Funding acquisition drivers for new venture firms: Diminishing value of human capital signals in early rounds of funding
-
DOIhttp://dx.doi.org/10.21511/ppm.17(1).2019.08
-
Article InfoVolume 17 2019, Issue #1, pp. 78-94
- Cited by
- 1308 Views
-
191 Downloads
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Multiple factors such as human capital, amount raised in the first round, innovation etc. have an impact on the funding prospect of new ventures. This paper explored the influencing factors that drive multiple rounds of funding for new venture firms and provided a much broader perspective of funding drivers during the early stages of the new venture firm. Using signalling theory and human capital theory, this paper analyzed signals that influence the acquisition of funds in the first round and whether those signals persisted for the second and third rounds of funding when information asymmetries between the investors and new venture firms reduce. This study disentangled the signalling effects of the human capital factors across three funding rounds and proved the diminishing value of signals across each subsequent round of funding. Finding showed that the signal effect from premier institution education was the only human capital signal that persisted across each round of funding, while other signals did not persist beyond the first round of funding. In addition, new venture firms with founders educated from premier educational institutions were able to attract more investors and close more funding rounds. This study also proved that the amount raised in the first round of funding positively impacted the amounts raised in the second and third rounds stressing its importance for new venture firms. Empirical demonstration of the propositions was done with 156 new venture firms in India, the fastest growing and third largest startup ecosystem in the world.
- Keywords
-
JEL Classification (Paper profile tab)M13
-
References50
-
Tables8
-
Figures6
-
- Figure 1. Signaling effects of human capital factors across multiple funding rounds and inter-funding round dependencies
- Figure 2. Number of funding rounds closed and number of investors attracted across multiple rounds of funding
- Figure 3. Mosaic plot showing relationships between number of funding rounds and human capital variables
- Figure 4. Mosaic plot showing relationships between number of investors and human capital variables
- Figure 5. Inter-funding round dependencies
- Figure 6. Residual vs fit plot for linear regression – first round funding amount vs human capital variables
-
- Table 1. Model development criteria
- Table 2. Descriptive statistics and Pearson correlations
- Table 3. Estimates for raising funds across multiple rounds of funding using binary logit regression
- Table 4. Odds ratio for more than one round of funding
- Table 5. Estimates for number of funding rounds and number of investors attracted using Poisson regression
- Table 6. Relationships between amounts raised in each funding round
- Table 7. Estimates for amount of funds raised across multiple rounds of funding using linear Regression
- Table 8. Linkage of proposed method and results
-
- Amason, A. C., Shrader, R. C., & Tompson, G. H. (2006). Newness and novelty: Relating top management team composition to new venture performance. Journal of Business Venturing, 21(1), 125-148.
- Audretsch, D. B. (1995). Innovation, growth and survival. International journal of industrial organization, 13(4), 441-457.
- Baum, J. A., Calabrese, T., & Silverman, B. S. (2000). Don’t go it alone: Alliance network composition and startups' performance in Canadian biotechnology. Strategic management journal, 21(3), 267-294.
- Baum, J. A., & Silverman, B. S. (2004). Picking winners or building them? Alliance, intellectual, and human capital as selection criteria in venture financing and performance of biotechnology startups. Journal of business venturing, 19(3), 411-436.
- Barney, J. B., Busenitz, L. W., Fiet, J. O., & Moesel, D. D. (1996). New venture teams’ assessment of learning assistance from venture capital firms. Journal of Business Venturing, 11(4), 257-272.
- Beckman, C. M. (2006). The influence of founding team company affiliations on firm behavior. Academy of Management Journal, 49(4), 741-758.
- Becker-Blease, J. R., & Sohl, J. E. (2015). New venture legitimacy: the conditions for angel investors. Small Business Economics, 45(4), 735-749.
- Block, J., & Sandner, P. (2009). What is the effect of the financial crisis on venture capital financing? Empirical evidence from US Internet start-ups. Venture Capital, 11(4), 295-309.
- Burton, M. D., Sørensen, J. B., & Beckman, C. M. (2002). Coming from good stock: Career histories and new venture formation. In Social structure and organizations revisited (pp. 229-262). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
- Busenitz, L. W., Fiet, J. O., & Moesel, D. D. (2005). Signaling in Venture Capitalist – New Venture Team Funding Decisions: Does it Indicate Long-Term Venture Outcomes? Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 29(1), 1-12.
- Cassar, G. (2014). Industry and startup experience on entrepreneur forecast performance in new firms. Journal of Business Venturing, 29(1), 137-151.
- Certo, S. T. (2003). Influencing initial public offering investors with prestige: Signaling with board structures. Academy of management review, 28(3), 432-446.
- Chevalier, J., & Ellison, G. (1999). Career concerns of mutual fund managers. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 114(2), 389-432.
- Clement, W. (1975). Inequality of access: characteristics of the Canadian corporate elite. Canadian Review of Sociology/Revue canadienne de sociologie, 12(1), 33-52.
- Colombo, M. G., & Grilli, L. (2007). Funding gaps? Access to bank loans by high-tech start-ups. Small Business Economics, 29(1-2), 25-46.
- Connelly, B. L., Certo, S. T., Ireland, R. D., & Reutzel, C. R. (2011). Signaling theory: A review and assessment. Journal of management, 37(1), 39-67.
- Cooper, A. C., Gimeno-Gascon, F. J., & Woo, C. Y. (1994). Initial human and financial capital as predictors of new venture performance. Journal of business venturing, 9(5), 371-395.
- D’Aveni, R. A. (1990). Top managerial prestige and organizational bankruptcy. Organization Science, 1(2), 121-142.
- Davila, A., Foster, G., & Gupta, M. (2003). Staging venture capital: empirical evidence on the differential roles of early versus late rounds.
- Delmar, F., & Shane, S. (2006). Does experience matter? The effect of founding team experience on the survival and sales of newly founded ventures. Strategic Organization, 4(3), 215-247.
- Eugene, L. Y., & Yuan, S. T. D. (2012, August). Where’s the money? The social behavior of investors in facebook’s small world. In Proceedings of the 2012 International Conference on Advances in Social Networks Analysis and Mining (ASONAM 2012) (pp. 158-162). IEEE Computer Society.
- Gompers, P. A. (1995). Optimal investment, monitoring, and the staging of venture capital. The Journal of Finance, 50(5), 1461-1489.
- Gompers, P. A., & Lerner, J. (1999). What drives venture capital fundraising? (No. w6906). National bureau of economic research.
- Grant Thornton, Assocham (2016). Startups India – an Overview. New Delhi: Grant Thornton India LLP). Assocham, The Associated Chambers of Commerce of India.
- Hannan, M. T., & Freeman, J. (1984). Structural inertia and organizational change. American sociological review, 49(2), 149-164.
- Henry, O., & Ferry, M. (2017). When Cracking the JEE is not Enough. Processes of Elimination and Differentiation, from Entry to Placement, in the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal, 15.
- Hoenen, S., Kolympiris, C., Schoenmakers, W., & Kalaitzandonakes, N. (2014). The diminishing signaling value of patents between early rounds of venture capital financing. Research Policy, 43(6), 956-989.
- Huang, M. H. (2012). Opening the black box of QS World University Rankings. Research Evaluation, 21(1), 71-78.
- Hsu, D. H. (2004). What do entrepreneurs pay for venture capital affiliation? The Journal of Finance, 59(4), 1805-1844.
- Hsu, D. H. (2007). Experienced entrepreneurial founders, organizational capital, and venture capital funding. Research Policy, 36(5), 722-741.
- Kazanjian, R. K. (1988). Relation of dominant problems to stages of growth in technology-based new ventures. Academy of management journal, 31(2), 257-279.
- King, T., Srivastav, A., & Williams, J. (2016). What’s in an education? Implications of CEO education for bank performance. Journal of Corporate Finance, 37, 287-308.
- Kirzner, I. M. (1997). Entrepreneurial discovery and the competitive market process: An Austrian approach. Journal of economic Literature, 35(1), 60-85.
- Klepper, S. (2001). Employee startups in high‐tech industries. Industrial and corporate change, 10(3), 639-674.
- Klotz, A. C., Hmieleski, K. M., Bradley, B. H., & Busenitz, L. W. (2014). New venture teams: A review of the literature and roadmap for future research. Journal of management, 40(1), 226-255.
- Krishna, V. V., & Chandra, N. (2011). Knowledge production and knowledge transfer: A study of two Indian institutes of technology (IIT Madras and IIT Bombay). In Academic Entrepreneurship in Asia: The Role and Impact of Universities in National Innovation Systems (pp. 254-288).
- Kshetri, N. (2007). Barriers to e-commerce and competitive business models in developing countries: A case study. Electronic commerce research and applications, 6(4), 443-452.
- Maidique, M. A. (1985). Key success factors in high technology ventures. Innovation & Entrepreneurship Institute, University of Miami.
- Marvel, M. R., & Lumpkin, G. T. (2007). Technology entrepreneurs’ human capital and its effects on innovation radicalness. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 31(6), 807-828.
- Miller, D., Xu, X., & Mehrotra, V. (2015). When is human capital a valuable resource? The performance effects of Ivy League selection among celebrated CEOs. Strategic Management Journal, 36(6), 930-944.
- Kumar, M., Sareen, M., & Barquissau, E. (2012). Relationship between types of trust and level of adoption of Internet banking. Problems and Perspectives in Management, 10(1), 82-92.
- Paige, R. M., Fry, G. W., Stallman, E., Jon, J. E., & Josić, J. (2010). Beyond immediate impact: Study abroad for global engagement (SAGE). Report submitted to the Title VI International Research and Studies Program, US Department of Education, Washington, DC.
- Rédis, J. (2010). ICT start-ups venture capital and funding. Problems and Perspectives in Management, 8, 30-37.
- Reuber, A. R., & Fischer, E. M. (1994). Entrepreneurs’ experience, expertise, and the performance of technology-based firms. IEEE Transactions on engineering management, 41(4), 365-374.
- Schmidt, S., & Pardo, M. (2017). The contribution of study abroad to human capital formation. The Journal of Higher Education, 88(1), 135-157.
- Stinchcombe, A. L., & March, J. G. (1965). Social structure and organizations. Handbook of organizations, 7, 142-193.
- Stuart, T. E., Hoang, H., & Hybels, R. C. (1999). Interorganizational endorsements and the performance of entrepreneurial ventures. Administrative science quarterly, 44(2), 315-349.
- Subramanian, A. (2015). Making merit: The Indian Institutes of Technology and the social life of caste. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 57(2), 291-322.
- Tapper, T., & Filippakou, O. (2009). The world‐class league tables and the sustaining of international reputations in higher education. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 31(1), 55-66.
- Zimmerman, M. A. (2008). The influence of top management team heterogeneity on the capital raised through an initial public offering. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 32(3), 391-414.