Sources of funds and investment activities of venture capital funds: evidence from Germany, Israel, Japan and the United Kingdom

We compare the investment activities and sources of finance of venture capital (VC) funds in Germany, Israel, Japan and the United Kingdom. VC investments differ across countries in terms of their stage, sector and geographical focus. Sources of VC funds also differ across countries; for example, banks are particularly important in Germany and Japan, corporations in Israel, and pension funds in the United Kingdom. Although the differences in investments are related to funding sources—for example, bank and pension fund-backed VCs invest in later stage activities than individual and corporate backed funds—a large proportion of variation within as well as between countries is unrelated to sources of finance. Moreover, differences in the relation between funding source and VC activity are unrelated to the country’s financial systems. We conclude that neither financial systems nor sources of finance are the main explanations for the pronounced differences in VC activities. D 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. JEL classification: G20; O32