Development Of Venture Capital Market Research Articles

Institutions and venture capital market development in sub‐Saharan Africa

AbstractWe investigate the critical interplay between economic institutions and political institutions and assess their influence on venture capital market development in sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA). To address endogeneity concern in our model specification, the two‐step system generalised method of moments was employed on a sample of 34 SSA countries from 2007 to 2018. The findings reveal that strengthening disaggregated measures of economic institutions, comprising legal system and property rights, size of government, sound money, regulations, and freedom to trade internationally spur venture capital market development in SSA. Finally, the evidence indicates that political institutions condition the influence of economic institutions on venture capital market development. The implications for policy are further discussed.

Effective Venture Capital Market Development Concept

This paper presents the results of the study on the venture capital (VC) market development drivers in small countries with underdeveloped VC markets. Based on the literature content analysis, the authors developed a comprehensive list of factors influencing VC market status. The relevance of the factors in countries with small, underdeveloped VC markets was studied between experts involved in shaping Latvian VC market. The study revealed that all factors (in total 73) delivered from the literature influence the VC market in the countries such as Latvia. Sixty-three factors have an impact above moderate, and providing public funding for VC funds is only one of the factors. The results highlight the importance of the shift from the typical public support approach of providing VC managers with funding to the government involvement in also shaping other conditions necessary for VC market self-sufficiency development. Based on the study, the authors propose a conceptual model for further public support design. The model has three dimensions of meta factor groups (VC market participants, environment, embedded characteristics). It is necessary to evaluate and, if possible, provide public support in each of the meta-factors’ groups. The authors propose to use the model and the list of impactful factors as tools for further governmental support for VC.

The Impact of Public Interventions on Self-Sustainable Venture Capital Market Development in Latvia from the Perspective of VC Fund Managers

This paper presents the results of a study on the impact of EU structural funds on the development of a self-sustainable venture capital (VC) market in Latvia from the perspective of VC fund managers. The study had two objectives. The first was to assess the contribution of European Union (EU) structural funds (SF) programmes toward the development of a self-sustainable VC industry in Latvia. The second was to identify ways by which the structural fund support could be better exploited for the development of the VC industry in Latvia. During three SF planning periods, the stated primary goal of the programmes to support high-growth SMEs was attained—to date, 294 VC investments have been made by publicly supported hybrid VC funds. During the 2004–2006 planning period, the first generation of professional VC fund managers in Latvia emerged in response to the opportunity to manage publicly supported hybrid VC funds. During the subsequent programmes, a high continuation rate by the established managers was observed. Nevertheless, Latvian VC fund managers are not yet capable of raising private funds and still encounter difficulties in attracting the necessary level of private capital for the publicly supported hybrid VC funds. The novelty of the study is the finding that improvements in the SF programme designs did not significantly decrease the impact of factors identified as limiting the success of the operations of VC managers. This suggests and confirms conclusions of other studies that argue that public policies aimed at creating healthy and supporting conditions for VC activity are necessary in addition to public financial support for VC funds. Regarding the next planning period, the suggestion regarding programme design is to continue with already started improvements: increasing the volume of funds, widening the geographic area eligible for investments, reducing restrictions on the types of financial instruments that may be used, lowering the administrative burden for VC fund managers and avoiding micromanagement of VC funds by governmental agency. The observation that the influence of investments in VC funds on the governmental agency’s responsible for VC investments financial statements may be partly responsible for the tendency to micromanage VC funds could be useful not only in Latvia but also in other countries.

ATTRACTIVENESS OF LATVIAN, LITHUANIAN AND ESTONIAN VENTURE CAPITAL MARKETS FOR INTERNATIONAL INVESTORS

Business start-ups, small and medium sized companies face financial difficulties to finance their innovative activities, which hinders innovative products from commercialization. This mainly results from the high risks and information asymmetries involved in such projects. Standard debt financers are reluctant to take these risks, besides the young enterprises lack collateral to receive the credit. However, the risk tolerance for investors differs as well. One of the alternatives for bank loans is venture capitalists, who rather become partners than creditors of young, innovative companies with growth potential. Particularly venture capital or the so-called “smart money” is what financially supports such business ventures, provides funding for technological transfer and commercialization. The authors of the present paper have chosen to examine and compare the venture capital attraction possibilities in the Baltic States using Venture Capital and Private Equity Country Attractiveness Index (by Groh et al.) data for 2012-2018. Venture capital market development is currently a very topical issue for the Latvian government, taking into consideration the critical importance of venture capital for financing innovation. Becoming the leader in the venture capital sector and No. 1 choice of start-up companies in the Baltics are now the objectives of the government of Latvia. It was therefore relevant and important to compare venture capital attraction possibilities in Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania to see and analyse in which aspects Latvia lags behind its neighbouring countries and in which it succeeds. The paper compares the six main factors or key drivers which determine the attractiveness of venture capital markets. According to Groh et al. (2016), these factors are: 1) Economic Activity; 2) Depth of Capital Market; 3) Taxation; 4) Investor Protection & Corporate Governance; 5) Human & Social Environment and 6) Entrepreneurial Culture & Deal Opportunities. However, the results of the research reveal that the main problems for international investor attraction in the Baltic States are underdeveloped capital markets and low economic activity. Latvia, unfortunately, is the most unattractive for international venture capital investors. Nevertheless, it has experienced the fastest growth during six years, which means that there is potential for becoming a leader in the venture capital sector. The present paper reveals the aspects to be improved for becoming more attractive for venture capital investments.

Role of Venture Capital as a Source of Finance for Small and Medium Enterprises in Afghanistan

Venture capital is an important source of finance for small businesses although it is least understood. The Venture Capital financing market in Afghanistan is inactive and mainly targets large companies instead of small to medium enterprises. The study sought to evaluate the role of venture capital as a source of finance for small to medium enterprises (SMEs) in Afghanistan. The objectives of the study were to review the types of venture capital financing in Afghanistan, identify the factors that drive the venture capital financing and impact of venture capital on small business development. The study adopted a quantitative methodology in order to investigate the subject. Questionnaires were administered on respondents. The respondents were from the Ministry of Commerce, ACCI, AISA, MISFA, and financial Institutions. An overall response rate of 89.66% was achieved. The study established that government was the main financer of venture capital financing in Afghanistan. Further, stable economic environment, investor protection and corporate governance and well developed capital markets were found to be main determinants of venture capital financing. The study also established that the role of venture capital financing played an important role in the areas of employment creation, investment, export growth as well as innovation and creativity. Overall venture capital financing is an alternative financing option for SMEs. However, the development of venture capital market is being constrained by the economic environment, lack of a vibrant capital market, no regulatory framework regards corporate governance and investor protection. The study recommends that development of entrepreneurship by having an active venture capital market, stable macroeconomic environment and regulatory framework that protect investors.

Does a Venture Capital Market Exist in the Countries of Former Yugoslavia?

<p>Venture capital investments spread all over the world during the last few decades. Until then, they were considered only as an American phenomenon. Countries worldwide are interested in attracting venture capital investments because of their undisputable effects on the economy. The effects of the investments are visible through the impact on innovation, creation of new companies, jobs, economic growth, corporate governance and etc.</p><p>Venture capital is a subset of Private equity focused on start-up companies and companies having difficulties in attracting necessary capital. It represents an equity investment made for the launch, early development, or expansion of a business.</p><p>The countries of former Yugoslavia (Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia - FYROM, Montenegro, Slovenia and Serbia) are part of the Central and Eastern Europe countries and represent relatively a new market for venture capitalists. They moved from the planned economies to a free market system in the 90s of 20 century. As well as other countries in the World, these countries are also interested in attracting venture capital because of the proven impact on economic growth. Despite the presence of Venture capital and Private equity funds in this region for more than twenty years, the venture capital and private equity market in the countries of former Yugoslavia is underdeveloped compared to other countries of CEE. Indeed, the venture capital investments are so small for some countries of former Yugoslavia that the data about venture capital investment are published jointly.</p><p> </p><p>The objective of this paper is to examine and analyze the development of Venture Capital market in countries o former Yugoslavia. The research is both qualitative and quantitative, and involves an identification, analysis and comparison of PE/VC investments data for selected countries. The time frame for this research is between 2007 and 2014. The total volume of venture capital investments per year, the number of companies invested and the ratio of PE investments to the gross domestic product (GDP) will be used to demonstrate the existence of the venture capital market in countries of former Yugoslavia. The data necessary for the current research were taken from the yearbook of EVCA/PEREP Analytics for 2014 for Baltics and Ex-Y. „PEREP Analytics” is a centralized, non-commercial pan-European private equity database. The „PEREP Analytics” statistics platform monitors the development of private equity and venture capital in 25 European countries.</p>

Policies for financing entrepreneurship through venture capital: learning from the successes of Israel and Taiwan

The success of Silicon Valley as a hub for rapid-innovation growth has motivated policy-makers around the world to initiate policies trying to mimic it. These policy initiatives raise the question of whether globalisation should encourage innovation policy-makers to aim for institutional convergence and close imitation, or for institutional hybridisation and local experimentation. This paper explores this question by focusing on venture capital creation policy. Using two national cases, Israel and Taiwan, we show that policy effectiveness is not the result of simple imitation. Instead, policy performance is determined by degree of fit with local financial conditions and the position of the local ICT industry within global production networks. We then consider the implications of our study for understanding the development of national VC industries and the industries they fund. The primary message being that there is no singular model for venture capital market development. Instead, policy-makers need to understand the local context with its assets and liabilities. Of particular importance are local financing conditions, firm capabilities, and the existing position of local firms within the global production networks of the ICT industry.

Government roles in venture capital development: a review of current literature

Purpose– Interest in venture capital markets continues to be of relevance to politicians and policy makers, recognizing the importance of government participation in venture capital market development. Yet advice regarding developing venture capital markets appears increasingly disparate. The paper aims to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approach– The authors engage the assumptions that underpin three dominant policy approaches to the development of venture capital markets with regard to the role of governments in that process. The authors categorize existing empirical studies against three approaches and give examples of the different government policies associated with the various approaches.Findings– Direct and indirect approaches recognize the importance of active stock markets but largely ignore the dynamic processes of markets, asserting that the provision of capital, institutional changes, and financial incentivesex antewill cause a positive market reaction, regardless of the market’s context. The recent timed approached is purported as being more comprehensive in its awareness of the need to adapt to countries’ contexts and the need for varying policies at the different stages of market emergence.Research limitations/implications– Limited empirical research tests the voracity and limitations of the timed approach. The challenge in doing so is that evolutionary theories typically explain an event after it has occurred, thus its predictive power is often limited. Future research might investigate the efficacy of policy levers based on the timed approach.Practical implications– The authors highlight the need for the development of venture capital markets, rather than a venture capital industry.Originality/value– The authors extend the existing venture capital market development categories and evaluate each approach in terms of the efficacy of government’s roles in venture capital market development in light of the existing evidence of economic development and entrepreneurial activity.

Institutions and venture capital

We survey the literature on venture capital and institutions and present a case study comparing the development of the venture capital market in the United States and Sweden. Our literature survey underscores that the legal environment, financial market development, the tax system, labor market regulations, and public spending on research and development correlate with venture capital activities across countries. Our case study suggests these institutional differences led to the later development of an active venture capital market in Sweden compared with the United States. In particular, a later development of financial markets and a heavier tax burden for entrepreneurs have played a key role.

Hybrid Venture Capital Funds in Lithuania: Motives, Factors and Present State of Development

Substantial body of academic literature agree that the financial constrain is the core problem in developing early stage small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Therefore, venture capital through financing and providing value added services is considered to be an effective tool in increasing regions innovation capacity, fostering economic growth as well as job creation. Thus, financing such promising young ventures, especially those with technological background, is encouraged in many countries through various Governments' initiatives.A wide range of research explores public programmes in enhancing venture capital markets development in various countries either through direct (when Government invest directly in fund) or indirect (for instance, tax relief, etc.) measures. Therefore the present paper focuses on the direct Government intervention in venture capital market development, through investing in venture capital funds (as the co-investor or limited partner) in order to facilitate SMEs through financing its early stage of development. Venture capital funds, pooled by Governments' sources, private and institutional investors, aiming to boost investments in early stage innovative companies, are considered as hybrid venture capital funds in this paper.The article deals with the development of hybrid venture capital funds in Lithuania, which were forced by the European Union (EU) initiative Joint European Resources for Micro to Medium Enterprises (JEREMIE) seeking to increase access to finance the development of SMEs through facilitation of venture capital markets development in various EU regions.There is lack of research focusing on the factors for efficient public policy intervention in the developing hybrid venture capital funds in order to facilitate early stage SMEs. Thus, the problem of the paper covers the question: what are the motives, factors and present state of development of hybrid venture capital funds in Lithuania.The present paper will explore the Government's initiative in Lithuania in terms of JEREMIE initiative. Therefore the paper aims to contribute to research dealing with hybrid venture capital funds' role in boosting regional economies through the financing the SMEs in their early stage of development.The paper finds that Lithuanian venture capital market is in its infant stage, and the Governments' initiative towards creation hybrid venture capital funds definitely will increase the investments in SMEs. Moreover, supply-side, demand-side and macroeconomic factors should be taken into account in the venture capital markets development. And still cautious actions should be set along with the public initiative in order to overcome the negative aspects of venture capital investments, such as lack of transparency, money laundering, etc. http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ee.22.2.312

The Public Sector's Role in the Promotion of Venture Capital Markets

Over the last decades, governments around the world have increasingly dedicated public financing to the promotion of self-sustainable venture capital markets. In most industrialised nations, the state plays some role in the development of the venture capital industry - particularly the high-tech, early stage sector - and tries stimulating, supporting and influencing this market either directly or indirectly, usually by providing a range of incentives. This paper gives an overview over the growing number of research publications on the public sector's role in the promotion of venture capital markets. Typically these analyses are country-specific and tend to fall short on principles. As policy makers have been using several alternative mechanisms within different and highly idiosyncratic national institutional environments, and the interventions took place at very specific time periods, this paper proposes a general framework for publicly supported venture capital programs. Depending on whether support is targeting developing or existing venture capital markets, a stage wise approach starting with the preparation of a private equity industry, moving on to creating and stabilizing venture capital markets and finally using these markets to achieve policy objectives is proposed. At an advanced stage of the venture capital market's development policy makers are faced with two fundamental issues: when operating under the same conditions as private sector investors the government can only pursue policy objectives as long as other limited partners accept them. A major component of the government's value added, particularly during market downturns, is the signalling and certification inherent in its commitment to a venture capital fund. For private sector limited partners, however, only the public investor's financial track record is of relevance, and to create this track record, the government's approach has to closely comply with the private sector modus operandi. Consequently, with increasing maturity and growing investment return potential of the venture capital market government budgets need to be complemented with and finally replaced by funding from private sector investors.

Limited Partnership Reform in the United Kingdom: A Competitive, Venture Capital Oriented Business Form

This paper evaluates the primary legal and financial mechanisms that help support the development of a venture capital market. Specifically, we argue that emulating the organizational and contractual pattern of the US venture capital market could enhance the development of the European venture capital market. We first show that the modernization of the 'venerable' limited partnership form, based on US experiences, offers substantial contracting benefits for investors and is crucial to the operation of a mature venture capital market. We then argue that the emergence of more efficient limited partnership structures may arise as a consequence of the competition between European states. We argue that the United Kingdom, which has recently embarked on general and limited partnership law reform, could, in light of the competitive lawmaking environment that the ECJ has opened up, be in the best position to enter the competition within the EU. It then explores the prominent features of the UK special Limited Partnership statute, which makes it possible for venture capitalists to organize their contractual relations that are best suited to the characteristics of the venture capital market. Finally, our analysis provides an understanding of the competitive forces that shape the ongoing reforms of limited partnership law and related business forms in Europe.

Limited Partnership Reform in the United Kingdom: A Competitive, Venture Capital Oriented Business Form

This paper evaluates the primary legal and financial mechanisms that help support the development of a venture capital market. Specifically, we argue that emulating the organization and contractual pattern of the US venture capital market could enhance the development of the European venture capital market. We first show that the modernization of the ‘venerable’ limited partnership form, based on US experiences, offers substantial contracting benefits for investors and is crucial to the operation of a mature venture capital market. We then argue that the emergence of more efficient limited partnership structures can emerge from jurisdictional competition between European states. We argue that the United Kingdom, which has recently embarked on general and limited partnership law reform, could, in light of the competitive lawmaking environment that the ECJ has opened up, be in the best position to enter the competition within the EU. It then explores the prominent features of the UK special Limited Partnership statute, which makes it possible for venture capitalists to organize their contractual relations that are best suited to the characteristics of the venture capital market. Finally, our analysis provides an understanding of the competitive forces that shape legal change, which has implications for the ongoing debate in Europe over the reform of limited partnership law and related business forms.

Entrepreneurship and venture capital market in Finland

This paper evaluates entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial culture in Finland and describes the development of the Finnish venture capital market. Formulation of SME policy has been the major public effort in fostering entrepreneurship. Because of the severe recession during the early 1990s, the emphasis of the SME policy has been on job creation and self-employment. Indeed, not until the end of 1990s were more demands made for encouraging growth-oriented venturing. The development of the venture capital market has been used as an SME policy instrument. As a result, public funds have been dominating in the market. In the late 1990s privatisation of public funds has been increased and the basis of the market has developed in a more sound direction. In 1997 the amount of authorized capital in the Finnish venture capital market was about FIM 5.8 billion (about US$ 1.1 billion) showing an annual growth rate of over 80%. Annual investments were over FIM 0.8 billion and the total amount of investments in portfolio companies FIM 2.2 billion. These figures confirm that the venture capital market is emerging. The growth rate of the market could be even higher if the basic resource - entrepreneurs - were not so scarce. Informal venture capital and the role of business angels are also discussed. For seed and start-up stage ventures, business angels may be the best possible partner in financing since the amounts they offer are lower than those of institutional investors, they act regionally and are more hands-on in the everyday development. This paper is a revised and updated combination of two earlier papers [1].