Corporate Venture Capitalists and the Sale of Patents by High-Tech Startups

49 Pages Posted: 28 Aug 2024

See all articles by Francesco Di Lorenzo

Francesco Di Lorenzo

Copenhagen Business School

Haemin Dennis Park

University of Texas at Dallas

Abstract

Startups are often creators of important inventions, yet they lack resources of their own and must prioritize their commercialization effort into a few promising technologies. We explore how corporate venture capitalists (CVCs) influence a startup’s likelihood of selling its patents. We find that, compared with startups backed solely by independent venture capitalists (IVCs), those backed by corporate venture capitalists (CVCs) are less likely to sell their patents. We further consider various factors, including complementary assets provided by corporate investors, competitive dynamics between corporate investors and startups, as well as other patent-, investor-, and startup-specific characteristics that further corroborate the theoretical mechanisms on how corporate investors influence a startup’s likelihood of selling its patents. Our results provide novel insights into how the resources and preferences of corporate investors can play important roles in a startup’s intellectual property (IP) management strategy and its participation in the market for technology.

Keywords: corporate venture capital, intellectual property management, patent sale, technology entrepreneurship, venture capital, complementary assets

Suggested Citation

Di Lorenzo, Francesco and Park, Haemin Dennis, Corporate Venture Capitalists and the Sale of Patents by High-Tech Startups. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4939063 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4939063

Francesco Di Lorenzo (Contact Author)

Copenhagen Business School ( email )

Kilevej 14A
Frederiksberg C, Copenhagen DK - 2000
Denmark

Haemin Dennis Park

University of Texas at Dallas

2601 North Floyd Road
Richardson, TX 75083
United States

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