Going public with public money

Abstract

We analyze what we consider to be an unanticipated consequence of the SBIR program, namely, that firms, publicly funded through the SBIR program, are going public based on their new technology developed with support from the SBIR program. There is a conspicuous void with regard to publicly funded firms that do go public. Through the estimation of a qualitative choice model, we identify firm and project characteristics that are associated with an increased likelihood of a firm making (or planning to make) an initial public offering (IPO).