Equity funding is a widespread financing form that often accompanies the life cycle of innovative ventures from initial stages until maturity. From the perspective of investors, the event defining the success of an equity financing operation is the exit, which represents the moment when they...

People may finance entrepreneurs, often family members. Here, the question is: how has the COVID-19 pandemic affected people's funding of family-related entrepreneurs and non-family-related entrepreneurs? The pandemic predictably reduced the funding of family-related entrepreneurs and especially...

Business angels (BAs) and venture capitalists (VCs) are important sources of finance for entrepreneurs in emerging markets for raising start-up and growth capital. Recognising that entrepreneurial investment evaluation decision-making is a highly complex process, and that there are limited...

The pitch is an important part of the entrepreneur-investor relationship. To come to an agreement, entrepreneurs and investors need to trust each other. However, how does trust arise between them, and how does trust evolve during the few minutes of a pitch? With the aim to develop propositions,...

Purpose: This study aims to analyze the contribution of business angels (BAs), defined as wealthy individuals who provide risk capital to entrepreneurial firms without family connections, in Estonia, an emerging country in Eastern Europe. Design/methodology/approach: This study compared the data...

The EIF Business Angels Survey, together with the EIF VC Survey and the EIF Private Equity Mid-Market Survey (the largest combined regular survey exercises among GPs and Business Angels on a pan-European level) provide an opportunity to retrieve unique market insights. This publication is based...

To date, much of the research on early-stage equity investing has revolved around the question of whether early-stage equity investors place more importance on the entrepreneur (jockey) or the business opportunity (horse). Yet research has failed to agree on the relative importance of these two...

Angel investor tax credits are used globally to spur high-growth entrepreneurship. Exploiting their staggered implementation in 31 U.S. states, we find that they increase angel investment yet have no significant impact on entrepreneurial activity. Two mechanisms explain these results: Crowding...

Using a large sample of angel and venture capital (VC) financing data from the Crunchbase and VentureXpert databases and private firm data from the NETS database, we address three important research questions. First, we analyze the relative extent of value addition by angels versus VCs to...

Angel investors are very important for small and medium sized enterprises in Kerala. Because they provide more than money. They are hands-on investors and contribute their skills, expertise, knowledge and contacts in the businesses they invest in. They are wealthy people with great business...

This paper analyses the Business Angel (BA) portfolio of the European Angels Fund (EAF), an initiative of the European Investment Fund, which engages in co-investment relationships with experienced business angels across Europe. It uses EIF’s proprietary database to shed light on a specific...

2020 was an unprecedented and remarkable year, and also a year with high uncertainty and increased information needs. The EIF VC Survey, the EIF Private Equity Mid-Market Survey, and the EIF Business Angels Survey (the largest regular survey exercises among GPs and Business Angels on a...

In recent years governments around the world have introduced policies to stimulate investments in early stage entrepreneurial companies, in particular investments by Angel investors. In this paper we study whether introducing subsidies to Angel investors has effects on startups’ access to...

Research suggests that public subsidies for newly founded firms have a positive effect on follow-on financing, in particular on Venture Capital (VC), through providing certification and early-stage liquidity. Building on the attention-based view, we argue that the various sources of VC value...

In recent years governments around the world have introduced policies to stimulate investments in early stage entrepreneurial companies, in particular investments by Angel investors. In this paper we study whether introducing subsidies to Angel investors has effects on startups’ access to...

This paper explores the investment impact and performance of a unique group of angel investors, those featured on the television show, Shark Tank. We explore the relationship between their individual characteristics such as their experience, reputation, and network with the performance of their...

Does a firm benefit if its employees personally invest in start-ups? To answer this question, we exploit novel data, which link angel investors in the US with their employment history. A firm's economic value of patents decreases by 3% - 5% when its employees personally invest in start-ups. We...

This study analyzes the Consent Decree of the United States' basic steel industry which reformed plant seniority systems to accommodate issues of equal employment opportunity. The plant-by-plant litigation brought under Title VII and Executive Order 11246 is shown to be the main catalyst which...

I am deeply grateful to the four commentators for engaging with my work in a deep and creative manner; tempting such outstanding scholars setting their inquisitive minds unto my work x is the best I could possibly ask for. Their thoughts set me unto new paths that correspond with the present...

Equity crowdfunding has been gaining more and more relevance as an alternative way for entrepreneurs to raise capital. This paper examines the impact of retained equity, business angel backing, grants and intellectual property rights on the success of equity crowdfunding. Using data from...

The aim of this study is to analyse and compare the nature, behaviour and investment preferences of angel investors around the world. In order to get a better understanding of the emerging economies, a special emphasis was given on the Indian Angel market. Angel investors' detailed...

This working paper provides testimony on the integration of ESG considerations and impact investing in the areas of venture capital (VC) and business angel (BA) investing. The results are survey-based and are derived from the respective questions in the EIF VC Survey 2019 and the EIF Business...

Angel investor tax credits are used globally to spur high-growth entrepreneurship. Exploiting the staggered implementation of these tax credits in 31 U.S. states, we find that while they increase angel investment, they have no significant effect on entrepreneurial activity. Tax credits induce...

This paper studies how changes in investor protection regulations affect local entrepreneurial activity, relying on the heterogeneous impact of a 2011 SEC regulation change on the definition of accredited investors across U.S. cities. Using a difference-in-differences approach, I show that...

This paper studies how critical entrepreneurial finance outcomes such as the investment return and equity division are shaped by venture characteristics, financier risk preferences and competitive searching. Our analysis uses a double-hazard agency model in which financiers determine the equity...

Angel investors go by many definitions. By all definitions, though, angel investors collectively invest at least billions of dollars in thousands of fledgling companies and entrepreneurial projects annually. This paper describes angel investors and their investments, with special attention to...

This book chapter reviews crowdinvesting, which is sometimes referred to as equity crowdfunding. It specifically aims at answering the following question: Is crowdinvesting transforming the crowd into small business angels? In order to answer this question, we review the securities regulation in...

We provide empirical evidence of the post-investment performance and survivorship profile of angel-backed companies, filling a long-standing gap within the entrepreneurial finance literature. Using a unique database of 111 angel-backed companies that received angel investments between 2008 and...

We use actual negotiations between angel investors and entrepreneurs to study the impact of personal characteristics on investment outcomes. We construct a unique dataset with 707 investment requests led by 1,089 entrepreneurs and find that the personal characteristics of the entrepreneur,...

Funding small businesses used to be the exclusive domain of angel investors, venture capitalists, and banks. Crowds have only recently been recognized as an alternative source of financing. Whereas some have attributed great potential to the funding provided by crowds (crowdfunding), others have...