Venture capital is a type of private equity capital typically provided by professional, outside investors to new, growth businesses. Generally made as cash in exchange for shares in the investee company, venture capital investments are usually high risk, but offer the potential for above-average returns.

A venture capitalist (VC) is a person who makes such investments. A venture capital fund is a pooled investment vehicle (often a limited partnership) that primarily invests the financial capital of third-party investors in enterprises that are too risky for the standard capital markets or bank loans. Venture capital can also include managerial and technical expertise.

Most venture capital comes from a group of wealthy investors, inv e s tment banks and other financial institutions that pool such investments or partnerships. This form of ra ising capital is popular among new companies, or ventures, with limited operating history, who cannot raise funds through a debt issue. The downside for entrepreneurs is that venture capitalists usually get a say in company decisions, in addition to a portion of the equity.

Roles within a VC firm

Venture capital general partners (also known in this case as "venture capitalists" or "VCs") are the executives in the firm, in other words the investment professionals. Typical career backgrounds vary, but many are former chief executives at firms similar to those which the partnership finances and other senior executives in technology companies.

Investors in venture capital funds are known as limited partners. This constituency comprises both high net worth individuals and institutions with large amounts of available capital, such as state and private pension funds, university financial endowments, foundations, insurance companies, and pooled investment vehicles, called fund of funds.

Other positions at venture capital firms include venture partners and entrepreneur-in-residence (EIR). Venture partners "bring in deals" and receive income only on deals they work on (as opposed to general partners who receive income on all deals). EIRs are experts in a particular domain and perform due diligence on potential deals. EIRs are engaged by VC firms temporarily (six to 18 months) and are expected to develop and pitch startup ideas to their host firm (although neither party is bound to work with each other). Some EIR's move on to roles such as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at a portfolio company. According to the National Venture Capital Association the typical individual believes that a venture capitalist is a rich individual ready to invest in a new business venture, an investment into a "change-the-world" idea. On the contrary the investors look for a high interest yielding opportunity.

Venture Capital may be a viable source of financing for a business. While they generally invest in businesses that are more established and ongoing, some do fund start-ups. In general they tend to invest in high-technology businesses such as research and development, electronics and computers. Venture Capitalists deal more in large sums of money, numbering into the millions of dollars, so they are generally well suited to businesses that are going grand from the start or have grown and require gigantic expansion.

Structure of the funds

Most venture capital funds have a fixed life of 10 years, with the possibility of a few years of extensions to allow for private companies still seeking liquidity. The investing cycle for most funds is generally three to five years, after which the focus is managing and making follow-on investments in an existing portfolio. This model was pioneered by successful funds in Silicon Valley through the 1980s to invest in technological trends broadly but only during their period of ascendance, and to cut exposure to management and marketing risks of any individual firm or its product.

In such a fund, the investors have a fixed commitment to the fund that is "called down" by the VCs over time as the fund makes its investments. There are substantial penalties for a Limited Partner (or investor) that fails to participate in a capital call.

Venture Capital Investing

As discussed in Private Equity Funds: Business Structure and Operations, venture capital investing involves the provision of capital to business enterprises in the early stages of the development of new products or services. Venture capital investing was especially prominent throughout the 1990s, with the boom and the subsequent collapse of speculative interest in computer and information technology, Internet and communications sectors.[5]

Compensation

In a typical venture capital fund, the general partners receive an annual management fee equal to 2% of the committed capital to the fund and 20% of the net profits (also known as "carried interest") of the fund; a so-called "two and 20" arrangement, comparable to the compensation arrangements for many hedge funds. Strong Limited Partner interest in top-tier venture firms has led to a general trend toward terms more favorable to the venture partnership, and many groups now have carried interest of 25-30% on their funds. Because a fund may run out of capital prior to the end of its life, larger VCs usually have several overlapping funds at the same time; this lets the larger firm keep specialists in all stages of the development of firms almost constantly engaged. Smaller firms tend to thrive or fail with their initial industry contacts; by the time the fund cashes out, an entirely-new generation of technologies and people is ascending, whom the general partners may not know well, and so it is prudent to reassess and shift industries or personnel rather than attempt to simply invest more in the industry or people the partners already know.

Raising substantial venture capital

Venture capital is not generally suitable for all entrepreneurs. Venture capitalists are typically very selective in deciding what to invest in; as a rule of thumb, a fund may invest in as few as one in four hundred opportunities presented to it. Funds are most interested in ventures with exceptionally high growth potential, as only such opportunities are likely capable of providing the financial returns and successful exit event within the required timeframe (typically 3-7 years) that venture capitalists expect.

This need for high returns makes venture funding an expensive capital source for companies, and most suitable for businesses having large up-front capital requirements which cannot be financed by cheaper alternatives such as debt. That is most commonly the case for intangible assets such as software, and other intellectual property, whose value is unproven. In turn this explains why venture capital is most prevalent in the fast-growing technology and life sciences or biotechnology fields.

If a company does have the qualities venture capitalists seek such as a solid business plan, a good management team, investment and passion from the founders, a good potential to exit the investment before the end of their funding cycle, and target minimum returns in excess of 40% per year, it will find it easier to raise venture capital.

Main alternatives to venture capital

Because of the strict requirements venture capitalists have for potential investments, many entrepreneurs seek initial funding from angel investors, who may be more willing to invest in highly speculative opportunities, or may have a prior relationship with the entrepreneur.

Furthermore, many venture capital firms will only seriously evaluate an investment in a start-up otherwise unknown to them if the company can prove at least some of its claims about the technology and/or market potential for its product or services. To achieve this, or even just to avoid the dilutive effects of receiving funding before such claims are proven, many start-ups seek to self-finance unti l th ey reach a point where they can credibly approach outside capital providers such as VCs or angels. This practice is called "bootstrapping".

There has been some de bat e s ince the dot com boom that a "funding gap" has developed between the friends and family investments typically in the $0 to $250,000 range and the amounts that most Venture Capital Funds prefer to invest between $1 to $2m. This funding gap may be accentuated by the fact that some successful Venture Capital funds have been drawn to raise ever-larger funds, requiring them to search for correspondingly larger investment opportunities. This 'gap' is often filled by angel investors as well as equity investment companies who specialize in investments in startups from the range of $250,000 to $1m. The National Venture Capital association estimates that the latter now invest more than $30 billion a year in the USA in contrast to the $20 billion a year in vested b y organized Venture Capital funds.[citation needed]

In industries where assets can be securitized effectively because they reliably generate future revenue streams or have a good potential for resale in case of foreclosure, businesses may more cheaply be able to raise debt to finance their growth. Good examples would include asset-intensive extractive industries such as mining, or manufacturing industries. Offshore funding is provided via specialist venture capital trusts which seek to utilise securitization in structuring hybrid multi market transactions via an SPV (special purpose vehicle): a corporate entity that is designed solely for the purpose of the financing.

In addition to traditional venture capital and angel networks, groups such as The Angel Project have emerged which allow groups of small investors or entrepreneurs themselves to compete in a privatized business plan competition where the group itself serves as the investor through a democratic process.