Title: Internal funding, debt and external equity: which of these effectively improve the growth of university spin-offs?

Authors: Christian Corsi; Antonio Prencipe

Addresses: Università degli Studi di Teramo, Faculty of Communication Science, Campus universitario di Coste Sant'Agostino, Via R. Balzarini 1, 64100 Teramo, Italy ' Università degli Studi di Teramo, Faculty of Communication Science, Campus universitario di Coste Sant'Agostino, Via R. Balzarini 1, 64100 Teramo, Italy

Abstract: The paper aims to explore the impact of different financing sources on the growth of university spin-offs (USOs). It hypothesises that both internal finance and debt finance have little to no positive effect on the growth of USOs. Whereas, equity finance is expected to have a stronger positive impact, especially in the form of private equity/venture capital. A panel sample of 621 Italian USOs was investigated over the 2004-2013 period. The results show a small positive impact from internal funding on USOs growth. Debt funding seems to have no impact, while external equity finance has a weak role, even when obtained from venture capital/private equity. The findings provide evidence that the USOs have financial constraints limiting their growth.

Keywords: university spin-off; USOs; firm growth; internal funding; debt finance; venture capital; private equity.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEV.2018.095315

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Venturing, 2018 Vol.10 No.6, pp.638 - 662

Received: 20 Jun 2016
Accepted: 01 Feb 2017

Published online: 03 Oct 2018 *

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