IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/corfin/v42y2017icp439-459.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Governmental and independent venture capital investments in Europe: A firm-level performance analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Cumming, Douglas J.
  • Grilli, Luca
  • Murtinu, Samuele

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of government versus private independent venture capital (VC) backing on the exit performance of entrepreneurial firms. Our analyses are based on the VICO dataset, which avoids the coding problems of VC type in the Thompson Financial SDC dataset. The data indicate that private independent VC-backed companies have better exit performance than government-backed companies. Mixed-syndicates of private-independent and governmental VC investors give rise to a higher (but not statistically different) likelihood of positive exits than that of IVC-backing. Our findings are not influenced by the composition of the syndicate in terms of size and institutional heterogeneity. Our results remain stable after controlling for endogeneity concerns, selection bias, omitted variable bias, legal and institutional differences across countries and over time through several econometric techniques. Moreover, our results are not driven by: i) the holding period of the different types of VC investors; ii) the potential signaling effect of GVC towards IVC investors; iii) the firm's financial structure and net cash-flow ratio; iv) the investment stage; and v) the distance between the VC investor and the target company.

Suggested Citation

  • Cumming, Douglas J. & Grilli, Luca & Murtinu, Samuele, 2017. "Governmental and independent venture capital investments in Europe: A firm-level performance analysis," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 439-459.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:corfin:v:42:y:2017:i:c:p:439-459
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2014.10.016
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0929119914001321
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2014.10.016?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alexander Groh & Heinrich Von Liechtenstein & Karsten Lieser, 2010. "The European Venture Capital and Private Equity country attractiveness indices," Post-Print hal-02312815, HAL.
    2. Fabio Bertoni & María Ferrer & José Martí, 2013. "The different roles played by venture capital and private equity investors on the investment activity of their portfolio firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 607-633, April.
    3. Kanniainen, Vesa & Keuschnigg, Christian, 2003. "The optimal portfolio of start-up firms in venture capital finance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 9(5), pages 521-534, November.
    4. Cumming, Douglas & Siegel, Donald S. & Wright, Mike, 2007. "Private equity, leveraged buyouts and governance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 439-460, September.
    5. Chahine, Salim & Arthurs, Jonathan D. & Filatotchev, Igor & Hoskisson, Robert E., 2012. "The effects of venture capital syndicate diversity on earnings management and performance of IPOs in the US and UK: An institutional perspective," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 179-192.
    6. Simeon Djankov & Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, 2002. "The Regulation of Entry," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 117(1), pages 1-37.
    7. Cressy, Robert & Munari, Federico & Malipiero, Alessandro, 2007. "Playing to their strengths? Evidence that specialization in the private equity industry confers competitive advantage," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 647-669, September.
    8. Riyanto, Yohanes E. & Schwienbacher, Armin, 2006. "The strategic use of corporate venture financing for securing demand," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(10), pages 2809-2833, October.
    9. Giot, Pierre & Schwienbacher, Armin, 2007. "IPOs, trade sales and liquidations: Modelling venture capital exits using survival analysis," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 679-702, March.
    10. Simeon Djankov & Oliver Hart & Caralee McLiesh & Andrei Shleifer, 2008. "Debt Enforcement around the World," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 116(6), pages 1105-1149, December.
    11. N. Berger, Allen & F. Udell, Gregory, 1998. "The economics of small business finance: The roles of private equity and debt markets in the financial growth cycle," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 22(6-8), pages 613-673, August.
    12. Avnimelech, Gil & Teubal, Morris, 2006. "Creating venture capital industries that co-evolve with high tech: Insights from an extended industry life cycle perspective of the Israeli experience," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(10), pages 1477-1498, December.
    13. Wang, Susheng & Zhou, Hailan, 2004. "Staged financing in venture capital: moral hazard and risks," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 131-155, January.
    14. Djankov, Simeon & McLiesh, Caralee & Shleifer, Andrei, 2007. "Private credit in 129 countries," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(2), pages 299-329, May.
    15. Guillaume Andrieu & Alexander Groh, 2012. "Entrepreneurs' Financing Choice between Independent and Bank-Affiliated Venture Capital Firms," Post-Print hal-02312825, HAL.
    16. Francesca Cornelli & Zbigniew Kominek & Alexander Ljungqvist, 2013. "Monitoring Managers: Does It Matter?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 68(2), pages 431-481, April.
    17. Cumming, Douglas J. & Johan, Sofia A., 2013. "Venture Capital and Private Equity Contracting," Elsevier Monographs, Elsevier, edition 2, number 9780124095373.
    18. Paul Gompers & Anna Kovner & Josh Lerner, 2009. "Specialization and Success: Evidence from Venture Capital," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(3), pages 817-844, September.
    19. Simeon Djankov & Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silane & Andrei Shleifer, 2002. "Courts: the Lex Mundi Project," NBER Working Papers 8890, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Sahlman, William A., 1990. "The structure and governance of venture-capital organizations," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 473-521, October.
    21. Wang, Lanfang & Wang, Susheng, 2012. "Endogenous networks in investment syndication," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 640-663.
    22. Thomas J. Chemmanur & Shan He & Debarshi K. Nandy, 2010. "The Going-Public Decision and the Product Market," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(5), pages 1855-1908.
    23. Huang, Rongbing & Shangguan, Zhaoyun & Zhang, Donghang, 2008. "The networking function of investment banks: Evidence from private investments in public equity," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 14(5), pages 738-752, December.
    24. Casamatta, Catherine & Haritchabalet, Carole, 2007. "Experience, screening and syndication in venture capital investments," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 368-398, July.
    25. Wang, Lanfang & Wang, Susheng, 2012. "Economic freedom and cross-border venture capital performance," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 26-50.
    26. Angrist, Joshua D, 2001. "Estimations of Limited Dependent Variable Models with Dummy Endogenous Regressors: Simple Strategies for Empirical Practice," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 19(1), pages 2-16, January.
    27. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1998. "Law and Finance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(6), pages 1113-1155, December.
    28. Kanniainen, Vesa & Keuschnigg, Christian, 2004. "Start-up investment with scarce venture capital support," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(8), pages 1935-1959, August.
    29. Douglas Cumming & Uwe Walz, 2010. "Private equity returns and disclosure around the world," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 41(4), pages 727-754, May.
    30. Groh, Alexander Peter & von Liechtenstein, Heinrich & Lieser, Karsten, 2010. "The European Venture Capital and Private Equity country attractiveness indices," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 205-224, April.
    31. Nahata, Rajarishi, 2008. "Venture capital reputation and investment performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(2), pages 127-151, November.
    32. Kraemer-Eis, Helmut & Lang, Frank, 2011. "European Small Business Finance Outlook: 2/2011," EIF Working Paper Series 2011/12, European Investment Fund (EIF).
    33. Jörg König & Renate Ohr, 2013. "Different Efforts in European Economic Integration: Implications of the EU Index," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(6), pages 1074-1090, November.
    34. Mitchell A. Petersen, 2009. "Estimating Standard Errors in Finance Panel Data Sets: Comparing Approaches," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(1), pages 435-480, January.
    35. Gompers, Paul A, 1995. "Optimal Investment, Monitoring, and the Staging of Venture Capital," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(5), pages 1461-1489, December.
    36. Thomas J. Chemmanur & Karthik Krishnan & Debarshi K. Nandy, 2011. "How Does Venture Capital Financing Improve Efficiency in Private Firms? A Look Beneath the Surface," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 24(12), pages 4037-4090.
    37. Dahiya, Sandeep & Ray, Korok, 2012. "Staged investments in entrepreneurial financing," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 1193-1216.
    38. Josh Lerner, 2002. "When Bureaucrats Meet Entrepreneurs: The Design of Effective "Public Venture Capital" Programmes," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(477), pages 73-84, February.
    39. Rajeev H. Dehejia & Sadek Wahba, 2002. "Propensity Score-Matching Methods For Nonexperimental Causal Studies," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 84(1), pages 151-161, February.
    40. Jaaskelainen, Mikko & Maula, Markku & Murray, Gordon, 2007. "Profit distribution and compensation structures in publicly and privately funded hybrid venture capital funds," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(7), pages 913-929, September.
    41. Grilli, Luca & Murtinu, Samuele, 2014. "Government, venture capital and the growth of European high-tech entrepreneurial firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(9), pages 1523-1543.
    42. Manju Puri & Rebecca Zarutskie, 2012. "On the Life Cycle Dynamics of Venture-Capital- and Non-Venture-Capital-Financed Firms," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 67(6), pages 2247-2293, December.
    43. Douglas Cumming & Na Dai, 2013. "Why Do Entrepreneurs Switch Lead Venture Capitalists?," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 37(5), pages 999-1017, September.
    44. Megginson, William L & Weiss, Kathleen A, 1991. "Venture Capitalist Certification in Initial Public Offerings," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 46(3), pages 879-903, July.
    45. Paul Gompers & Josh Lerner, 2001. "The Venture Capital Revolution," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(2), pages 145-168, Spring.
    46. Leleux, Benoit & Surlemont, Bernard, 2003. "Public versus private venture capital: seeding or crowding out? A pan-European analysis," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 81-104, January.
    47. Douglas Staiger & James H. Stock, 1997. "Instrumental Variables Regression with Weak Instruments," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 65(3), pages 557-586, May.
    48. Luca Grilli, 2014. "High-Tech Entrepreneurship in Europe: A Heuristic Firm Growth Model and Three "(Un-)easy Pieces" for Policy-Making," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(4), pages 267-284, May.
    49. Mike Wright & Andy Lockett, 2003. "The Structure and Management of Alliances: Syndication in the Venture Capital Industry," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(8), pages 2073-2102, December.
    50. repec:dau:papers:123456789/10801 is not listed on IDEAS
    51. Douglas Cumming & Sofia Johan, 2006. "Is it the Law or the Lawyers? Investment Covenants around the World," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 12(4), pages 535-574, September.
    52. Douglas Cumming, 2008. "Contracts and Exits in Venture Capital Finance," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 21(5), pages 1947-1982, September.
    53. Angrist, Joshua D, 2001. "Estimations of Limited Dependent Variable Models with Dummy Endogenous Regressors: Simple Strategies for Empirical Practice: Reply," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 19(1), pages 27-28, January.
    54. Lerner, Josh, 1995. "Venture Capitalists and the Oversight of Private Firms," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(1), pages 301-318, March.
    55. Douglas J. Cumming & Jeffrey G. MacIntosh, 2007. "Mutual funds that invest in private equity? An analysis of labour-sponsored investment funds," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 31(3), pages 445-487, May.
    56. Ulrich Hege & Frédéric Palomino & Armin Schwienbacher, 2009. "Venture Capital Performance: The Disparity Between Europe and the United States," Finance, Presses universitaires de Grenoble, vol. 30(1), pages 7-50.
    57. Nahata, Rajarishi & Hazarika, Sonali & Tandon, Kishore, 2014. "Success in Global Venture Capital Investing: Do Institutional and Cultural Differences Matter?," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 49(4), pages 1039-1070, August.
    58. Kelly, Roger, 2011. "The performance and prospects of European Venture Capital," EIF Working Paper Series 2011/09, European Investment Fund (EIF).
    59. Andrieu, Guillaume & Groh, Alexander Peter, 2012. "Entrepreneurs' financing choice between independent and bank-affiliated venture capital firms," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 1143-1167.
    60. 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.
    61. Denis, David J., 2004. "Entrepreneurial finance: an overview of the issues and evidence," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 301-326, March.
    62. Chris Yung, 2009. "Entrepreneurial Financing and Costly Due Diligence," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 44(1), pages 137-149, February.
    63. Vladimir I. Ivanov & Fei Xie, 2010. "Do Corporate Venture Capitalists Add Value to Start‐Up Firms? Evidence from IPOs and Acquisitions of VC‐Backed Companies," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 39(1), pages 129-152, March.
    64. Fabio Bertoni & Massimo G. Colombo & Annalisa Croce, 2010. "The Effect of Venture Capital Financing on the Sensitivity to Cash Flow of Firm's Investments," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 16(4), pages 528-551, September.
    65. Cumming, Douglas & Dai, Na, 2011. "Fund size, limited attention and valuation of venture capital backed firms," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 2-15, January.
    66. Massimo Colombo & Annalisa Croce & Samuele Murtinu, 2014. "Ownership structure, horizontal agency costs and the performance of high-tech entrepreneurial firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 42(2), pages 265-282, February.
    67. Kelly, Roger & Kraemer-Eis, Helmut, 2011. "European Small Business Finance Outlook," EIF Working Paper Series 2011/10, European Investment Fund (EIF).
    68. Cumming, Douglas & Fleming, Grant & Schwienbacher, Armin, 2006. "Legality and venture capital exits," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 214-245, January.
    69. 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.
    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. Grilli, Luca & Murtinu, Samuele, 2014. "Government, venture capital and the growth of European high-tech entrepreneurial firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(9), pages 1523-1543.
    2. Rin, Marco Da & Hellmann, Thomas & Puri, Manju, 2013. "A Survey of Venture Capital Research," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 573-648, Elsevier.
    3. Annalisa Croce & Jose Martí & Carmelo Reverte, 2019. "The role of private versus governmental venture capital in fostering job creation during the crisis," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 53(4), pages 879-900, December.
    4. Guerini, Massimiliano & Quas, Anita, 2016. "Governmental venture capital in Europe: Screening and certification," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 175-195.
    5. Iqbal Muhammad & Stéphanie Serve, 2025. "Performance of government venture capital (GVC): an Asian perspective," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 21(1), pages 1-34, December.
    6. Bertoni, Fabio & Tykvová, Tereza, 2015. "Does governmental venture capital spur invention and innovation? Evidence from young European biotech companies," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(4), pages 925-935.
    7. Massimo G. Colombo & Samuele Murtinu, 2017. "Venture Capital Investments in Europe and Portfolio Firms' Economic Performance: Independent Versus Corporate Investors," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(1), pages 35-66, February.
    8. 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.
    9. Colombo, Massimo G. & D’Adda, Diego & Pirelli, Lorenzo H., 2016. "The participation of new technology-based firms in EU-funded R&D partnerships: The role of venture capital," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 361-375.
    10. Wang, Lanfang & Wang, Susheng, 2012. "Economic freedom and cross-border venture capital performance," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 26-50.
    11. María Jesús Rodríguez-Gulías & David Rodeiro-Pazos & Sara Fernández-López & Christian Corsi & Antonio Prencipe, 2018. "The role of venture capitalist to enhance the growth of Spanish and Italian university spin-offs," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 1111-1130, December.
    12. Tereza Tykvová, 2018. "Venture capital and private equity financing: an overview of recent literature and an agenda for future research," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 88(3), pages 325-362, May.
    13. Achleitner, Ann-Kristin & Engel, Nico & Reiner, Uwe, 2013. "The performance of venture capital investments: Do investors overreact?," Review of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 20-35.
    14. Chortareas, Georgios E. & Girardone, Claudia & Ventouri, Alexia, 2013. "Financial freedom and bank efficiency: Evidence from the European Union," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 1223-1231.
    15. Munari, Federico & Toschi, Laura, 2015. "Assessing the impact of public venture capital programmes in the United Kingdom: Do regional characteristics matter?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 205-226.
    16. Ann‐Kristin Achleitner & Nico Engel & Uwe Reiner, 2013. "The performance of venture capital investments: Do investors overreact?," Review of Financial Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 22(1), pages 20-35, January.
    17. Andrew Metrick & Ayako Yasuda, 2011. "Venture Capital and Other Private Equity: a Survey," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 17(4), pages 619-654, September.
    18. Jens Burchardt & Ulrich Hommel & Dzidziso Samuel Kamuriwo & Carolina Billitteri, 2016. "Venture Capital Contracting in Theory and Practice: Implications for Entrepreneurship Research," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 40(1), pages 25-48, January.
    19. Douglas Cumming, 2010. "Public policy and the creation of active venture capital markets," Venture Capital, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(1), pages 75-94, April.
    20. Anita Quas & Jose Martí & Carmelo Reverte, 2021. "What money cannot buy: a new approach to measure venture capital ability to add non-financial resources," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 1361-1382, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Independent venture capital; Governmental venture capital; Public venture capital; Syndication; Exit performance; Public–private partnership;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G24 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Investment Banking; Venture Capital; Brokerage
    • G28 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • G33 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Bankruptcy; Liquidation
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
    • H11 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Structure and Scope of Government

    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:eee:corfin:v:42:y:2017:i:c:p:439-459. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jcorpfin .

    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.