Det smarta kapitalet : En studie av nyetablerade IT-företags syn på relationen till sitt riskkapitalbolag

Sammanfattning: Background: The growth of the venture capital industry has given birth to new relations between investors and entrepreneurial firms. Venture capital firms are by definition investors serving as an active partner which implies a deeper relation between investors and entrepreneurs than has been the case previously. This new situation leads to a number of questions. Do venture capitalists really act as active partners with a long term interest in the venture? Do they add any value besides capital? How important is their influence in the portfolio company's decision making process? Purpose: The purpose of this study is to give a deeper understanding of the relation between venture capital firms and IT companies in the start-up phase. Limitations: This study is limited to Swedish IT companies. We have further chosen to study the phenomenon from the portfolio company's point of view. A final limitation that has been made is to focus on companies financed by formal venture capital. Realisation: Using theories treating interorganisational relations and adjacent theories treating power we have chosen to study the relation between venture capital firms and their portfolio companies. The empirical data was gathered through interviews with five entrepreneurial companies in the IT business. The studyhas been carried out with an approach similar to a qualitative case study. Result: We have found that the venture capital firm is seen as a very devoted partner with a long term interest in the company and that their contribution of resources is important. Regarding its influence in the portfolio company's decision making process we have concluded that this is due to an informal power position resulting from their possession of critical resources. In particular we have found that the possession of capital gives rise to a very influential position in the portfolio company.