An Analysis of the Performance of Publicly Traded Venture Capital Companies

John D. Martin and J. William Petty

Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 1983, vol. 18, issue 3, 401-410

Abstract: Venture capital companies can be likened to mutual funds that make investments in small, new businesses. However, investments made by venture capitalists are unique in several ways [2]: (1) usually five or more years are required for a new firm to become well enough established that a venture capitalist can liquidate an investment; (2) during the early years of an investment, there is no organized secondary market for its shares; (3) the new firm characteristically faces a high risk of failure; and (4) several infusions of capital are usually required before the new enterprise becomes a going concern. Consequently, the investments made by the venture capital firm have long been considered to carry high risks as well as the potential for high returns. For this reason, venture capital firms actively diversify, investing in a portfolio of individual projects. Thus, the risk and return attributes of the venture capitalist's diversified portfolio will not totally mirror those of its individual investments.

Date: 1983
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