Assessing the Impact of Public Venture Capital Programs in the United Kingdom: Do Regional Characteristics Matter?

33 Pages Posted: 8 Feb 2010

See all articles by Federico Munari

Federico Munari

University of Bologna - Department of Management

Laura Toschi

University of Bologna - Department of Management

Date Written: January 20, 2010

Abstract

Over the last two decades, many governments around the world have implemented programs to mobilize venture capital (VC) in support of new and innovative firms. In this paper, we analyze whether and how the impact of publicly-supported VC funds varies between high-tech and low-tech regions, when compared to private VC funds. Our analyses on a sample of 898 VC-backed companies in the United Kingdom in the period 1998-2007 show for public VC funds: (a) a greater propensity to invest in early-stage and technology-based sectors, which is especially pronounced in low-tech regions; (b) a greater propensity toward staging and a greater ability to attract partners in syndication, especially in high-tech regions; (c) lower exit rates of investee companies, in terms of IPO/acquisition, as compared to private VC funds. Overall, our findings confirm that regional characteristics do matter if we want to more rigorously assess the effectiveness of public VC programs.

Keywords: Venture Capital, Public Policies, Regional Characteristics, United Kingdom

JEL Classification: G24, G28, G38

Suggested Citation

Munari, Federico and Toschi, Laura, Assessing the Impact of Public Venture Capital Programs in the United Kingdom: Do Regional Characteristics Matter? (January 20, 2010). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1539384 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1539384

Federico Munari (Contact Author)

University of Bologna - Department of Management ( email )

Piazza Scaravilli 1
Bologna, Bologna 40126
ITALY
051-2093954 (Phone)
051-2093949 (Fax)

Laura Toschi

University of Bologna - Department of Management ( email )

Via Capo di Lucca, 34
40126 Bologna
Italy
00390512090214 (Phone)

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
216
Abstract Views
1,713
Rank
217,375
PlumX Metrics