IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bas/econst/y2024i7p21-46.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Why Start-Ups Struggle to Secure Venture Capital Funding: Investigating the Factors that Shape Venture Capital Investment Decisions

Author

Listed:
  • Junada Sulillari

Abstract

Start-ups are pivotal to economic development and innovation, yet many face failure, often due to limited access to finance. Venture capital emerges as a crucial funding source, yet only a slim fraction of start-ups seeking such investments succeed. This research delves into the allure of venture capital for start-ups and the challenges they encounter in securing funding. Additionally, it explores the perspectives of venture capitalists, identifying key factors influencing their investment decisions. Through a blend of primary and secondary research, including a survey completed by 107 venture capitalists from the author's LinkedIn network, this study offers descriptive insights into the venture capital landscape. The findings underscore the significance of growth potential, industry knowledge, risk mitigation, the ability to secure substantial funding, and increased visibility as factors making venture capital appealing to start-ups. From the venture capitalists' viewpoint, the pivotal elements shaping investment decisions include the quality of the management team, founders' experience and expertise, financial projections, product scalability, and industry attractiveness. Notably, the application of the Friedman two-way analysis of variance by ranks revealed statistically significant differences in the prioritization of these factors, highlighting the nuanced criteria venture capitalists employ in their evaluations. Conversely, the impact of winning prestigious grants appeared minimal, while specialized skills, education, and referrals held moderate importance. This research offers valuable guidance for start-ups, providing a clearer understanding of the criteria emphasized by venture capitalists. Armed with this knowledge, start-ups can refine their strategies to align more closely with investors' priorities, potentially enhancing their prospects of obtaining venture capital funding.

Suggested Citation

  • Junada Sulillari, 2024. "Why Start-Ups Struggle to Secure Venture Capital Funding: Investigating the Factors that Shape Venture Capital Investment Decisions," Economic Studies journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 7, pages 21-46.
    • Handle: RePEc:bas:econst:y:2024:i:7:p:21-46
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://archive.econ-studies.iki.bas.bg/2024/2024_07/2024_07_02.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Islam, Mazhar & Fremeth, Adam & Marcus, Alfred, 2018. "Signaling by early stage startups: US government research grants and venture capital funding," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 35-51.
    2. repec:bla:jfinan:v:59:y:2004:i:4:p:1805-1844 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Oliver Alexy & Joern Block & Philipp Sandner & Anne Ter Wal, 2012. "Social capital of venture capitalists and start-up funding," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 39(4), pages 835-851, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Francesco Martielli & Vittorio Laus & Antonio Salvi & Anna Kotaskova, 2025. "Unlocking funding success: intercultural entrepreneurship dynamics in European startups," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 1-31, December.
    2. Xiang Gao & Zhenhua Gu & Shuzhen Niu & Sunghan Ryu, 2022. "Effects of International Tourist Flow on Startup Financing: Investment Scope and Market Potential Perspectives," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(4), pages 21582440221, October.
    3. George A Shinkle & Jo-Ann Suchard, 2019. "Innovation in newly public firms: The influence of government grants, venture capital, and private equity," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 44(2), pages 248-281, May.
    4. Fini, Riccardo & Perkmann, Markus & Kenney, Martin & Maki, Kanetaka M., 2023. "Are public subsidies effective for university spinoffs? Evidence from SBIR awards in the University of California system," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(1).
    5. Ciro D. Esposito & Balazs Szatmari & Jonathan M. C. Sitruk & Nachoem M. Wijnberg, 2024. "Getting off to a good start: emerging academic fields and early-stage equity financing," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 62(4), pages 1591-1613, April.
    6. Aleksandar Bradic, 2012. "The Role of Social Feedback in Financing of Technology Ventures," Papers 1301.2196, arXiv.org.
    7. Berger, Marius & Hottenrott, Hanna, 2021. "Start-up subsidies and the sources of venture capital," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 16(C).
    8. Hui Zheng & Xuexu Piao & Sangmoon Park, 2021. "The Role of Founder-CEO, Human Capital and Legitimacy in Venture Capital Financing in China’s P2P Lending Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-14, February.
    9. Simon Kleinert & Kazem Mochkabadi, 2022. "Gender stereotypes in equity crowdfunding: the effect of gender bias on the interpretation of quality signals," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 47(6), pages 1640-1661, December.
    10. Katarzyna Rostek & Agnieszka Skala, 2018. "Segmentation Analysis For Polish Digital Startups in Years 2015 and 2016 (Analiza segmentacyjna polskich startupow cyfrowych w latach 2015–2016)," Research Reports, University of Warsaw, Faculty of Management, vol. 1(26), pages 55-67.
    11. Seung Hoon D. Chung & Simon C. Parker, 2023. "Founder affiliations: jobseeker reactions and impact on employee recruitment by start-up ventures," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 61(1), pages 259-283, June.
    12. M. Sodini & F. Sabatini & A. Antoci, 2014. "Online and offline social participation and social poverty traps. Can social networks save human relations?," Working Paper CRENoS 201404, Centre for North South Economic Research, University of Cagliari and Sassari, Sardinia.
    13. Christina Guenther & Sofia Johan & Denis Schweizer, 2018. "Is the crowd sensitive to distance?—how investment decisions differ by investor type," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 50(2), pages 289-305, February.
    14. Kshitija Joshi & Deepak Chandrashekar & Alexander Brem & Kirankumar S. Momaya, 2019. "Foreign Venture Capital Firms in a Cross-Border Context: Empirical Insights from India," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-20, November.
    15. Joern Block & Roy Thurik & Haibo Zhou, 2013. "What turns knowledge into innovative products? The role of entrepreneurship and knowledge spillovers," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 693-718, September.
    16. Jana Drechsler & Jan-Thomas Bachmann & Andreas Engelen, 2019. "The effect of immigrants in the founding team on the international attention of new ventures," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 305-333, September.
    17. Franziska Schlichte & Sebastian Junge & Jan Mammen, 2019. "Being at the right place at the right time: does the timing within technology waves determine new venture success?," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 89(8), pages 995-1021, December.
    18. Grunevald, Isabel & Kipper, Liane Mahlmann & Ribas Moraes, Jorge Andre & Haupt, Leandro, 2023. "Scientific contributions on cleaner production through the use of patent information: A bibliometric analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    19. Epure, Mircea & Guasch, Martí, 2020. "Debt signaling and outside investors in early stage firms," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 35(2).
    20. Michael E. Cummings & Hans Rawhouser & Silvio Vismara & Erin L. Hamilton, 2020. "An equity crowdfunding research agenda: evidence from stakeholder participation in the rulemaking process," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 54(4), pages 907-932, April.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • M13 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - New Firms; Startups
    • G24 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Investment Banking; Venture Capital; Brokerage
    • G3 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance

    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:bas:econst:y:2024:i:7:p:21-46. 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: Diana Dimitrova (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ikbasbg.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.