Venture Capital

Related Terms: Angel Investors; Financial Planning; Loans; Seed Money

Venture capital is a type of equity investment usually made in rapidly growing companies that require a lot of capital or start-up companies that can show they have a strong business plan. Venture capital may be provided by wealthy individual investors, professionally managed investment funds, government-backed Small Business Investment Corporations (SBICs), or subsidiaries of investment banking firms, insurance companies, or corporations. Such venture capital organizations generally invest in private startup companies with a high profit potential. In exchange for their funds, venture capital organizations usually require a percentage of equity ownership of the company (between 25 to 55 percent), some measure of control over its strategic planning, and payment of assorted fees. Due to the highly speculative nature of their investments, venture capital organizations expect a high rate of return. In addition, they often wish to obtain this return over a relatively short period of time, usually within three to seven years. After this time, the equity is either sold back to the client-company or offered on a public stock exchange.

Venture capital is more difficult for a small business to obtain than other sources of financing, such as bank loans and supplier credit. Before providing venture capital to a new or growing business, venture capital organizations require a formal proposal and conduct a thorough evaluation. Even then, they tend to approve only a small percentage of the proposals they receive. An entrepreneur with a small start-up should not consider venture capital if, for example, her objective is to grow her fledgling graphic design service into a middle-size regional greeting card business. This profile does not fit with the venture capitalists' objectives. Venture capital firms usually look for investment opportunities with firms that offer rapid growth as well as something new: a new technology or technology application, a new chemical compound, a new process for the manufacture of a product, etc. Once an entrepreneur's venture has been determined to be of a kind that may interest venture capitalists, the next move is to start planning. The most important thing an entrepreneur can do to increase his or her chances of obtaining venture capital is to plan ahead.

Venture capital offers several advantages to small businesses, including management assistance and lower costs over the short term. The disadvantages associated with venture capital include the possible loss of effective control over the business and relatively high costs over the long term. Overall, experts suggest that entrepreneurs should consider venture capital to be one financing strategy among many, and should seek to combine it with debt financing if possible.

THE EVALUATION PROCESS

Since it is often difficult to evaluate the earnings potential of new business ideas or very young companies, and investments in such companies are unprotected against business failures, venture capital is a highly risky industry. As a result, venture capital firms set rigorous policies and requirements for the types of proposals they will even consider. Some venture capitalists specialize in certain technologies, industries, or geographic areas, for example, while others require a certain size of investment. The maturity of the company may also be a factor. While most venture capital firms require their client companies to have some operating history, a very small number handle startup financing for businesses that have a well-considered plan, something "new," and an experienced management group.

In general, venture capitalists are most interested in supporting companies with low current valuations, but with good opportunities to achieve future profits in the range of 30 percent annually. Most attractive are innovative companies in rapidly accelerating industries with few competitors. Ideally, the company and its product or service will have some unique, marketable feature to distinguish it from imitators. Most venture capital firms look for investment opportunities in the $250,000 to $2 million range. Since venture capitalists become part owners of the companies in which they invest, they tend to look for businesses that can increase sales and generate strong profits with the help of a capital infusion. Because of the risk involved, they hope to obtain a return of three to five times their initial investment within five years.

Venture capital organizations typically reject the vast majority—90 percent or more—of proposals quickly because they are deemed a poor fit with the firm's priorities and policies. They then investigate the remaining 10 percent of the proposals very carefully, and at considerable expense. Whereas banks tend to focus on companies' past performance when evaluating them for loans, venture capital firms tend to focus instead on their future potential. As a result, venture capital organizations will examine the features of a small business's product, the size of its markets, and its projected earnings.

As part of the detailed investigation, a venture capital organization may hire consultants to evaluate highly technical products. They also may contact a company's customers and suppliers in order to obtain information about the market size and the company's competitive position. Many venture capitalists will also hire an auditor to confirm the financial position of the company, and an attorney to check the legal form and registration of the business. Perhaps the most important factor in a venture capital organization's evaluation of a small business as a potential investment is the background and competence of the small business's management. For many venture capital firms the most important factor in their assessment is determining the capabilities of the management team, and not the potential product. Since the abilities of management are often difficult to assess, it is likely that a representative of the venture capital organization would spend a week or two at the company. Ideally, venture capitalists like to see a committed management team with experience in the industry. Another plus is a complete management group with clearly defined responsibilities in specific functional areas, such as product design, marketing, and finance.