Applying temporal network analysis to the venture capital market

Using complex network theory to study the investment relationships of venture capital firms has produced a number of significant results. However, previous studies have often neglected the temporal properties of those relationships, which in real-world scenarios play a pivotal role. Here we examine the time-evolving dynamics of venture capital investment in China by constructing temporal networks to represent (i) investment relationships between venture capital firms and portfolio companies and (ii) the syndication ties between venture capital investors. The evolution of the networks exhibits rich variations in centrality, connectivity and local topology. We demonstrate that a temporal network approach provides a dynamic and comprehensive analysis of real-world networks

How Venture Capital Creates Externalities in the Bioeconomy: a Geographical Perspective

A stream of literature has demonstrated that venture capital generates externalities that enhance the knowledge base of a given region and accordingly assist high technology firms to improve their innovative performance. What has gone largely unexamined in this literature is the geographic extent of such externality impact. In this research we address the issue at hand. We do so by analyzing the association between the patenting rate of all life sciences firms that have won Small Business Innovation Research grants from 1983 to 2006 and the venture capital investments that have occurred at increasingly distant spatial units from those firms. Controlling for firm-specific and environmental factors as well as for endogeneity concerns, we document that life sciences firms tend to produce more patents whenever they are situated in very close proximity to where venture capital investments occur. Further, we find that improvements of the patenting rate of focal firms largely emanate from investments that reflect the expertise of venture capitalists on advancing existing prototypes closer to commercialization. We conclude the paper with a discussion on research and policy implications of our findings