IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/eti/dpaper/24021.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Fundraising of AI Startups: Evidence from web data

Author

Listed:
  • ZHU Chen
  • MOTOHASHI Kazuyuki

Abstract

Startups have emerged as pivotal innovators in the commercialization of AI technology. Nonetheless, these nascent enterprises often require substantial capital infusion to realize the economic returns from their innovations. This study examines the role of prototypes in facilitating their fundraising process. We utilized historical web content to identify the presence of prototypes and employed web traffic data to monitor their customer growth. Our findings indicate that prototyping positively affects the potential customer attraction process, signaling the feasibility and profitability of their business hypotheses to potential investors. In addition, as a technologically intensive industry, most AI startups begin with a technology-centric approach. While a technology-led starting point underscores competitiveness, it also inherently introduces uncertainty. We offer quantitative evidence demonstrating how prototyping acts as a moderating factor, reducing the impact of such uncertainty by expediting investor decision-making.

Suggested Citation

  • ZHU Chen & MOTOHASHI Kazuyuki, 2024. "The Fundraising of AI Startups: Evidence from web data," Discussion papers 24021, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    • Handle: RePEc:eti:dpaper:24021
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.rieti.go.jp/jp/publications/dp/24e021.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Erik Brynjolfsson & Daniel Rock & Chad Syverson, 2021. "The Productivity J-Curve: How Intangibles Complement General Purpose Technologies," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 13(1), pages 333-372, January.
    2. Eric von Hippel, 1986. "Lead Users: A Source of Novel Product Concepts," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(7), pages 791-805, July.
    3. Paul R. Carlile, 2004. "Transferring, Translating, and Transforming: An Integrative Framework for Managing Knowledge Across Boundaries," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 15(5), pages 555-568, October.
    4. David J. TEECE, 2008. "Profiting from technological innovation: Implications for integration, collaboration, licensing and public policy," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: The Transfer And Licensing Of Know-How And Intellectual Property Understanding the Multinational Enterprise in the Modern World, chapter 5, pages 67-87, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    5. Stuart J.H. Graham & Galen Hancock & Alan C. Marco & Amanda Fila Myers, 2013. "The USPTO Trademark Case Files Dataset: Descriptions, Lessons, and Insights," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(4), pages 669-705, December.
    6. Admati, Anat R & Pfleiderer, Paul, 1994. "Robust Financial Contracting and the Role of Venture Capitalists," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 49(2), pages 371-402, June.
    7. Ikujiro Nonaka, 1994. "A Dynamic Theory of Organizational Knowledge Creation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 5(1), pages 14-37, February.
    8. Avi Goldfarb & Catherine E. Tucker, 2011. "Privacy Regulation and Online Advertising," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 57(1), pages 57-71, January.
    9. Hsu, David H., 2007. "Experienced entrepreneurial founders, organizational capital, and venture capital funding," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 722-741, June.
    10. Tian, Xuan, 2011. "The causes and consequences of venture capital stage financing," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(1), pages 132-159, July.
    11. Daniel A. Levinthal, 2017. "Mendel in the C-Suite: Design and the Evolution of Strategies," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(4), pages 282-287, December.
    12. David H. Hsu, 2004. "What Do Entrepreneurs Pay for Venture Capital Affiliation?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 59(4), pages 1805-1844, August.
    13. Colombo, Massimo G. & Delmastro, Marco & Grilli, Luca, 2004. "Entrepreneurs' human capital and the start-up size of new technology-based firms," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 22(8-9), pages 1183-1211, November.
    14. Stefan Jonsson & Patrick Regnér, 2009. "Normative barriers to imitation: social complexity of core competences in a mutual fund industry," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(5), pages 517-536, May.
    15. William R. Kerr & Ramana Nanda & Matthew Rhodes-Kropf, 2014. "Entrepreneurship as Experimentation," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 28(3), pages 25-48, Summer.
    16. Joshua S. Gans & Scott Stern & Jane Wu, 2019. "Foundations of entrepreneurial strategy," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(5), pages 736-756, May.
    17. Nelson, Richard R. & Winter, Sidney G., 1993. "In search of useful theory of innovation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 108-108, April.
    18. Paul R. Carlile, 2002. "A Pragmatic View of Knowledge and Boundaries: Boundary Objects in New Product Development," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 13(4), pages 442-455, August.
    19. Gorman, Michael & Sahlman, William A., 1989. "What do venture capitalists do?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 4(4), pages 231-248, July.
    20. Gideon D. Markman & Donald S. Siegel & Mike Wright, 2008. "Research and Technology Commercialization," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(8), pages 1401-1423, December.
    21. Schwienbacher, Armin, 2007. "A theoretical analysis of optimal financing strategies for different types of capital-constrained entrepreneurs," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 22(6), pages 753-781, November.
    22. Henry Mintzberg, 1990. "The design school: Reconsidering the basic premises of strategic management," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 11(3), pages 171-195, March.
    23. Scott Shane & Toby Stuart, 2002. "Organizational Endowments and the Performance of University Start-ups," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 48(1), pages 154-170, January.
    24. Li, Yin & Arora, Sanjay & Youtie, Jan & Shapira, Philip, 2018. "Using web mining to explore Triple Helix influences on growth in small and mid-size firms," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 76, pages 3-14.
    25. Bessen, James & Impink, Stephen Michael & Reichensperger, Lydia & Seamans, Robert, 2022. "The role of data for AI startup growth," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(5).
    26. Rohit Aggarwal & David Kryscynski & Harpreet Singh, 2015. "Evaluating Venture Technical Competence in Venture Capitalist Investment Decisions," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(11), pages 2685-2706, November.
    27. Chris Woolston, 2022. "Is big tech draining AI talent from academia?," Nature, Nature, vol. 610(7931), pages 26-27, October.
    28. Audretsch, David B. & Bönte, Werner & Mahagaonkar, Prashanth, 2012. "Financial signaling by innovative nascent ventures: The relevance of patents and prototypes," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(8), pages 1407-1421.
    29. Christian Terwiesch & Christoph H. Loch, 2004. "Collaborative Prototyping and the Pricing of Custom-Designed Products," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 50(2), pages 145-158, February.
    30. Iain M. Cockburn & Rebecca Henderson & Scott Stern, 2018. "The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Innovation," NBER Working Papers 24449, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    31. Davila, Antonio & Foster, George & Gupta, Mahendra, 2003. "Venture capital financing and the growth of startup firms," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 18(6), pages 689-708, November.
    32. Stefan H. Thomke, 1998. "Managing Experimentation in the Design of New Products," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 44(6), pages 743-762, June.
    33. Lerner, Joshua, 1994. "Venture capitalists and the decision to go public," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 293-316, June.
    34. Iain M. Cockburn & Rebecca Henderson & Scott Stern, 2018. "The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Innovation: An Exploratory Analysis," NBER Chapters, in: The Economics of Artificial Intelligence: An Agenda, pages 115-146, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    35. Jean-Michel Dalle & Matthijs den Besten & Carlo Menon, 2017. "Using Crunchbase for economic and managerial research," OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers 2017/08, OECD Publishing.
    36. Michael Spence, 1973. "Job Market Signaling," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 87(3), pages 355-374.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rin, Marco Da & Hellmann, Thomas & Puri, Manju, 2013. "A Survey of Venture Capital Research," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 573-648, Elsevier.
    2. Chila, Vilma, 2021. "Knowledge dynamics in employee entrepreneurship : Implications for parents and offspring," Other publications TiSEM a1f5d18c-783b-4af6-8414-6, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    3. Hoenen, Sebastian & Kolympiris, Christos & Schoenmakers, Wilfred & Kalaitzandonakes, Nicholas, 2014. "The diminishing signaling value of patents between early rounds of venture capital financing," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(6), pages 956-989.
    4. Christos Kolympiris & Sebastian Hoenen & Nicholas Kalaitzandonakes, 2018. "Geographic distance between venture capitalists and target firms and the value of quality signals," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 27(1), pages 189-220.
    5. Block, Joern H. & De Vries, Geertjan & Schumann, Jan H. & Sandner, Philipp, 2014. "Trademarks and venture capital valuation," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 525-542.
    6. Todd A. Hall & Sharique Hasan, 2022. "Organizational decision-making and the returns to experimentation," Journal of Organization Design, Springer;Organizational Design Community, vol. 11(4), pages 129-144, December.
    7. Colombo, Massimo G. & Guerini, Massimiliano & Hoisl, Karin & Zeiner, Nico M., 2023. "The dark side of signals: Patents protecting radical inventions and venture capital investments," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(5).
    8. Colombelli, Alessandra & Grilli, Luca & Minola, Tommaso & Mrkajic, Boris, 2020. "To what extent do young innovative companies take advantage of policy support to enact innovation appropriation mechanisms?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(10).
    9. Benjamin L. Hallen & Susan L. Cohen & Christopher B. Bingham, 2020. "Do Accelerators Work? If So, How?," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 31(2), pages 378-414, March.
    10. Balboa, Marina & Marti, Jose, 2007. "Factors that determine the reputation of private equity managers in developing markets," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 453-480, July.
    11. Ajay Agrawal & Joshua S. Gans & Scott Stern, 2021. "Enabling Entrepreneurial Choice," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(9), pages 5510-5524, September.
    12. Evila Piva & Cristina Rossi-Lamastra, 2018. "Human capital signals and entrepreneurs’ success in equity crowdfunding," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 51(3), pages 667-686, October.
    13. Massimo G. Colombo & Benedetta Montanaro & Silvio Vismara, 2023. "What drives the valuation of entrepreneurial ventures? A map to navigate the literature and research directions," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 61(1), pages 59-84, June.
    14. Massimo G. Colombo & Douglas Cumming & Ali Mohammadi & Cristina Rossi-Lamastra & Anu Wadhwa, 2016. "Open business models and venture capital finance," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 25(2), pages 353-370.
    15. Barg, Johannes A. & Drobetz, Wolfgang & Momtaz, Paul P., 2021. "Valuing start-up firms: A reverse-engineering approach for fair-value multiples from venture capital transactions," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    16. Simon Kleinert & Christine Volkmann & Marc Grünhagen, 2020. "Third-party signals in equity crowdfunding: the role of prior financing," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 54(1), pages 341-365, January.
    17. David H. Hsu, 2006. "Venture Capitalists and Cooperative Start-up Commercialization Strategy," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(2), pages 204-219, February.
    18. Claussen, Jörg & Halbinger, Maria A., 2021. "The role of pre-innovation platform activity for diffusion success: Evidence from consumer innovations on a 3D printing platform," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(8).
    19. Guerini, Massimiliano & Quas, Anita, 2016. "Governmental venture capital in Europe: Screening and certification," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 175-195.
    20. Jean-Etienne de Bettignies, 2008. "Financing the Entrepreneurial Venture," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 54(1), pages 151-166, January.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eti:dpaper:24021. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: TANIMOTO, Toko (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/rietijp.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.