Title: Venture capitalists and the internationalisation of new ventures – a Portuguese case study

Authors: Paulo Ribeiro; Raquel Meneses

Addresses: School of Economics and Management, University of Porto, R. Dr. Roberto Frias 464, Porto, Portugal ' School of Economics and Management, University of Porto, R. Dr. Roberto Frias 464, Porto, Portugal

Abstract: Internationalisation is widely believed to be a very relevant dimension in companies across countries. Nevertheless, operating abroad might not be easy for new ventures. This study approached venture capitalist (VC) intervention in these firms. It comprises two main points of view: the VC's perspective and that of the INV. According to the VCs, industry knowledge, prior international experience or syndicated investments are some of the VC's most important characteristics operating abroad. However, for INVs, the VC's support is not considered important overcoming the international constraints, since there are no significant differences between backed and non-backed firms. There are a dissonance between what VCs believe are offering and what backed-firms are getting from this support. Nevertheless, this work includes a contribution of the changes in the backed firm's management team and the industry experts' role on the board. These changes are associated to the degree to which internationalisation occurs in companies.

Keywords: venture capital; internationalisation; international constraints; VC intervention; venture capitalists; new international ventures; backed firms; non-backed firms; financial support; strategic support; industry experts.

DOI: 10.1504/GBER.2020.105039

Global Business and Economics Review, 2020 Vol.22 No.1/2, pp.135 - 160

Received: 16 Jan 2018
Accepted: 31 Jul 2018
Published online: 11 Feb 2020 *

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