Annals of the University of Oradea: Economic Science (Jul 2015)
THE ROLE OF VENTURE CAPITAL IN THE BRIDGING OF FUNDING GAPS – A REAL OPTIONS REASONING
Abstract
Funding gaps occur when for a particular group of enterprises there are not enough available funds to finance their growth. Such enterprises are typically young, innovative and technology-oriented startup companies. These companies do not have significant revenues or collaterals; hence they are not suitable for bank financing. On the other hand the information problems decrease their chances to attract investors and also there is high uncertainty involved in these companies. The method of venture capital financing was established to operate in this financing gap and to provide funds for these technology-oriented, young startup enterprises. There is an extensive literature that highlights that venture capitalists are capable and willing to provide financing for these enterprises as a result of their special expertise and business experience and their sophisticated value creation methods. In this article the authors introduce a real options reasoning in order to give an interpretation of venture capital decision-making method and why venture capital is willing to operate in funding gaps and how it is able to bridge them. With the involvement in the operation of the invested companies venture capitalists create options that increase the value of the firm. Also in option-valuation the higher the uncertainty of the asset is, the higher the value of the option is. That is the reason, why other passive funding forms reject the financing of startup enterprises, while venture capital is willing to provide funds for them. In this article we will describe the problem of funding gaps, than we will introduce real options and their effect on investment decision. In the last part of the article we will demonstrate how real options appear and are created in venture capital financing as a result of its special characteristics and how the real options approach can explain the ability of venture capitalist of bridging funding gaps.
