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Full-Text Articles in Finance and Financial Management

Board Gender Diversity, Ceo Turnover, And Firm Performance In Entrepreneurial Firms, Matthew Imes, Mark West, Jessica West, Shan Yan Apr 2024

Board Gender Diversity, Ceo Turnover, And Firm Performance In Entrepreneurial Firms, Matthew Imes, Mark West, Jessica West, Shan Yan

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

This article examines recent literature on corporate boards and the interplay between director gender and CEO turnover and how it affects firm performance after CEO turnover. The primary focus is board gender diversity and CEO job embeddedness in entrepreneurial firms. This article discusses gender diversity and the frequency of CEO turnover. This paper finds that board gender diversity is associated with lower CEO involuntary turnovers and better overall performance in entrepreneurial firms. The article highlights how board gender diversity, especially in small firms, provides a unique pathway to create firm value and examines recent evidence on how gender diverse board …


Historical Perspectives In Volatility Forecasting Methods With Machine Learning, Zhiang Qiu, Clemens Kownatzki, Fabien Scalzo, Eun Sang Cha Mar 2024

Historical Perspectives In Volatility Forecasting Methods With Machine Learning, Zhiang Qiu, Clemens Kownatzki, Fabien Scalzo, Eun Sang Cha

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

Volatility forecasting in the financial market plays a pivotal role across a spectrum of disciplines, such as risk management, option pricing, and market making. However, volatility forecasting is challenging because volatility can only be estimated, and different factors influence volatility, ranging from macroeconomic indicators to investor sentiments. While recent works suggest advances in machine learning and artificial intelligence for volatility forecasting, a comprehensive benchmark of current statistical and learning-based methods for such purposes is lacking. Thus, this paper aims to provide a comprehensive survey of the historical evolution of volatility forecasting with a comparative benchmark of key landmark models. We …


2023 Private Capital Markets Report, Craig R. Everett May 2023

2023 Private Capital Markets Report, Craig R. Everett

Pepperdine Private Capital Markets Report

The Pepperdine private cost of capital survey was originally launched in 2007 and is the first comprehensive and simultaneous investigation of the major private capital market segments. This year’s survey specifically examined the behavior of senior lenders, asset‐based lenders, mezzanine funds, private equity groups, venture capital firms, angel investors, privately‐held businesses, investment bankers, business brokers, limited partners, and business appraisers. The Pepperdine survey investigated, for each private capital market segment, the important benchmarks that must be met in order to qualify for capital, how much capital is typically accessible, what the required returns are for extending capital in today’s economic …


The Relationships Among Financial Literacy, Financial Behaviors, Financial Attitudes, And Homeownership Within Low-Moderate Income Households In Los Angeles County, Aliyu Ahmed Jan 2023

The Relationships Among Financial Literacy, Financial Behaviors, Financial Attitudes, And Homeownership Within Low-Moderate Income Households In Los Angeles County, Aliyu Ahmed

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores how financial literacy, financial capability, financial self-efficacy, and future time perspective affect the likelihood of low-moderate income (LMI) households in Los Angeles County owning a home and holding a mortgage. It draws on existing literature on financial literacy, financial capability, financial self-efficacy, future time perspective, and homeownership to develop a theoretical framework that identifies the factors that influence LMI households’ access to homeownership. Using secondary data merged from six surveys conducted by the University of Southern California (USC) Understanding America Study (UAS) from 2015 to 2022, it analyzes the relationships among financial literacy, financial behaviors, financial attitudes, …


An Analysis Of Selling Concessions, Reallowance Fees, And Price Changes In The Marketing Of Ipos, James C. Brau, Joseph J. Henry Sep 2022

An Analysis Of Selling Concessions, Reallowance Fees, And Price Changes In The Marketing Of Ipos, James C. Brau, Joseph J. Henry

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

This paper provides an economic model resulting in two distinct marketing strategies available to investment bankers. First, we hypothesize that an increased selling effort by brokers is used most effectively when the investment clientele is uninformed. Second, adjusting the offer price of the issue is hypothesized to be employed primarily in large IPOs with a clientele of sophisticated investors, consistent with Shiller’s Impresario Hypothesis. Our pre-IPO bubble (1981-1996) empirical results yield evidence supporting both selling mechanisms. Under-demanded small IPO issues are ‘pushed’ by the brokers, while some under-demanded large IPO issues instead increase the offer price, with large first-day turnover …


The Determinants Of Banking Regulation In The Mena Region, Hanene Ksiaa Dr, Mohamed Imen Gallali Professor May 2022

The Determinants Of Banking Regulation In The Mena Region, Hanene Ksiaa Dr, Mohamed Imen Gallali Professor

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

Theoretical foundations in banks' response to capital settlement suggest that the systems proposed by Basel are not sound. It is conceivable that regulators will consider alternative approaches to enhance the safety and soundness of the banking system. The regulation includes several decrees and ratios; the areas of interest encompassing the areas are subject to principal component analysis (PCA).The paper aims to present a regulatory framework based on balance sheet ratios, such as Capital requirements (equity ratio; Tier 1 ratio; Total Equity/Net Loans; Total Equity/Deposits); for liquidity needs (liquidity/deposits; liquidity/total assets; liquidity/deposits and loans, and net loans/total assets); for leverage requirements …


2022 Private Capital Markets Report, Craig R. Everett Apr 2022

2022 Private Capital Markets Report, Craig R. Everett

Pepperdine Private Capital Markets Report

The Pepperdine private cost of capital survey was originally launched in 2007 and is the first comprehensive and simultaneous investigation of the major private capital market segments. This year’s survey specifically examined the behavior of senior lenders, asset‐based lenders, mezzanine funds, private equity groups, venture capital firms, angel investors, privately‐held businesses, investment bankers, business brokers, limited partners, and business appraisers. The Pepperdine survey investigated, for each private capital market segment, the important benchmarks that must be met in order to qualify for capital, how much capital is typically accessible, what the required returns are for extending capital in today’s economic …


The Impact Of Financial Crisis On Mfis Performance In Zimbabwe, Patience Hlupo Ms, Tafadzwa Mukute Mr, Tough Chinoda Ph.D., Edson Chagwedera Mr Apr 2022

The Impact Of Financial Crisis On Mfis Performance In Zimbabwe, Patience Hlupo Ms, Tafadzwa Mukute Mr, Tough Chinoda Ph.D., Edson Chagwedera Mr

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

Our study explores the impact financial crisis has on performance of microfinance institutions in Zimbabwe employing the Vector Autoregression using annual time series data from 1990 to 2018. The findings from our study revealed a positive impact of financial crisis on performance of Microfinance Institutions. We also found a positive effect of gross domestic product, money supply, the first lag of inflation and exchange rates on microfinance institutions performance while the second lag of inflation has a negative effect. Variance decomposition results reveal an increasing long run positive effect of financial crisis on performance is increasing. From impulse response analysis, …


Financial Literacy And Consumer Protection: A Road Map To Digital Financial Access By Smes In Kenya, Salome M. Musau Dr., Stephen M. Muathe Dr., Lucy W. Mwangi Dr. Apr 2022

Financial Literacy And Consumer Protection: A Road Map To Digital Financial Access By Smes In Kenya, Salome M. Musau Dr., Stephen M. Muathe Dr., Lucy W. Mwangi Dr.

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

This paper seeks to ascertain the influence of financial literacy and financial consumer protection on digital financial access. The objectives of the study were to find out the effect of financial literacy on digital monetary access, and to find out the effect of f consumer financial protection on digital access of finances of SMEs in Sub County of Ruiru in County government of Kiambu, Kenya. Financial Literacy Theory, Information Asymmetry Theory and Social Learning Theory are the theories that guided formulation of study’s objectives. Descriptive research design was used with the population of interest comprising of all SMEs owners in …


Employee-Friendly Practices And Innovation, Saeyoung Chang, Hoje Jo, Jo-Ellen Pozner Apr 2022

Employee-Friendly Practices And Innovation, Saeyoung Chang, Hoje Jo, Jo-Ellen Pozner

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

We examine the inter-relationships among employee-friendly policies (EFP), innovation through R&D investment, and firm value. We hypothesize that firms with higher levels of innovation and entrepreneurial spirit are more likely to utilize EFP. Furthermore, we speculate that the value-EFP association is more pronounced in firms with high R&D intensity. Consistent with these assertions, we find that EFP is significantly and positively related to R&D investment and the number of patents. EFP is also associated with increased firm value at high levels of R&D investment and high numbers of patents. Furthermore, we find that firms investing more in R&D are more …


The Role Of Politics And Corruption In The Rise Of The African Firm, Wedu Ketema, Howard Jean-Denis Mar 2022

The Role Of Politics And Corruption In The Rise Of The African Firm, Wedu Ketema, Howard Jean-Denis

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

Many African businesses lag in financial performance compared to the performance of companies in the West. Despite this, the continent’s economic output has continued to rise considerably in the past two decades, but many of these economic achievements have been discredited. Despite the West’s view of Africa as a continent unprepared for economic growth due to simmering conflict, threats of terror, and other barriers to business, African business has continued to boom. Over the past two decades, Africa has made massive strides to “catch up to the West.” In fact, according to experts, many countries in Africa have experienced what …


Microfinance Services And Government Regulations: Reflections On Performance Of Small Holder Coffee Entrepreneurs In Uganda, Mary Juliet Nakabugo, Stephen Muathe, Evans Mwasiaji Feb 2022

Microfinance Services And Government Regulations: Reflections On Performance Of Small Holder Coffee Entrepreneurs In Uganda, Mary Juliet Nakabugo, Stephen Muathe, Evans Mwasiaji

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

Small-scale enterprises are lauded around the world for their contribution to economic development. Resources and capabilities play an important role as accelerators of entrepreneurial activity and also increase enterprise performance. This research strived to understand how Microfinance services affect the performance of smallholder coffee entrepreneurs but also examine government regulations as a moderating variable for the association between microfinance and the performance of smallholder coffee entrepreneurs. The study was guided by the resource-based view supported by dynamic capability and contingency theories. Data on 400 Ugandan coffee entrepreneurs was gathered and statistically tested using a multiple linear regression model. Study scores …


The Impact Of Assets Structure And The Components Of Cash Conversion Cycle On The Egyptian Smes Financial Failure Predictability, Dr. Hassan Mounir El-Sady, Hatem Ahmed, Dr. Hosny Hamdy Jan 2022

The Impact Of Assets Structure And The Components Of Cash Conversion Cycle On The Egyptian Smes Financial Failure Predictability, Dr. Hassan Mounir El-Sady, Hatem Ahmed, Dr. Hosny Hamdy

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

This study investigates determinants of Egyptian SMEs financial failure predictability based on a sample of 32 failure SMEs and 28 non-failure SMEs for the period 2013 and 2019. The determinants of SMEs financial failure are categorized into four groups; Working Capital, Asset Structure, Liquidity, and Leverage. The factor and logistic regression analysis are employed to identify the most significant independent variables that classify between failure and none-failure Egyptian’s SMEs and determine the driver of SMEs financial failure. Our findings significantly show that failing SMEs suffer from long cash conversion cycles resulting from long inventory holding period, average collection period, and …


When The Social Networks And Internet Come To The Rescue Of Entrepreneurs: The Problematic Of Crowdfunding In Africa, Omenguele Rene Guy, Mbouolang Yimpi Cedric Jan 2022

When The Social Networks And Internet Come To The Rescue Of Entrepreneurs: The Problematic Of Crowdfunding In Africa, Omenguele Rene Guy, Mbouolang Yimpi Cedric

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

Since 2007, crowdfunding platforms have abounded on the web. It is estimated at 2.5 billion dollars the potential of the crowdfunding market in sub-Saharan Africa by 2025. The objective of this paper is to make an inventory of Crowdfunding activities in Africa, region with a most restrictive access to bank loan by SMEs, start-ups and young entrepreneurs. It appears from the economic and socio-cultural realities that Africa is a region with more potential catalyst for crowdfunding industry takeoff. However, there are many factors which are presented in this study as potential inhibitors of African CF market competiveness. This study has …


The Covid-19 Pandemic And The Importance Of Financing The Biotechnology Industry In South Africa, Ramazan Uctu, Karen Eksteen Jan 2022

The Covid-19 Pandemic And The Importance Of Financing The Biotechnology Industry In South Africa, Ramazan Uctu, Karen Eksteen

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

Whether it is a government research institution, a public-private partnership, or a private enterprise, the South African biotechnology industry requires funding for the biotechnology industry. Our goal with this research is to look into the role of venture capital (VC) in financing biotech enterprises and demonstrate how VC finance could aid in the development of diagnostic kits and vaccines for Covid-19 or future pandemics in South Africa.

The study aims to provide policymakers with a clear image of the importance of funding the biotechnology sector, notably during the Covid-19 period, as recognized by the industry's key players. We employed a …


Islamic Profit And Loss Sharing Contracting Versus Regular Equity In Entrepreneurial Finance: Risk Sharing And Managerial Incentives, Abdulali Hadizada, Peter Nippel Jan 2022

Islamic Profit And Loss Sharing Contracting Versus Regular Equity In Entrepreneurial Finance: Risk Sharing And Managerial Incentives, Abdulali Hadizada, Peter Nippel

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

An entrepreneur shares business risk with the investors providing capital for her firm. Risk sharing is per se beneficial, but also results in an agency problem from diminished incentives for the entrepreneur. This classical trade-off depends on the financial contracting between the entrepreneur and the financier. As an alternative to debt or equity, we consider musharaka financing, an Islamic profit and loss sharing contract. First, we show that debt is inferior to equity or musharaka even though debt financing ensures first best efforts in our model. Whether financing with equity or by use of musharaka results in higher utility for …


Sme’S Cost Of Debt: A Meta-Analysis Of Borrower, Creditor And Financial Statement Verification Attributes, Thomas R. Loy, Stefan Mohrmann Jan 2022

Sme’S Cost Of Debt: A Meta-Analysis Of Borrower, Creditor And Financial Statement Verification Attributes, Thomas R. Loy, Stefan Mohrmann

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

Private firm financing, given the far-reaching importance of non-publicly traded companies for global output and employment, is still a relatively underexplored area. Since the seminal work of Petersen and Rajan (1994), only a small branch of research into private firms’ cost of debt has been established. We aggregate the full body of this research that has empirically investigated antecedents of private firms’ cost of debt in a meta-analysis. The foremost antecedents can be categorized into either borrower, creditor or financial statement verification attributes. Our results reveal a set of 11 highly significant and robust determinants.


Entrepreneurial Investment Evaluation Decision-Making: A Focus On Venture Capitalists, Business Angels And Early-Stage Entrepreneurs In South Africa, Boris Urban, Marco Antonio Moreno Jan 2022

Entrepreneurial Investment Evaluation Decision-Making: A Focus On Venture Capitalists, Business Angels And Early-Stage Entrepreneurs In South Africa, Boris Urban, Marco Antonio Moreno

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

Business angels (BAs) and venture capitalists (VCs) are important sources of finance for entrepreneurs in emerging markets for raising start-up and growth capital. Recognising that entrepreneurial investment evaluation decision-making is a highly complex process, and that there are limited studies focused on evaluation criteria used by both BAs and VCs’, this article undertakes an empirical investigation by identifying, classifying and statistically testing the rank importance of investment criteria in South Africa from an early-stage entrepreneurial perspective. Results indicate that the rank importance for the different investment criteria is relatively similar for VCs and BAs, and the only ranking difference observed …


2021 Private Capital Markets Report, Craig R. Everett Aug 2021

2021 Private Capital Markets Report, Craig R. Everett

Pepperdine Private Capital Markets Report

The Pepperdine private cost of capital survey was originally launched in 2007 and is the first comprehensive and simultaneous investigation of the major private capital market segments. This year’s survey specifically examined the behavior of senior lenders, asset‐based lenders, mezzanine funds, private equity groups, venture capital firms, angel investors, privately‐held businesses, investment bankers, business brokers, limited partners, and business appraisers. The Pepperdine survey investigated, for each private capital market segment, the important benchmarks that must be met in order to qualify for capital, how much capital is typically accessible, what the required returns are for extending capital in today’s economic …


Financial Strategies For Long-Term Success In Women-Owned Small Businesses, Melissa R. Dyer Jul 2021

Financial Strategies For Long-Term Success In Women-Owned Small Businesses, Melissa R. Dyer

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

Failure of small businesses many times is because of poor implementation of long-term financial strategies. Women small business owners face many challenges in financing their small businesses because they may not have a financial plan. Interviews with 11 women small business owners in Cleveland County, North Carolina were completed to discuss ways to fund and sustain their small business. The success of women small business owners can strengthen the local economy by stimulating economic growth, increase the quality of life for the owner and their family, and can improve the standard of living in their community.


Financing Of Small And Medium Scale Enterprises And Its Growth Impact In Nigeria., Charles Onyeiwu Ph.D, Obumneke Bob Muoneke, Udo Nkoyo Feb 2021

Financing Of Small And Medium Scale Enterprises And Its Growth Impact In Nigeria., Charles Onyeiwu Ph.D, Obumneke Bob Muoneke, Udo Nkoyo

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

Abstract: We examined the extent to which SMEs financing influenced economic growth in Nigeria through the use of time-series data from 1999-2018. After a literature search, other factors possessing the potential to influence the dependent variable ASGDP was added to the research model. Relying on Ordinary Least Squares estimation using E-views 10.0, findings shows that lending rate reduces ASGDP by 7% and gross capital formation reduces ASGDP by 5%. On the other hand, surprisingly, credit to SMEs did not retain the massive effect on growth as seen in previous studies. We can attribute this to our choice of adopting SME …


Entrepreneurial Finance: Analyzing The Demand For The Personal Guarantee, Walter W. Brown Ii, Kent T. Saunders Dec 2020

Entrepreneurial Finance: Analyzing The Demand For The Personal Guarantee, Walter W. Brown Ii, Kent T. Saunders

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

This study contributes to the current body of entrepreneurial finance literature by analyzing multiple aspects of personal guarantees. We conducted a survey yielding 1,462 responses from owners or managers of incorporated small businesses geographically dispersed throughout the United States. Of these, 383 C or S corporations had loans in place during 2014. The survey focuses on personal guarantees used on five types of loans: lines of credit, mortgages, equipment loans, vehicle loans, and a loan type referred to as "other loans." We found the variation increase in personal guarantees for equipment loans, vehicle loans, and other types of loans during …


The Impact Of Competition From Venture Capitalists On Corporate Venturing Investment, Marco Bade Jul 2020

The Impact Of Competition From Venture Capitalists On Corporate Venturing Investment, Marco Bade

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

This study proposes a model on corporate venturing (CV) investment and examines the impact of venture capital (VC) activity in the economy on CV firms’ investment. The presence of VCs creates competition for entrepreneurs. This reduces CV firms’ expected venturing returns, and thus gives rise to a financial disincentive to CV investment. The empirical prediction of this result is that competition for talent should decrease CV investment. This prediction contradicts previous statements in the theoretical literature on CV.


House Banks In Out-Of-Court Reorganization: Evidence From Austria, Stefan Mayr, Christine Duller, Kerstin Stumbauer Jul 2020

House Banks In Out-Of-Court Reorganization: Evidence From Austria, Stefan Mayr, Christine Duller, Kerstin Stumbauer

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

The main purpose of this article is to study the role of house banks in out-of-court reorganization. Banks are traditionally one of the most important financial resources for firms. Especially in financially difficult times like those we now face due to the coronavirus, it can make a difference whether a bank supports its clients and accompanies firms through a crisis or not. With the help of relationship lending theory, we review the existing literature on this topic. Next, based on empirical findings from Austrian banks, we derive implications for corporate practice. The empirical study covers a sample of 658 firm …


2020 Private Capital Markets Report, Craig R. Everett May 2020

2020 Private Capital Markets Report, Craig R. Everett

Pepperdine Private Capital Markets Report

The Pepperdine private cost of capital survey was originally launched in 2007 and is the first comprehensive and simultaneous investigation of the major private capital market segments. This year’s survey specifically examined the behavior of senior lenders, asset‐based lenders, mezzanine funds, private equity groups, venture capital firms, angel investors, privately‐held businesses, investment bankers, business brokers, limited partners, and business appraisers. The Pepperdine survey investigated, for each private capital market segment, the important benchmarks that must be met in order to qualify for capital, how much capital is typically accessible, what the required returns are for extending capital in today’s economic …


Hot Or Not – Which Features Make Fintechs Attractive For Investors?, Johannes Klein, Leonard Stuckenborg, Jens Leker Jan 2020

Hot Or Not – Which Features Make Fintechs Attractive For Investors?, Johannes Klein, Leonard Stuckenborg, Jens Leker

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

Attracting investors and generating funding is a key issue for all start-ups. The information asymmetries between investor and start-up need to be reduced. Despite the overwhelming literature on venture capital financing and different signals reflecting venture quality, pinpointing the signals which impact funding decisions remains an open issue. This study presents an empirical examination of the effectiveness of different signals to convince investors and generate funding. We examine the impact of signals concerning venture quality (classic ones such as human capital, intellectual capital and social alliance/network capital as well as the strategic orientation in terms of business model patterns. Based …


Microfinance Institutions’ Criteria On Small Business Financing In Cameroon, Serge Messomo Elle Dec 2019

Microfinance Institutions’ Criteria On Small Business Financing In Cameroon, Serge Messomo Elle

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

This study uses MFIs as a unit of analysis to examine the factors of human, financial and social capital that increase the financing of microenterprises’ identification of opportunities and exploitation in Cameroon .To attain this objective, a questionnaire was used to collect data from 207 MFIs and analyzed using descriptive and multiple linear regression models. The results revealed that when it concerns the financing of opportunity identification, only human capital variables of Prior knowledge and Business training increase the financing of microenterprises by MFIs in Cameroon. Regarding the opportunity exploitation on the contrary, accumulated business knowledge, business skills and customer …


What Determines Venture Capital Investment Decisions? Evidence From The Emerging Vc Market In Egypt, Elsayeda A. Ismail, Mona I. Medhat Dec 2019

What Determines Venture Capital Investment Decisions? Evidence From The Emerging Vc Market In Egypt, Elsayeda A. Ismail, Mona I. Medhat

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

The decision of a venture capitalist to commit capital in a new risky business is a complex decision. Investors need to consider a number of important criteria simultaneously. Based on the postulates of signaling theory and the investment criteria outlined in the extant literature, we propose a theoretical framework to describe the relationship between a new venture’s characteristics and the funding decision. The proposed framework is tested using actual data of a unique sample of 200 new Egyptian technological startups. The startups were tracked from establishment until applying to a venture capitalist and a decision was made either to accept …


Fintech Projects And Initial Coin Offerings: A Research Note, Andrea Moro, Dao Wang Oct 2019

Fintech Projects And Initial Coin Offerings: A Research Note, Andrea Moro, Dao Wang

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

We explore the determinants of success of Initial Coin Offerings (ICO) defined as whether the ICO was successful in raising the funds. We look at financial and technical information disclosed by the ICO as well as the information disclosed by third parties about the ICO and the level of legal protection granted. We discover that even if both hard information (financial and technical) and soft information (social media and legal protection) matter, nevertheless a more relevant role is played by the technical information. Based on our analysis, we identify areas that need further investigation in the context of ICOs.


The Relationship Between Investment And Internal Cash Flows In Vc-Backed Smes: Does Firm Size Matter?, Zélia Silva Serrasqueiro, Filipe Sardo, Elisabete Félix Oct 2019

The Relationship Between Investment And Internal Cash Flows In Vc-Backed Smes: Does Firm Size Matter?, Zélia Silva Serrasqueiro, Filipe Sardo, Elisabete Félix

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

Using panel data models and two research sub-samples composed of smaller and larger VC-backed, this study seeks to analyze the relationship between investment and internal cash flows. The results indicate that the investment sensitivity to internal cash flows is greater in larger than in the smaller VC-backed SMEs.

Debt is more important for smaller than for larger VC-backed SME investment. The moderation effect of VC ownership reduces the magnitudes of the positive impact of cash flows and debt as well as the negative effect of growth opportunities on investment in both smaller and larger VC-backed SMEs.