How Is Public Venture Capital Investment Different from Private. A Comparative Geographical Study of Two Recipient Firm Samples

摘要

This is the final report on a comparative study of two samples of U.S. enterprises that have received venture capital investment. This study is the first to combine emphasis on venture capital recipient firms (VCRFs) themselves with systematic comparison of private and public (state program) venture financing. A mailback questionnaire survey was used to collect data from 143 privately funded and 95 publicly funded enterprises. The information includes firm characteristics, locations, employment, sales, founding entrepreneurs, and venture capital experiences. The data are summarized with descriptive statistics, and hypotheses about differences between the two groups are tested statistically. Discriminant analysis is used to assess whether, and along what dimensions, this distinction might best be made. Results are used to show systematically for the first time the ways in which public venture capital investment outcomes differ from private.