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Hidden in Plain Sight: Venture Growth with or without Venture Capital

Author

Listed:
  • Christian Catalini
  • Jorge Guzman
  • Scott Stern

Abstract

The majority of IPOs and acquisitions are achieved without venture capital financing, yet research has focused mostly on VC backed firms. Using founding choices and a predictive analytics approach on virtually all US registered businesses, we shed light into these “missing” growth firms. Founding choices that predict raising venture capital also strongly predict equity exits without VC. Firms with growth potential are similar to each other, irrespective of funding source. Moreover, matching firms that are born with identical observables, but only differ in whether they receive venture capital, suggests an upper bound to the returns to venture capital of 600%.

Suggested Citation

  • Christian Catalini & Jorge Guzman & Scott Stern, 2019. "Hidden in Plain Sight: Venture Growth with or without Venture Capital," NBER Working Papers 26521, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:26521
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    Cited by:

    1. Wright, Nataliya Langburd & Nagle, Frank & Greenstein, Shane, 2023. "Open source software and global entrepreneurship," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(9).
    2. Andrews, RJ & Fazio, Catherine & Guzman, Jorge & Liu, Yupeng & Stern, Scott, 2022. "The Startup Cartography Project: Measuring and mapping entrepreneurial ecosystems," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(2).
    3. Akcigit, Ufuk & Dinlersoz, Emin & Greenwood, Jeremy & Penciakova, Veronika, 2022. "Synergizing ventures," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    4. Khanindra Ch. Das, 2023. "What Affects Startup Acquisition in Emerging Economy? Evidence from India," Journal of Emerging Market Finance, Institute for Financial Management and Research, vol. 22(2), pages 111-134, June.
    5. Yoshiki Ando, 2024. "Dynamics of High-Growth Young Firms and the Role of Venture Capitalists," PIER Working Paper Archive 24-012, Penn Institute for Economic Research, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania.
    6. Francesco Manaresi & Carlo Menon & Pietro Santoleri, 2021. "Supporting innovative entrepreneurship: an evaluation of the Italian “Start-up Act” [The effects of entry on incumbent innovation and productivity]," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 30(6), pages 1591-1614.
    7. Andrews, RJ & Fazio, Catherine & Guzman, Jorge & Liu, Yupeng & Stern, Scott, 2022. "Reprint of “The Startup Cartography Project: Measuring and mapping entrepreneurial ecosystems”," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(9).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G24 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Investment Banking; Venture Capital; Brokerage
    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship

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