Involvering och värdeskapande i portföljföretag : Statliga och privata venture capital-företag

Sammanfattning: The major difference between venture capital-firms and other financiers is that their business idea is not only providing capital but also knowledge in business development. The ownership structure of an venture capital-firm can be private as well as public. The Swedish government is today one of the major actors in the Swedish venture capital-industry. The purpose of this study is to shed light on how venture capital-firms involve itself in its portfolio firm and if this contributes to an increased value of the portfolio firm. We also try to shed light on differences in how a public and a private venture capital-firm gets involved in its portfolio firm and if there is any difference in how they can contribute to added value. We have chosen to interview two public and two private venture capital-firms and one of their portfolio firms. To answer the essay’s purpose we used qualitative case studies with semi-structured interviews. The theoretical framework consists of principal-agent theory, knowledge-based view of the firm and social capital and previous studies of venture capital-firms involvement and value-added in their portfolio firms. This essay is limited only to venture capital-firms and portfolio firms located in Stockholm. It is the perceptions of the Venture capital-firm and the portfolio firm we are interested in, regarding the venture capital-firms involvement and value-added. Our study shows that venture capital-firm’s level of involvement in their portfolio firms varies depending on the development stage in the portfolio firm. The portfolio firm’s network increases with the venture capital firm’s entry and it also provides knowledge in business development. The study did not find any difference in the way which the public or private venture capital-firm involve itself in its portfolio firm. Nor is there any difference in how they contribute to value-added in their portfolio firm.