Firm Selection for Government Venture Capital Funding to Youth Tech-based Startups

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of the study is to review and understand firm selection mechanism involved in government venture capital (GVC) funding and identify key factors influencing selection of tech-based firms for GVC funding. Design/methodology/approach This paper is based on real-time methodology. The data was generated from interviews of 60 young applicants, who applied for startup funding, and analyzed using statistical techniques to draw the results. Findings This review identifies financial viability, market viability and technological innovation to have the strongest predictive ability in firm selection process of the GVC funding program for tech-based youth-owned startups in the first round of interview. This review also highlighted that social impact is not a statistically significant variable in firm selection process in GVC funding. Originality/value This study tests the validity of the theory of GVC based on quantitative analysis of field data and identifies key factors with strong predictive abilities for GVC funding, more particularly for the youth-owned tech-based startups. This study brings to light the mechanism adopted for GVC funding and addresses gaps in the literature relevant to firm selection mechanism in GVC programs. This study would help GVC Fund Managers to review their own GVC programs in terms of selection mechanism and help them in appropriate designing of such programs.