Venture capital in Argentina: public policies and cooperation between private and public sector

Abstract

The paper presents the evolution of the public policies of Argentina's Secretariat of Science, Technology and Production Innovation (SeCyT), aimed at fostering the creation of a national Venture Capital (VC) industry. The scope of this paper considers that the emergence and consolidation of a VC industry can be analysed using an evolutionary and systemic perspective to study the processes involved, the evolution of the policies, and the development of the business sector. The paper summarises VC industry structural conditions and recent history in Argentina, and recounts the evolution of the VC-oriented public policies, showing their increasing viability, and both public and private sector acceptance. At the end, authors present some final reflections, underlining the importance of taking advantage of the opportunities to develop a VC industry, given some context and situation aspects.