Venture Capital And The Financing Of Innovation

An invaluable resource for current and aspiring technology investors, Venture Capital and the Finance of Innovation provides an in-depth understanding of the tools and models needed to succeed in this competitive and highly fluid business environment. Building on a comprehensive introduction to fundamental financial and investment principles, the text guides the reader toward a robust skill set using enterprise valuation and preferred stock valuation models, risk and reward, strategic finance, and other concepts central to any venture capital and growth equity investment. Two features of the book stand out from other sources on the subject. First, it pays special attention to the enterprise valuation methodology for high-growth companies. What drives the value of a company that has little physical assets, losing money now but has a small chance of achieving great success in several years? How do you create estimates for sales, profit and return on capital when little data is available? The book answers these questions using a discounted cash flow model that is tailor-made for technology companies (DCF.xlsx downloadable from the instructor website), and the comparables model. Second, it highlights the most valuation-relevant feature of VC term sheets, namely the use of convertible preferred stock. The book shows the reader how to use a user-friendly and automated valuation model of VC preferred stock (available at www.vcvtools.com) to value various types of preferred stock and to visualize how term sheets split the values of the firm between entrepreneurs and VCs. Accessible, comprehensive, and assuming only basic knowledge of venture capital, this text offers essential guidance for successful VC and growth equity investing in any market.

"Many interesting developments have occurred in the world of venture capital since the publication of the first edition of this book in 2006, which prompted us to revise the book for the second edition. While the organization of the book remains unchanged, many of the chapters are substantially rewritten. For example, in Chapter 5, we re-ranked top VC firms, incorporating the latest performance statistics, fundraising and investment activities, notable exits, and (as always) our subjective opinions. In Chapter 6, we examine further evidence of the deepening globalization of the industry. In Chapters 3, 4, and 7,we analyze the impact of the 1999-2000 Internet bubble years on the VC risk and returns, as investments made in those years are finally mature and thus now a part of the performance evaluation analysis. We also incorporated expositional improvements throughout the book based on reader feedback on the first edition. Another feature of the new edition is that the VCV model, used extensively in Part III of the book, is now available as a Web-based application available on http://VCVtools.com. Significant collaborative efforts went into developing this tool, which we believe will be of interest to a broad audience, including practitioners interested in valuing VC-backed company stocks and employee stock options"

The funding of innovative projects that are fundamentally ambiguous often leads to situations where decision-making is difficult. However, decision-making can be improved by practices such as syndication and step-by-step funding. The dynamic of this industry requires us to consider the economic and institutional variables that make this system coherent in English-speaking countries, but conversely reduce it to a privileged niche by the leading authorities in Europe and France. This book proposes two guiding ideas. The first idea presents innovation as a very uncertain process. This modifies the decision-making in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, with intervention upstream in regards to stronger foundations, evaluations and selection of projects. The second idea is that the actors hold onto partial knowledge in a context where their attention span is limited. These cognitive limitations need the formation of networks, and lead to mutual and complementary dependency relations.

The funding of innovative projects that are fundamentally ambiguous often leads to situations where decision-making is difficult. However, decision-making can be improved by practices such as syndication and step-by-step funding. The dynamic of this industry requires us to consider the economic and institutional variables that make this system coherent in English-speaking countries, but conversely reduce it to a privileged niche by the leading authorities in Europe and France. This book proposes two guiding ideas. The first idea presents innovation as a very uncertain process. This modifies the decision-making in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, with intervention upstream in regards to stronger foundations, evaluations and selection of projects. The second idea is that the actors hold onto partial knowledge in a context where their attention span is limited. These cognitive limitations need the formation of networks, and lead to mutual and complementary dependency relations.

Explanations to the inner workings of one of the least understood, but arguably most important, areas of business finance is offered to readers in this engaging volume: venture capital. Venture capitalists provide necessary investment to seed (or startup) companies, but the startup is only the beginning, there is much more to be explored. These savvy investors help guide young entrepreneurs, who likely have little experience, to turn their businesses into the Googles, Facebooks, and Groupons of the world. This book explains the often-complex methods venture capitalists use to value companies and to get the most return on their investments, or ROI. This book is a must-have for any reader interested in the business world.

Financing Life Science Innovation reviews the literature on venture capital, corporate governance, and life science venturing and presents a study of the Swedish life science industry and the venture capital investors being active in financially and managerially supporting life science start-up firms.

Venture capital (VC) refers to investments provided to early-stage, innovative, and high growth start-up companies. A common characteristic of all venture capital investments is that investee companies do not have cash flows to pay interest on debt or dividends on equity. Rather, investments are made with a view towards capital gain on exit. The most sought after exit routes are an initial public offering (IPO), where a company lists on a stock exchange for the first time, and an acquisition exit (trade sale), where the company is sold in entirety to another company. However, VCs often exit their investments by secondary sales, wherein the entrepreneur retains his or her share but the VC sells to another company or investor buybacks, where the entrepreneur repurchases the VC`s interest and write-offs (liquidations). The Oxford Handbook of Venture Capital provides a comprehensive picture of all the issues dealing with the structure, governance, and performance of venture capital from a global perspective. The handbook comprises contributions from 55 authors currently based in 12 different countries.

Financing Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Markets offers an original perspective on the links between macro data on innovation, data on micro-entrepreneurial processes and venture capital supply. The authors synthesize two disparate fields of research and thinking—innovation and entrepreneurship and economics—to illuminate how domestic companies compete and the business environment in which entrepreneurial firms operate. Its broad scope and firm linkages between processes at different levels leapfrogs research topics. For those investigating entrepreneurship and innovation in the early stages of economic development, this book demonstrates how micro and macro foundations of productivity, and hence economic growth and development, are inextricably intertwined. Combines macro and micro perspectives on innovation processes Reveals how economic growth and development are inextricably intertwined Uses case studies to portray the entrepreneurial firm and its role in accelerating the speed of innovation and dissemination of new technologies Identifies common flaws undermining public venture programs, including poor design, a lack of understanding for the entrepreneurial process and implementation problems