The terms venture capital and private equity may differ across countries. This book discusses venture capital not only as risk capital toward unlisted companies with the aim to enhance the investee firm, but also analyses broader forms of entrepreneurial investment: from early stage financing to buyout and turnaround transaction. This book is divided into four sections. The first section aims to shed light on the terminology and offers a comparison between private equity/venture capital, and the traditional banking sector as financing sources. The second section details the differences between private equity and venture capital transactions on the basis of firm life cycle, and summarizes the main characteristics of both private equity and venture capital investors and investee firms. The third section illustrates the evolution of the private equity and venture capital industry before and after the financial crisis by looking at three fundamental aspects: fundraising, investment and divestment, all in terms of volume and trends. The last section discusses the basic elements of corporate valuation applied to private equity and venture capital industry, with some practical examples.

Autorentext

Serena Gallo is a PhD student in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the department of management and quantitative studies of the University of Naples Parthenope and the department of economics of the University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli. Her main research focuses on fintech, crowdfunding, venture capital and private equity and entrepreneurial finance. She has discussed her works during international conference, such as EURAM and ESU. Her work has been published on outstanding international academic journals such as the European Management Review and Financial Innovation. Vincenzo Verdoliva is an Associate Professor of Finance at the Department of Management and Quantitative Studies of the University of Naples Parthenope in Naples, Italy. His main research focuses on venture capital and private equity, IPOs, entrepreneurial finance, corporate finance and relationship lending. Vincenzo holds a PhD in Banking and Finance from the University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy. Before joining the current institution, Vincenzo was an Assistant Professor of Finance at Kingston University London, UK. He was a Visiting Research Scholar at the Michael F. Price College of Business, University of Oklahoma, USA, and, since 2015, has been a member of the American Finance Association and European Finance Association. His work has been published in outstanding international academic journals such as the Journal of Corporate Finance and Journal of Financial Research. Vincenzo also served as Guest Editor for many Special Issues and is an Associate Editor of Finance Research Letters.