University spin-out companies and venture capital

The creation of university spin-out companies that create wealth is a major policy objective of governments and universities. Finance is a catalyst of this wealth creation yet access to venture capital is a major impediment faced by these companies. In this article we adopt a finance pecking order perspective to examine the problems faced by those university spin-out companies seeking to access venture capital. We triangulate evidence from spin-out companies, university technology transfer offices and venture capital firms in the UK and Continental Europe to identify the problems and to suggest policy developments for these parties as well as government. We compare perceptions of high-tech venture capital firms that invest in spin-outs with those that do not, and also consider VCs’ views on spin-outs versus other high-tech firms. Our evidence identifies a mismatch between the demand and supply side of the market. In line with the pecking order theory, venture capitalists prefer to invest after the seed stage. However, in contrast to the pecking order theory, TTOs see venture capital as more important than internal funds early on. We develop policy implications for universities, technology transfer offices, academic entrepreneurs, venture capital firms and government and suggest areas for further research.