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Private Information and Bargaining Power in Venture Capital Financing

Author

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  • Koskinen, Yrjo

    (Boston University School of Management and CEPR)

  • Rebello, Michael J.

    (Tulane University)

  • Wang, Jun

    (Baruch College)

Abstract

We examine how the relative bargaining power of privately informed venture capitalists and entrepreneurs - determined either by market conditions or by prior experience - affects both the willingness of venture capitalists to invest and the terms of their financing contracts. Our results demonstrate that shifts in the venture capitalists' bargaining power have a profound influence both on the terms of contracts and on investments in venture-backed projects. As witnessed in the recent past, when the bargaining advantage lies with entrepreneurs, venture capitalists may acquiesce to both investing in negative NPV projects and excessive investments in early stages of projects. Further, they will subsequently terminate poor projects. An improvement in the bargaining position of venture capitalists increases the payoff sensitivity of their financing contracts. It also completely attenuates their incentive to overinvest, limiting the need for excessive project terminations arter the initial round of financing.

Suggested Citation

  • Koskinen, Yrjo & Rebello, Michael J. & Wang, Jun, 2006. "Private Information and Bargaining Power in Venture Capital Financing," SIFR Research Report Series 45, Institute for Financial Research, revised 08 Feb 2011.
  • Handle: RePEc:hhs:sifrwp:0045
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. S. Sinan Erzurumlu & Nitin Joglekar & Moren Lévesque & Fehmi Tanrisever, 2019. "How Angel Know-How Shapes Ownership Sharing in Stage-Based Contracts," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 43(4), pages 773-801, July.
    2. Geronikolaou, George & Papachristou, George, 2016. "Investor competition and project risk in Venture Capital investments," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 67-69.
    3. Mohammad Abbas Rezaei, 2021. "Optimal Design of Limited Partnership Agreements," Papers 2104.07049, arXiv.org.
    4. George Geronikolaou, 2022. "Passive syndicates and risk in venture capital investments," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(6), pages 2033-2037, September.
    5. Anil Arya & Brian Mittendorf & Thomas Pfeiffer, 2021. "Incentive Provision in Light of Expertise and Operational Involvement of Angel Investors," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 30(9), pages 2890-2909, September.
    6. repec:dau:papers:123456789/3211 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Nahata, Rajarishi, 2019. "Success is good but failure is not so bad either: Serial entrepreneurs and venture capital contracting," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 624-649.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Venture capital; asymmetric information; bargaining power; financial contracting; investment distortions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • G24 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Investment Banking; Venture Capital; Brokerage
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill

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