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Buy Local? The Geography of Successful and Unsuccessful Venture Capital Expansion

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  • Henry Chen
  • Paul Gompers
  • Anna Kovner
  • Josh Lerner

Abstract

We document geographic concentration by both venture capital firms and venture capital-financed companies in three cities - San Francisco, Boston, and New York. We find that firms open new satellite offices based on the success rate of venture capital-backed investments in an area. Geography is also significantly related to outcomes. Venture capital firms based in locales that are venture capital centers outperform, regardless of the stage of the investment. Ironically, this outperformance arises from outsized performance outside of the venture capital firms' office locations, including in peripheral locations. If the goal of state and local policy makers is to encourage venture capital investment, outperformance of non-local investments suggests that policy makers might want to mitigate costs associated with established venture capitalists investing in their geographies rather than encouraging the establishment of new venture capital firms

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  • Henry Chen & Paul Gompers & Anna Kovner & Josh Lerner, 2009. "Buy Local? The Geography of Successful and Unsuccessful Venture Capital Expansion," NBER Working Papers 15102, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:15102
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    Cited by:

    1. L. Bottazzi & M. Da Rin & T. Hellmann, 2007. "The Importance of Trust for Investment: Evidence from Venture Capital," Working Papers 612, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    2. Pennacchio, Luca, 2013. "The causal effect of venture capital backing on the underpricing of Italian IPOs," MPRA Paper 48695, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Anna Kovner & Josh Lerner, 2015. "Doing Well by Doing Good? Community Development Venture Capital," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(3), pages 643-663, September.
    4. Haizhi Wang & Robert Wuebker & Shu Han & Michael Ensley, 2012. "Strategic alliances by venture capital backed firms: an empirical examination," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 38(2), pages 179-196, February.
    5. Angela Cipollone & Paolo E. Giordani, 2012. "Animal Spirits in Entrepreneurial Innovation: Theory and Evidence," Working Papers CELEG 1201, Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza, LUISS Guido Carli.
    6. Bradley, Samantha R. & Gicheva, Dora & Hassell, Lydia & Link, Albert N., 2013. "Gender Differences in Access to Private Investment Funding to Support the Development of New Technologies," UNCG Economics Working Papers 13-9, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Department of Economics.
    7. Glaeser, Edward L. & Rosenthal, Stuart S. & Strange, William C., 2010. "Urban economics and entrepreneurship," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 1-14, January.
    8. Cipollone, Angela & Giordani, Paolo E., 2019. "Market frictions in entrepreneurial innovation: Theory and evidence," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 297-331.
    9. Bryane Michael & Andy Chi-Lok Tai, 2023. "Does Asia’s Financial Intermediation of China’s Solar Industry during the 2020s Exhibit a “California Effect”?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-21, October.
    10. Luca Pennacchio, 2014. "The causal effect of venture capital backing on the underpricing of Italian initial public offerings," Venture Capital, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(2), pages 131-155, April.
    11. Flavia-Diana NISTOR, 2011. "WHICH ARE THE FACTORS INFLUENCING FINANCING DECISIONS IN SMEs?," Proceedings of the International Conference Investments and Economic Recovery, Faculty of Management, Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 10(1), pages 32-36, December.
    12. Cipollone, Angela & Giordani, Paolo E., 2019. "Entrepreneurs meet financiers: Evidence from the business angel market," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 1-1.
    13. Dan Cristian POPESCU, 2012. "Corporations, Entrepreneurs And Urban Development," REVISTA ADMINISTRATIE SI MANAGEMENT PUBLIC, Faculty of Administration and Public Management, Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 2012(8), pages 386-396, June.
    14. Naomi Hausman, 2012. "University Innovation, Local Economic Growth, and Entrepreneurship," Working Papers 12-10, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    15. Mollick, Ethan, 2014. "The dynamics of crowdfunding: An exploratory study," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 1-16.
    16. Marquez, Robert & Nanda, Vikram & Yavuz, M. Deniz, 2010. "Private Equity Fund Returns: Do Managers Actually Leave Money on the Table?," Working Papers 10-24, University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School, Weiss Center.
    17. Dessi, Roberta, 2011. "Innovation, Spillovers and Venture Capital Contracts," IDEI Working Papers 684, Institut d'Économie Industrielle (IDEI), Toulouse, revised Dec 2013.
    18. Robert Marquez & Vikram Nanda & M. Deniz Yavuz, 2015. "Private Equity Fund Returns and Performance Persistence," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 19(5), pages 1783-1823.
    19. Julia Sass Rubin, 2011. "Countering the Rhetoric of Emerging Domestic Markets: Why More Information Alone Will Not Address the Capital Needs of Underserved Communities," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 25(2), pages 182-192, May.

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    JEL classification:

    • G24 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Investment Banking; Venture Capital; Brokerage
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)

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