Existing views on what venture capital finances and how its markets are structured are primarily shaped by the experience of the US and a few other high-income economies. This column presents evidence covering nearly 270,000 venture capital-backed startups in over 150 economies to provide a more complete picture. Venture capital markets differ across countries in size and also in kind. At lower levels of economic development, the composition tilts away from knowledge intangibles towards organisational intangibles. Yet differences in what venture capital finances tell only part of the story. Most of the cross-country gap in venture capital activity is associated with how many startups enter the funding pipeline rather than how much each raises.Read More
