| dc.description.abstract | The aim of this study was to map the venture capital landscape in terms of portfolio
companies' and different types of VC firm’s attitude to foreign VC funding, and to
extend the literature on value-adding activities by introducing a new category of
support activities specifically aimed at attracting foreign VC. Additionally we intended
to shed light on investor portals, a recent technological trend in information asymmetry
mitigation between VC, foreign and local, and their current and prospective portfolio
companies. The study built on two questionnaires to collect a fresh and unique set of
data from 155 portfolio companies and 32 venture capital firms from 13 European
countries. We find a distinctly positive attitude to foreign VC investors both in portfolio
companies and all types of venture capital firms. Our results also indicate that portfolio
companies have positive experiences with foreign VC investors in that they are more
welcoming of it after having received it. Furthermore, we find indicative evidence that
venture capital firms have improved in regard to value adding support performance in
the last decade or so. We also find a strong indication that foreign lead VCs outperform
lead domestic VCs on some, but not most, support activities. Lastly, we provide fresh
statistics on the application and perceptions of investor portals as a mitigating
mechanism for information asymmetries. All findings are reviewed in terms of their
limitations and implications for further research. | en_US |
