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The venture capital industry is of vital importance to many entrepreneurial firms, as well as to those interested in economic development. Research on the venture capital industry generally treats it as a single, homogeneous industry. However, the industry is actually made up of a variety of sub‐groups. An understanding of these sub‐groups is important to venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, public policy makers and academics.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the venture capital industry evolves in Korea. The paper also compares the venture capital industry growth of Korea with that of the USA.

This paper forecasts the growth of the Korean venture capital industry using the Bass Model. The authors apply the Bass Model to both Korean and US data to compare the model estimates of Korean and US data, and to make use of the US case by taking the “guess by similarity” approach to analyze Korean venture capital industry growth.

The authors find that the innovative fund inflows in Korea are stronger than those in the USA, while inertial reinvestments are weak. The study forecasts that new investments in Korea grow at a 5-7 percent rate each year for the next five years, and the growth rate slows down over time. Peak investment is predicted around the year 2030.

Based on the forecasted venture capital investment schedule each year, this study derives the fundraising schedule and the implications for Korea fund-of-funds management to match the investment schedule.

The model estimates provide a guideline for forecasting venture capital industry development in countries with brief histories of venture capital, which lack data. The analysis can also be applied to cases when developing countries and emerging financial markets assess the impact of government interventions on venture capital industry growth, especially when they provide fund-of-funds.

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.

This paper analyses the investment patterns of Sino‐British joint ventures in China. The research is based on the data of 551 Sino‐British joint ventures formed over the period of 1983 to 1996. It aims to provide an overview of Sino‐British joint ventures' investment in China and to explain the investment conditions. The article analyses the investment patterns from the dimensions of investment value, geographical location, industry sector and equity ownership. To explain the formation of the patterns, it further explores the host country factors of investment based on the policy framework, economic determinants and business facilitation. It reveals the investment trend, the uneven spatial distribution, the sectoral characteristics and the ownership structure of joint ventures. Suggests that government economic strategy and policies towards FDI are imperative in shaping the investment patterns. Locational advantages, economic growth, industrial structures and reform process are major economic factors influencing the investment decisions. Decentralisation of decision making and local governments' facilitation efforts also play a complementary role in attracting foreign investment.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the key characteristics of the post‐investment relationship between the venture capital firm and its investee companies.

The research is a case study of a major UK venture capital firm using qualitative research to determine the key characteristics of the post‐investment relationship. The study is based on interviews with parties on both sides of the relationship.

While the results reflect the findings of the entrepreneurship and venture capital literature they also point to the importance of network growth and development for organizational learning in the venture capital industry, professionalization of investee firms and as a context in which the selection of the entrepreneur and the post investment relationship are set.

The research has the limitation of most case studies that the results cannot readily be generalized, in this case to the wider population of venture capital firms. Confidentiality issues also limited the extent to which a longitudinal study could be conducted.

A better understanding of the post‐investment relationship can inform entrepreneurs in their pitch for funds and in their anticipation of the post investment relationship. This understanding can also assist venture capital firms in the management of this relationship.

The case study uses data from rare access to a venture capital firm. It also differs by interviewing both parties to the post‐investment relationship, that is venture capitalist and investee firm.

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.

The growing prevalence of social entrepreneurship has been coupled with an increasing number of so-called “impact investors”. However, much remains to be learned about this nascent class of investors. To address the dearth of scholarly attention to impact investing, this study seeks to answer four questions that are central to understanding the phenomenon. What are the defining characteristics of impact investing? Do impact investors differ from traditional classes of investors and, if so, how? What are the motivations that drive impact investment? And, what criteria do impact investors use when evaluating potential investments?

A partially inductive study based on semi-structured interviews with 31 investors and ethnographic observation was conducted to explore how impact investors differ from other classes of investors in their motivations and unique criteria used to evaluate ventures seeking investment.

This study reveals that impact investors represent a unique class of investors that differs from socially responsible investing, from other types of for-profit investors, such as venture capitalists and angel investors, and from traditional philanthropists. The varied motivations of impact investors and the criteria they use to evaluate investments are identified.

Despite the growing practitioner and media attention to impact investing, several foundational issues remain unaddressed. This study takes the first steps toward shedding light on this new realm of early-stage venture investing and clarifying its role in larger efforts of social responsibility.

The fast-changing, highly competitive and technology-driven business environment forces established firms to continually search for new business opportunities and innovative ideas. In reaction, corporations such as Google, Microsoft, Cisco and Bertelsmann have launched new corporate venture capital (CVC) units or have intensified existing CVC activities. This chapter examines the structure, patterns and investment focus of telecommunication, IT, consumer electronics and media & entertainment firms’ CVC investments by conducting a data-mining project based on the Thomson Reuters Private Equity database. The data-mining project reveals the increasing importance of CVC activities as a strategic development tool to address the requirements of the increasing costs, speed and complexity of a technology-driven industry since the bursting of the Internet bubble. Therefore, following chapter is one of the first CVC studies to describe and compare CVC investments of the last CVC wave across industry sectors.

This paper aims to investigate German bank-affiliated venture capitalists’ investment practices and the emergence of their investment logics. Most studies focus on the investment behaviour of independent venture capitalists and little is known about dependent venture capitalists’ investment behaviour. The present study contributes to filling this gap in entrepreneurial finance literature.

The paper uses an exploratory qualitative research approach based on 27 semi-structured interviews with the top management of German bank-affiliated venture capitalists and industry experts to develop a conceptual model that explains the investment logics of bank-affiliated venture capitalists. A large amount of archival data has also been collected and used for the analysis.

The results indicate that bank-affiliated venture capitalists either follow an autonomous, contingent or hybrid investment logic. A bank-affiliated venture capitalist’s isomorphic focus – whether they feel isomorphic to the external venture capital environment or the internal parent bank’s environment – explains the emergence of multiple investment logics.

The paper encourages banks to get a better understanding of how the venture capital industry works and what they need to do to compete again independent venture capitalists. Banks and their affiliated venture capital units can improve their deal flows by recognising that they need to get accepted as an on-par investor in the venture capital environment.

The current study is the first of its kind investigating multiple investment logics by focussing on the link between different isomorphic habits and the specific context of bank-affiliated venture capitalists.