IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/rwidps/16.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Birth of German Biotechnology Industry - Did Venture Capital run the show?

Author

Listed:
  • Heneric, Oliver
  • Engel, Dirk
  • Champenois, Claire

Abstract

We answer the questions, how many firms acting in the modern German biotechnology industry are funded by venture capital companies (VCC) as well as equity funded by corporate investors. The theory suggests a high relevance of VCC as venturing partner of high-tech projects. In addition we argue that corporate investors are a venturing partner of firms with high-risk projects to a lower extent. Incumbents,however, are confronted with some opportunities in the low-risk area of the biotechnology industry to secure an optimal supply for the current product pipeline.Our empirical results emphasize a crucial importance of venture capital as financial resource for high-risk projects: whereas 42 percent of all healthcare developer in the early stage are venture-backed firms, only a small share of low-risk projects received venture capital. The results for corporate investors are reversible.Fewer high-tech projects and more low-risk projects compared to VCC are equity financed by corporate investors. The econometric analysis suggests that the observed pattern is mainly driven by the level of project risk and hence, supports all our hypotheses.

Suggested Citation

  • Heneric, Oliver & Engel, Dirk & Champenois, Claire, 2004. "The Birth of German Biotechnology Industry - Did Venture Capital run the show?," RWI Discussion Papers 16, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung.
  • Handle: RePEc:zbw:rwidps:16
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/18567/1/DP_04_016.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Judith Jordan & Julian Lowe & Peter Taylor, 1998. "Strategy and Financial Policy in UK Small Firms," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(1‐2), pages 1-27, January.
    2. Florida, Richard L. & Kenney, Martin, 1988. "Venture capital-financed innovation and technological change in the USA," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 119-137, June.
    3. Engel, Dirk & Fryges, Helmut, 2002. "Aufbereitung und Angebot der ZEW Gründungsindikatoren," ZEW Dokumentationen 02-01, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    4. Almus, Matthias & Engel, Dirk & Prantl, Susanne, 2000. "The Mannheim Foundation Panels of the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW)," ZEW Dokumentationen 00-02, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    5. Sean Nicholson, 2005. "Biotech-Pharmaceutical Alliances as a Signal of Asset and Firm Quality," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 78(4), pages 1433-1464, July.
    6. Macmillan, Ian C. & Zemann, Lauriann & Subbanarasimha, P. N., 1987. "Criteria distinguishing successful from unsuccessful ventures in the venture screening process," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 2(2), pages 123-137.
    7. Chan, Yuk-Shee, 1983. "On the Positive Role of Financial Intermediation in Allocation of Venture Capital in a Market with Imperfect Information," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 38(5), pages 1543-1568, December.
    8. Hausman, Jerry & McFadden, Daniel, 1984. "Specification Tests for the Multinomial Logit Model," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(5), pages 1219-1240, September.
    9. Jeng, Leslie A. & Wells, Philippe C., 2000. "The determinants of venture capital funding: evidence across countries," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 6(3), pages 241-289, September.
    10. James A. Brander & Raphael Amit & Werner Antweiler, 2002. "Venture‐Capital Syndication: Improved Venture Selection vs. The Value‐Added Hypothesis," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(3), pages 423-452, September.
    11. Paul Gompers & Josh Lerner, 2000. "The Determinants of Corporate Venture Capital Success: Organizational Structure, Incentives, and Complementarities," NBER Chapters, in: Concentrated Corporate Ownership, pages 17-54, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Tyzoon T. Tyebjee & Albert V. Bruno, 1984. "A Model of Venture Capitalist Investment Activity," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(9), pages 1051-1066, September.
    13. Lerner, Josh & Shane, Hilary & Tsai, Alexander, 2003. "Do equity financing cycles matter? evidence from biotechnology alliances," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(3), pages 411-446, March.
    14. Engel, Dirk & Keilbach, Max, 2007. "Firm-level implications of early stage venture capital investment -- An empirical investigation," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 150-167, March.
    15. Steven Casper & Hannah Kettler, 2001. "National Institutional Frameworks And The Hybridization Of Entrepreneurial Business Models: The German And Uk Biotechnology Sectors," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(1), pages 5-30.
    16. Georg Gebhardt & Klaus M. Schmidt, 2002. "Der Markt für Venture Capital: Anreizprobleme, Governance Strukturen und staatliche Interventionen," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 3(3), pages 235-255, August.
    17. Amit, Raphael & Brander, James & Zott, Christoph, 1998. "Why do venture capital firms exist? theory and canadian evidence," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 13(6), pages 441-466, November.
    18. Paul A. Gompers & Josh Lerner, 1998. "What Drives Venture Capital Fundraising?," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 29(1998 Micr), pages 149-204.
    19. Robert E. Carpenter & Bruce C. Petersen, 2002. "Capital Market Imperfections, High-Tech Investment, and New Equity Financing," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(477), pages 54-72, February.
    20. Pinar Karaca-Mandic & Kenneth Train, 2003. "Standard error correction in two-stage estimation with nested samples," Econometrics Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 6(2), pages 401-407, December.
    21. Lockett, Andy & Wright, Mike, 2001. "The syndication of venture capital investments," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 375-390, October.
    22. Gambardella, Alfonso & Orsenigo, Luigi & Pammolli, Fabio, 2000. "Global Competitiveness in Pharmaceuticals: A European Perspective," MPRA Paper 15965, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    23. Stiglitz, Joseph E & Weiss, Andrew, 1981. "Credit Rationing in Markets with Imperfect Information," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(3), pages 393-410, June.
    24. Myers, Stewart C., 1984. "Capital structure puzzle," Working papers 1548-84., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management.
    25. Geroski, P. A., 1995. "What do we know about entry?," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 421-440, December.
    26. von Burg, Urs & Kenney, Martin, 2000. "Venture capital and the birth of the local area networking industry," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(9), pages 1135-1155, December.
    27. Myers, Stewart C, 1984. "The Capital Structure Puzzle," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 39(3), pages 575-592, July.
    28. Paul Gompers, 2002. "Corporations and the financing of innovation: The corporate venturing experience," Economic Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, vol. 87(Q4), pages 1-17.
    29. Stewart C. Myers, 1984. "Capital Structure Puzzle," NBER Working Papers 1393, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    30. Rajshree Agarwal & David B. Audretsch, 2001. "Does Entry Size Matter? The Impact of the Life Cycle and Technology on Firm Survival," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(1), pages 21-43, March.
    31. George A. Akerlof, 1970. "The Market for "Lemons": Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 84(3), pages 488-500.
    32. Christopher B. Barry, 1994. "New Directions in Research on Venture Capital Finance," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 23(3), Fall.
    33. Bygrave, William D., 1987. "Syndicated investments by venture capital firms: A networking perspective," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 2(2), pages 139-154.
    34. Zucker, Lynne G & Darby, Michael R & Brewer, Marilynn B, 1998. "Intellectual Human Capital and the Birth of U.S. Biotechnology Enterprises," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(1), pages 290-306, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Rammer, Christian & Ohmstedt, Jörg & Binz, Hanna L. & Heneric, Oliver, 2006. "Unternehmensgründungen in der Biotechnologie in Deutschland 1991 bis 2004," ZEW Dokumentationen 06-03, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. repec:zbw:rwidps:0016 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Dirk Engel & Claire Champenois & Oliver Heneric, 2004. "The Birth of German Biotechnology Industry – Did Venture Capital run the show?," RWI Discussion Papers 0016, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung.
    3. Valérie Revest & Alessandro Sapio, 2012. "Financing technology-based small firms in Europe: what do we know?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 39(1), pages 179-205, July.
    4. Johannes Wallmeroth & Peter Wirtz & Alexander Peter Groh, 2017. "Institutional Seed Financing, Angel Financing, and Crowdfunding of Entrepreneurial Ventures: A Literature Review," Working Papers hal-01527999, HAL.
    5. Epure, Mircea & Guasch, Martí, 2020. "Debt signaling and outside investors in early stage firms," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 35(2).
    6. Colombo, Massimo G. & Grilli, Luca, 2010. "On growth drivers of high-tech start-ups: Exploring the role of founders' human capital and venture capital," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 25(6), pages 610-626, November.
    7. Sardo, Filipe & Serrasqueiro, Zélia & Félix, Elisabete G.S., 2020. "Does Venture Capital affect capital structure rebalancing? The case of small knowledge-intensive service firms," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 170-179.
    8. Bergner, Sören Martin & Bräutigam, Rainer & Evers, Maria Theresia & Spengel, Christoph, 2017. "The use of SME tax incentives in the European Union," ZEW Discussion Papers 17-006, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    9. Walthoff-Borm, Xavier & Schwienbacher, Armin & Vanacker, Tom, 2018. "Equity crowdfunding: First resort or last resort?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 513-533.
    10. Engel, Dirk, 2002. "The Impact of Venture Capital on Firm Growth: An Empirical Investigation," ZEW Discussion Papers 02-02, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    11. Mario Tirelli & Luca Spinesi, 2021. "R&D financing and growth," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(1), pages 24-47, January.
    12. Massimo G. Colombo & Kourosh Shafi, 2021. "Receiving external equity following successfully crowdfunded technological projects: an informational mechanism," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(4), pages 1507-1529, April.
    13. José Martí Pellón & Marina Balboa, 2003. "Characterisation Of The Reputation Of Private Equity Managers: Evidence In Spain," Working Papers. Serie EC 2003-16, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas, S.A. (Ivie).
    14. Baeyens, K. & Manigart, S., 2006. "Who gets private equity? The role of debt capacity, growth and intangible assets," Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School Working Paper Series 2006-24, Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School.
    15. Linda Bergset, 2015. "The Rationality and Irrationality of Financing Green Start-Ups," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 5(4), pages 1-26, November.
    16. Asim Mishra, 2005. "INDIAN VENTURE CAPITALISTS (VCs) INVESTMENT EVALUATION CRITERIA," Finance 0507002, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Bertoni, Fabio & Colombo, Massimo G. & Grilli, Luca, 2011. "Venture capital financing and the growth of high-tech start-ups: Disentangling treatment from selection effects," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(7), pages 1028-1043, September.
    18. Guerini, Massimiliano & Quas, Anita, 2016. "Governmental venture capital in Europe: Screening and certification," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 175-195.
    19. Bertoni, Fabio & Tykvová, Tereza, 2012. "Which form of venture capital is most supportive of innovation?," ZEW Discussion Papers 12-018, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    20. Antal-Pomázi, Krisztina, 2011. "A finanszírozási források szerepe a kis- és középvállalkozások növekedésében [The role of sources of finance in the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(3), pages 275-295.
    21. Croce, Annalisa & Martí, José & Murtinu, Samuele, 2013. "The impact of venture capital on the productivity growth of European entrepreneurial firms: ‘Screening’ or ‘value added’ effect?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 489-510.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Biotechnology; Start-ups; Venture Capital; Discrete Choice;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C25 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Discrete Regression and Qualitative Choice Models; Discrete Regressors; Proportions; Probabilities
    • L21 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Business Objectives of the Firm
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill

    Lists

    This item is featured on the following reading lists, Wikipedia, or ReplicationWiki pages:
    1. Technology Assessment

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:rwidps:16. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/rwiesde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.