-criteria are independent of each other; in real life, there may be inter-dependency among criteria. Third, the hierarchal model has been tested in the Indian venture capital industry only, and generalizability of results with respect to other industries is questionable.

The present study identifies and ranks seven factors found to significantly influence investment decisions of venture capitalists. Venture capitalists could use this list of factors as a guideline before making investment decisions, and if considering all factors is not possible, take into account the factors given top rank so that they arrive at informed and intelligent decisions.

This study is the first to identify economic factors (economic environment and institutional & regulatory environment) as influencers of venture capitalists’ investment decisions. Further, no study in the past has attempted to rank or prioritize factors influencing venture capitalists’ investment decisions; this is the first attempt of the kind.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the importance assigned to the various criteria used by the Portuguese venture capitalists (VCs) to evaluate and select early stage venture capital (VC) projects.

The data were collected through a questionnaire answered by 20 Portuguese VCs. The authors use descriptive statistics techniques and non-parametric tests to identify the most valued criteria and test differences in the importance assigned to the criteria of several types of VCs and investments.

The study reveals that personality and experience of the entrepreneur and of the management team are the most valued groups of criteria. VCs with a majority of private share capital value more the personality of the entrepreneur and management team than the companies with a majority of public share capital. Additionally, the VCs that did not yet internationalize consider the personality of the entrepreneur and management team and the financial aspects, to be more important than the VCs that have already expanded abroad.

It provides evidence on the VCs behavior in a small VC market. Since most of the existing literature on this area refer to large VC markets, the present study is important to investigate whether the conclusions reached by the previous studies can be extended to a small VC market. Also, this study is a contribution to the literature on the internationalization of VCs and it is the first study that explores the impact of the VCs being internationalized on the value given to the various selection criteria of early stage VC projects.

Literature on entrepreneurial finance has long overcome the view of an investor as a sole provider of financial capital. Entrepreneurs need to consider more aspects when deciding on an investor. Especially the depiction of corporate venture capital (CVC) investors has long highlighted advantages and disadvantages compared to independent VC (IVC) investors. The authors investigate what drives entrepreneurs' preferences for CVC relative to IVC and thereby focus on two key issues in the entrepreneur's consideration – the role of resource requirements and exit strategies.

The data were collected in an online survey that gathered information on several characteristics of entrepreneurs and their ventures. The resulting data set of 105 German entrepreneurs was analyzed using logistic regression and revealed important drivers for entrepreneurs' investor preferences.

The study’s findings confirm that the venture's resource needs, specifically the need for marketing resources and access to the corporate network, which play a significant role in the decision on whether a CVC or IVC investor is preferred. Moreover, the analysis debunks the hypothesis that entrepreneurs view a CVC investment as the first step toward acquisition. However, those entrepreneurs striving for an IPO are less likely to prefer CVC.

The study expands the literature on CVC attractiveness and specifically considers the entrepreneurs' intentions and needs. The results confirm but also debunk some widespread perceptions about why entrepreneurs choose to pursue financing from a CVC investor.

The venture capital industry is an important provider of capital to start-ups and has grown considerably in recent decades. This study explores how investors' gender perceptions influence venture capital investment decisions in an industry that remains highly gender imbalanced, both amongst the venture capital decision-makers and with respect to the allocation of capital to entrepreneurs.

The authors' approach was informed by a thorough literature review and in-depth qualitative interviews with ten decision-makers at some of the foremost venture capital funds in Norway. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and coded using NVivo.

The authors' findings demonstrate that the Norwegian venture capital industry is influenced by homophily and role congruity. The authors highlight the challenges entrepreneurs face in gaining access to venture capital if they are not already members of the investors' network, a situation that results in a recycling effect that helps maintain the industry’s gender imbalance. Moreover, it appears that venture capitalists (VCs) favour masculine characteristics when assessing entrepreneurs, revealing a potential incongruence between female characteristics and perceived entrepreneurial attributes.

The authors' study contributes to and extends the extant literature on homophily and role congruity. Indeed, through investigating the gender-based perceptions of VCs, the authors shed new light on the mechanisms involved in their assessment of entrepreneurs, as well as on the drivers and barriers affecting female entrepreneurs.

The paper aims to investigate the views of Estonian private equity and venture capitalists about the valuation of high‐growth companies and compare these with theoretical recommendations found in corporate finance and venture capital literature.

The analysis was carried out by using the case study methodology. Structured interviews were conducted in order to present the material for analysis. The dominant model of the case study analysis is exploratory, using an explanation‐building and pattern‐matching technique.

Main findings of the empirical study show that Estonian private equity and venture capitalists make the valuation somewhat differently compared to Western European and American ones. Some findings do not confirm the suggestions made by scientists.

Some of the required data were considered to be a business secret. The research could be extended to a broader sample.

The findings can be used by the managers of private equity and venture capital funds for choosing appropriate cost of capital and valuation model for venture capital projects.

The paper is the first empirical paper, investigating how Estonian private equity and venture capitalists make the valuation of target companies.

Private equity funds invest in high‐risk projects and firms. One aspect of investing in small‐ to medium‐sized enterprises and in participating in buy‐out transactions is managing risk at the pre‐investment stage. The purpose of this paper is to document existing pre‐investment risk management practices of European and Indian fund managers, to explore if vijayamathirz techniques differ based on legal system and in developing markets (India), and determine if fund size affects risk management practices.

This study analyzes risk management preferences at the pre‐investment stage among funds that operate in common and civil law countries. Data was collected using a survey instrument.

The results indicate few differences. Where differences are found, they appear related to issues concerning asymmetric information and market structures. Legal systems do not appear to be a significant explanatory factor in determining how private equity funds manage risk at the pre‐investment stage.

The results are useful to fund managers in improving their existing pre‐investment risk strategies. Fund sponsors may use this study to benchmark their existing and future fund managers.

A key element in the development of a technology, a company or an industry is the availability of finance. While much effort has been directed at understanding the roles of venture capital, angel investment and public investment, there does not appear to be much analysis of the industry-level effects as a new industry is emerging. In this chapter, we investigate the patterns of public and private investments and the role of government in support of financing the emergence of science and technology industries. We also examine the criteria used by venture capitalists in their assessment of investment opportunities regarding new technology-based ventures. We focus on the analysis of investment at stage between prototyping and commercialisation of a new technology. This stage has been labelled as the ‘valley of death’ from an investor perspective, which reflects greater risks for investors due to the high level of both technology and market uncertainty.