Environment health is the topic at stake today. Governments, supra-national institutions along with local communities are calling for the transition to a low-carbon economy and mobilizing to work it out. Nonetheless, a pivotal contribution would be given by the massive introduction of sustainable business models through which companies deliver their value proposition. Cleantech is one main emerging category in this scenario and it encompasses those technologies capable of generating yield for investors and, at the same time, reducing the negative impact on the environment. As the goodness of these business models is often not proven in the market, the capital provision from risk prone investors is necessary. In the current academic literature, the extent to which venture capital can be the main ambassador in sustaining with capital and expertise the environmental revolution is an open question. This work is exclusive in its purpose. It investigates the relationship between venture capital and portfolio companies’ performance in cleantech in the European landscape, and it is supported by an econometric analysis. To carry out the empirical study, we resort to the VICO database and single out cleantech companies, while the control group is extracted from Orbis. Firms included were born between 1989-2014 and invested between 2005-2014. The econometric analysis is divided in two parts: the first model relates the probability to grow after the investment to VC and its characteristics, and it aims at studying the monitoring and value adding capabilities of such investors; the second model relates the probability to get invested to the operating performance before the investment, and it aims at detecting the screening capabilities. The results are noteworthy: we find that VC-backed companies are more likely to grow in terms of intangible assets after the investment, while there is no significant impact on the growth of sales and headcount. It seems that VC does intensive R&D activity but that it lacks technical expertise. Concerning the screening process, VC invests in less profitable and smaller companies, while patents do not act as a signal. On the whole, there is no empirical evidence that VC is about to spur the development of cleantech.
Oggi la salute ambientale è diventata un tema di discussione quotidiano. Governi, organizzazioni internazionali e comunità locali di tutto il mondo si appellano ad una nuova economia a basse emissioni ed esortano a trovare quanto prima una soluzione. Nondimeno, l’introduzione di business model sostenibili, attraverso cui le aziende trasmettono la loro value proposition, costituirà un contributo di primaria importanza. Su questo sfondo si erge il cleantech, un settore emergente che comprende tutte quelle tecnologie in grado di generare un profitto per gli investitori e al contempo ridurre l’impatto negativo sull’ambiente. Dato che l’efficacia di questi business model non è ancora testata sul mercato, sono necessari investimenti che finanzino progetti ad alto rischio. Nella letteratura scientifica, rimane una questione irrisolta fino a che punto il venture capital potrà essere l’ambasciatore di questa rivoluzione ambientale, tramite l’apporto di capitale e delle competenze tecniche e manageriali in suo possesso. Questo lavoro è unico nella sua finalità: nel contesto europeo, si indagano le correlazioni tra il venture capital e le performance delle società nel portafoglio, attraverso il supporto di uno studio econometrico. Per svolgere l’analisi empirica, abbiamo attinto al database VICO Updated e selezionato le aziende con un modello di business cleantech, mentre il campione di controllo è stato estratto da Orbis. Le imprese del campione sono state fondate tra 1989-2014 e investite da fondi di venture capital tra 2005-2014. L’analisi econometrica approfondisce due aspetti: il primo è la verifica delle capacità di monitoring e di value adding dell'investitore, analizzando la probabilità di crescere una volta ricevuto l’investimento del venture capital e le sue caratteristiche; il secondo invece, studia la probabilità di essere investite legata alle performance operative antecedenti l’investimento, con l’obiettivo di individuare eventuali capacità di screening. I risultati ottenuti sono degni di nota: troviamo che è più probabile che le aziende investite dal venture capital accrescano i beni intangibili (cioè gli intangible assets) dopo l’investimento, mentre non è visibile un impatto significativo sulla crescita delle vendite e dell’organico. Sembra che il venture capital svolga un’ intensa attività di ricerca e sviluppo ma manchi di conoscenza tecnica. Nel processo di screening, il venture capital preferisce finanziare imprese più piccole e meno profittevoli, mentre i patents non riescono ad attrarre ulteriori investimenti. Alla luce dei risultati, non troviamo evidenza empirica del fatto che il venture capital possa dare un contributo importante alla fioritura del cleantech.
An empirical analysis about venture capital impact on European portfolio companies performances in cleantech
MASTRANDREA, LUDOVICO;BALLERINI, GINEVRA
2017/2018
Abstract
Environment health is the topic at stake today. Governments, supra-national institutions along with local communities are calling for the transition to a low-carbon economy and mobilizing to work it out. Nonetheless, a pivotal contribution would be given by the massive introduction of sustainable business models through which companies deliver their value proposition. Cleantech is one main emerging category in this scenario and it encompasses those technologies capable of generating yield for investors and, at the same time, reducing the negative impact on the environment. As the goodness of these business models is often not proven in the market, the capital provision from risk prone investors is necessary. In the current academic literature, the extent to which venture capital can be the main ambassador in sustaining with capital and expertise the environmental revolution is an open question. This work is exclusive in its purpose. It investigates the relationship between venture capital and portfolio companies’ performance in cleantech in the European landscape, and it is supported by an econometric analysis. To carry out the empirical study, we resort to the VICO database and single out cleantech companies, while the control group is extracted from Orbis. Firms included were born between 1989-2014 and invested between 2005-2014. The econometric analysis is divided in two parts: the first model relates the probability to grow after the investment to VC and its characteristics, and it aims at studying the monitoring and value adding capabilities of such investors; the second model relates the probability to get invested to the operating performance before the investment, and it aims at detecting the screening capabilities. The results are noteworthy: we find that VC-backed companies are more likely to grow in terms of intangible assets after the investment, while there is no significant impact on the growth of sales and headcount. It seems that VC does intensive R&D activity but that it lacks technical expertise. Concerning the screening process, VC invests in less profitable and smaller companies, while patents do not act as a signal. On the whole, there is no empirical evidence that VC is about to spur the development of cleantech.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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https://hdl.handle.net/10589/145833